Manners and customs

In New York Diaries, editor Teresa Carpenter presents 400 years of diary excerpts written by people who've lived in or just passed through one of the greatest cities in the world.

Raoul Ruiz's 4 1/2 hour Portuguese/French melodrama -- a puppet theater of the upper class -- won't be everybody's cup of tea. But critic David Edelstein says the film's haunting mix of distance and intimacy makes the hours fly by.

Writer Alice McDermott won the National Book Award in 1998 for her novel, Charming Billy. McDermott has just brought out a new novel called After This, and our book critic says that it's a stunner.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan considers Lucky Girls (Ecco), the debut short story collection by Nell Freudenberger.

Writer Sarah Waters is the author of three novels which she calls "lesbo-Victorian romps." The lesbian-themed books are: Tipping the Velvet (about "a sort of Moll Flanders in drag"); Affinity (a historical book set in a Victorian women's prison); and Fingersmith (a gothic melodrama). Fingersmith was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Tipping the Velvet was made into a BBC miniseries and it will be shown on BBC America, beginning Friday, May 23.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Gilligan's Wake, a new novel by Tom Carson.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews McSorleys Wonderful Saloon by Joseph Mitchell.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Birds of America" (Knopf) by Lorrie Moore.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Gina Berriault's new collection of short stories "Women in their Beds."

Garfield has reported on the oddities of America for "All Things Considered" and in his syndicated column. His new book "Waking Up Screaming from the American Dream" (Scribner) is a collection of stories about the bizarre measures people have taken to live the American dream.