Books

Writer Lee Stringer. He spent eleven years on the streets of New York City, living n the tunnels under Grand Central Terminal, addicted to crack. His acclaimed memoir "Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street" (Washington Square Press) chronicled his unraveling, from a marketing executive to being homeless and crack addicted. He collaborated on his new book with Kurt Vonnegut: "Like Shaking Hands with God: a conversation about writing" (Seven Stories Press)

Book critic Maureen Corrigan considers what books she wants to take with her into the next millennium.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan give us her list of the best books to put on your Christmas list:
Two British comic novels:
"The Country Life" by Rachel Cusk
"Headlong" by Michael Frayn
The novels:
"Waiting" by Ha Jin
"Amy and Isabelle" by Elizabeth Strout
Two short story collections:
"The Way People Run" by Christopher Tilghman
"The Best American Short Stories of the Century" edited by John Updike and Katrina Kenison
The mysteries:

Book critic Maureen Corrigan tells us her picks of children's books that adults love.

A conversation about lesbian pulp fiction with: Jaye Zimet who has compiled a new collection of book covers for lesbian pulp fiction: "Strange Sisters: The Art of Lesbian Pulp Fiction, 1949-1969" (Viking Studio).

Enter Linguist Geoff Nunberg on the epic Anglo-Saxon poem "Beowulf" -- which is considered to be the origin of English literature and which has been newly translated by poet Seamus Heaney.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love" by Dave Sobel (Walker)

Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton is an expert on cult groups. His new book is about the Japanese cult group that released sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo subways: "Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism" (Metropolitan Books).

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Waiting" (Pantheon) by Ha Jin the winner of this year's National Book Award for fiction, a novel which is set in China during the Cultural Revolution.

Writer Michael Lewis is the author of "The New New Thing" (Norton) about the Silicon Valley and the man behind the newest billion dollar-making venture. Lewis is also the author of the bestseller, "Liar's Poker" and has been the American editor of the British weekly, "The Spectator" and senior editor at The New Republic.