Books

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new book by our new poet laureate Robert Pinsky, "The Figured Wheel" (Noonday)." She also reviews other poetry books: "View with a Grain of Sand" by Wislawa Szymborksa (Harcourt Brace); "Meadowlands" by Louise Gluck" (Ecco); "Does Your House Have Lions" by Sonia Sanchez" (FS&G).

Scholar and translator Robert Fagles. He is a professor at Princeton University and has gained recognition for his interpretation of "The Iliad." His latest translation of Homer is a new version of "The Odyssey" (Viking). Recently Fagles won the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for lifetime achievement in the field of translation.

"Crooked Little Heart" is Lamott's follow-up novel to "Rosie," about the troubles she faces in school and with her mother, a recovering alcoholic. Lamott's most popular book is "BIrd by Bird," an instructional book on writing. She has also written four other books, including "Hard Laughter."

Sullivan was the editor of The New Republic for five years and the first openly gay editor of a national magazine. On leaving the position last year, he revealed he is HIV positive. His new book is "Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con" (Vintage Books).

Writer Eric Lax. He's written a new biography "Bogart" about actor Humphrey Bogart. Lax has also written a biography of Woody Allen.

The novelist and screenwriter's is new book "The Dogs of Winter" is the story of a photographer who hopes to jumpstart his career by capturing pictures of surfers on California's most dangerous waters.

The Head of MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, Michael Dertouzos. Fifteen years ago he predicted an "Information Marketplace" like that of the Internet. In his new book, he continues to look ahead to the future of the information age, and how it will affect our lives: "What Will be: How the New World Information Will Change Our Lives."

Maureen Corrigan reviews "Lives of the Monster Dogs" by Kristen Bakis, which features, among other things, genetically engineered canines.

Foreign editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Zucchino. In his new book "Myth of the Welfare Queen," he turns his attention to his own town, Philadelphia, where he follows the lives of two welfare mothers, Odessa Williams and Cheri Honkala. One reviewer writes, "David Zucchino has shattered unequivocally the stereotype of women receiving welfare."

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Arkansas," the new collection of three short stories by writer David Leavitt.