Bookworm

The Demon and The Angel: Searching for the Source of Artistic Inspiration (Harcourt) Duende is like -soul,- an inner essence that aligns the artist with demonic or angelic inspiration. Edward Hirsch traces the manifestations of duende from Spanish poetry to Action Painting, from Rilke to Jackson Pollack.

The Haunting of L. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) At a certain point in this conversation, the author is referred to as "my ghost, Howard Norman..."

Iceland (Dalky Archive) Jim Krusoe pits his dear-but-doltish narrator against a surreal, disaster-prone universe, creating a unique comedy of the little man versus authorial imagination.

While writing Palladio (Doubleday) another of his complex novels of ideas, Jonathan Dee discovered his gift for creating complex human characters-and altered the course of his writing career.

In the Forest (Houghton Mifflin) Edna O'Brien's predilection for darkness, Greek tragedy and the terrifying fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm achieves its riskiest manifestation in her new novel, In the Forest...

All Souls Day (Harcourt) Although afternoon television talk shows have made us all too familiar with the stages of grief, Cees Nooteboom's philosophical novel offers a different perspective...

True History of the Kelly Gang (Vintage)Peter Carey captures the fated life of the Australian outlaw-hero Ned Kelly in thrilling run-on sentences: the world looms up, sudden and alive in phrase after breathless phrase. Here, he talks about the evolution of this springing, spirited voice.

Claire Marvel (Doubleday) John Burnham Schwartz has written a contemporary romance, complete with obsession, nightmare and a life-altering vacation in a deserted French barn-but with a catch...

Number 9 Dream (Random House) David Mitchell, a radiant and gifted young writer, places his work at the center of a barrage of influences...

A Multitude of Sins (Knopf) Richard Ford, finds in adultery, his most recent subject, traces of old Emersonian independence. But he still considers his newest heroes to be "hurtling to their doom."

Insect Dreams: The Half Life of Gregor Samsa (BlueHen Books) This first novel by enterprising novelist Marc Estrin introduces Gregor Samsa, Kafka's famous roach, to the monstrosities of the twentieth century....

Library of America (Geoffrey O'Brien, editor in chief and Max Rudin, publisher) Library of America is a publisher whose mandate is to keep American classics in print. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, we'll explore the Library's surprising new definitions of what is American and what is classic. Are crime novels, screenplays, song lyrics and the work of Russian -migr-s included? For more information about the publisher, go to LibraryOfAmerica.org.

Roscoe (Viking) Truth, when it disappears from one's public life, also tends to be unavailable in one's personal life. Pulitzer prize-winner William Kennedy talks about his greatest rascal yet, a politician to whom the word truth is anathema...

Requiem (Dalky Archive Press) Curtis White has created comedy from degeneration by counterpointing Biblical stories, biographies of Classical composers, and the e-mailed sexploits of pornographic web-site users..

Just in Time: Poems 1984-1994 (New Directions) On the occasion of a Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award, Robert Creeley discusses the many influences on his singular poetry: Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, Charles Olson, Louis Zukofsky and Robert Duncan. In addition, he talks about the love of family and friends that has united his influences and his past into a "company."

For Rouenna (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Sigrid Nunez's books reveal the secrets of lives that have fallen through the cracks....

Geography of the Forehead (University of Arkansas Press) In the sweet mayhem of Ron Koertge's hilarious poems, a surreal vision collides with the sadness of daily life. Koertge talks about his transformation from a "smarty; pants" poet into a gentler wise-cracker.

The Complete Works of Isaac Babel (Norton) We inaugurate Bookworm's Book Club with a celebration of the Russian master, Isaac Babel. We'll focus on the paradox of his disturbing laconic style: the lyric joy of a Jew describing Cossack violence...

Leash (Semiotexte) As always, Jane DeLynn leaves a trail of magnificent broken taboos behind her. Here, she confesses that she can go no further in her unbroken chain of transgressions. Hear this dark comic novelist at her turning point. Where do you go after the abyss?

Shopgirl (Hyperion) When Steve Martin brought out his first novella, Shopgirl praise from the writing community (Salman Rushdie, for example) indicated that he can be taken seriously...