The agony beneath all the small talk
Carrie Fisher's sequel to 'Postcards from the Edge' is a brave insider's view of manic depression.
THE BEST AWFUL. Carrie Fisher. Simon & Schuster. 269 pages. $24. Suzanne Vale, this novel's heroine, at first seems to be a fairly standard Hollywood divorcee. Her ex-husband is gay: ''He forgot to tell her, and she forgot to notice.'' Her daughter, Honey, is beautiful and sweet, but it's hard for Suzanne not to have a man in her life. She diverts herself jauntily with her best friend, Lucy, and a couple of guy-friends; she puts together a fairly standard, jerry-built Hollywood-lady career. She...
( BY CAROLYN SEE, 02/01/2004 03:01 AM EST)

Crime in Wonderland
Another engrossing 87th Precinct novel uses a Lewis Carroll poem as background to a violent kidnapping.
THE FRUMIOUS BANDERSNATCH: A Novel of the 87th Precinct. Ed McBain. Simon & Schuster. 287 pages. $25. With 52 87th Precinct mysteries to his credit, could Ed McBain be in danger of running out of ideas for the series, which began in 1956?
( BY CAROLE GOLDBERG, 02/01/2004 03:01 AM EST)

Cold water, dead dogs and lofty goals
Long-distance swimmer gives a fascinating and humorous account of her adventures around the world.
SWIMMING TO ANTARCTICA: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer. Lynne Cox. Knopf. 323 pages. $24.95. The first long-distance swimmer to accomplish at least half a dozen almost impossible feats in horrendously cold water, Lynne Cox has now conquered a new world: publishing. She has written a terrific memoir. Famously courageous -- as those who saw her swim to Antarctica on 60 Minutes remember -- Cox recounts her adventures and triumphs with modesty and self-effacing humor, continually giving credit to her...
( BY SUSAN MIRON, 02/01/2004 03:01 AM EST)

Ancient hatred resurfacing with a vengeance
Statistics and extensive research by the Anti-Defamation League's national director warn that anti-Semitism is on the rise.
NEVER AGAIN? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism. Abraham Foxman. HarperSanFrancisco. 320 pages. $24.95. A few years ago, I worked on several stories about white hate groups in Florida. One of the leaders held regular meetings with the black Ku Klux Klan in Orlando. What could the two groups have in common? ''An intense dislike of Jews,'' he told me, ``who control everything and love Israel more than the United States.''
( BY IKE SEAMANS, 02/01/2004 03:01 AM EST)

No 'one-eighth' Negroes allowed
Stereotypical characters mar a well-paced novel about children thrown out of a Florida school because a sheriff thinks they are of mixed race.
TRUE FIRES. Susan Carol McCarthy. Bantam. 320 pages. $23.95. The hysteria, vitriol and damage that have emerged from our nation's attempts to grapple with questions of race have been explored decade after decade in American fiction, from William Faulkner's tormented epics to the ''passing'' narratives of Nella Larsen and Charles Chesnutt. Yet it only requires reviewing the news, op-ed, culture and even sports sections of our newspapers -- including this one -- to find true stories that confirm that...
( BY LAURA ALBRITTON, 02/01/2004 03:01 AM EST)

FICTION
DOUBLE OUTRAGE FOR MOM, DAUGHTER RAPE: A Love Story. Joyce Carol Oates. Carroll & Graf. 128 pages. $16. Joyce Carol Oates' latest is a shocker with a deliberately provocative title. It's set in the border town of Niagara Falls, where a mother and daughter are brutally raped by a gang of thugs. Although the attack is bad enough, its evil is compounded by the nightmarish trial that follows. Unfortunately, it's a common fate for rape victims to be violated twice -- first by the rapist, then by a...
( 02/01/2004 03:01 AM EST)

AUTHOR APPEARANCES
AUTHOR APPEARANCES MONDAY Cesar A. Becerra and Thorough-Hiking the Appalachian Trail and Motoring the Millennium. 8 p.m. Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables.
( 02/01/2004 03:01 AM EST)