The adventures of Bernie, a beagle whose talent for German cooking helps him succeed in life.

Since 1986, The Best American Essays has gathered the most interesting and provocative writing of the year, establishing a firm place as the leading annual of its kind. The volume is edited each year by an esteemed writer who brings a fresh eye to the selections. Previous editors have included Elizabeth Hardwick, Susan Sontag, Geoffrey C. Ward, Cynthia Ozick, and Stephen Jay Gould. This year"s volume is terrifically diverse, with subjects ranging from driving lessons to animal rights to citizenship in times of emergency.

Following the success of last year's debut volume, this Best American Gay Fiction collection broadens the range of contributors, styles, and genres. Here is outstanding new work by such well-known writers as Andrew Holleran, Dale Peck, Michael Nava, and David Wojnarowicz alongside fresh talents who capture the full spectrum of gay life today — African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. The impressive writing presented here — all drawn from works published in 1996 — reflects this diversity as well, and ranges from coming-of-age narratives to reflections on growing older, from edgy 'zine fiction to elegant tales wrought with lapidary precision.

Unified only by their excellence, these twenty-one selections are resounding proof of yet another banner year for gay fiction.

In the world of magazines, no recognition is more highly coveted than an "Ellie," the National Magazine Award presented by the American Society of Magazine Editors to the best of the American magazines. The Awards are the magazine equivalents to the Pulitzer Prizes of the newspaper industry. Each year, hundreds of editors-in-chief, journalism professors, and art directors winnow more than a thousand submissions to about seventy-five nominees in categories such as Reporting, Feature Writing, Profiles, Public Interest, Essays, Reviews and Criticism. Interest in the nominees is keen, and this collection will allow people both in the magazine world and beyond to find in one place, read, and admire the year's best. It is a wonderful, browsable volume of interest to writers and readers who appreciate magazine writing and journalism at its highest level.

At age 67, the perennially youthful John Updike may at last qualify as something of an elder statesman. But the Best American Short Stories annual—whose greatest hits package Updike has now assembled—is almost a generation older, having commenced publication in 1915. This staying power allows the hefty Best American Short Stories of the Century to perform double duty. It is, on the one hand, a priceless compendium of American manners and morals—a decade-by-decade survey of how we lived then, and how we live now. Yet Updike very consciously avoided the sociological angle in making his selection. "I tried not to select stories because they illustrated a theme or portion of the national experience," he writes in his introduction, "but because they struck me as lively, beautiful, believable, and, in the human news they brought, important." In this he succeeded: the 55 fictions that made the grade are most notable for their human (rather than merely historical) interest.

So who got in? There are a good number of cut-and-dried classics here, including Hemingway's "The Killers," Faulkner's "That Evening Sun Go Down," and Philip Roth's acidic spin on religious connivance, "Defender of the Faith." In other cases, major authors are represented by relatively minor works. Yet it's hard to quibble with the inclusion of Willa Cather, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams, J.F. Powers, Eudora Welty—particularly when you take into account that their second-tier creations are fully the equal of anybody else's masterpieces. And the final third of the book really does constitute an honor roll of contemporary American fiction, with brilliant entries by Saul Bellow, Donald Barthelme, Raymond Carver, Tim O'Brien, Bernard Malamud, Cynthia Ozick, John Cheever, and Vladimir Nabokov. (For the latter, Updike actually succumbed to his own idolatry and bent the rules for admission—but nobody who reads the hallucinatory "That in Aleppo Once..." will regret it.) It goes without saying that fiction fans will be complaining about the editor's sins of omission well into the next century. But no matter how you slice it, this remains an elegant and essential advertisement for the short form. —James Marcus

John Reid's The Best Little Boy in the World was hailed as a classic memoir of growing up gay in a straight world. But "John Reid" didn't write it. Years would pass before the writer could reveal his true identity as Andrew Tobias, America's bestselling financial guru, author of The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need. Now, twenty-five years later, Tobias, proud to use his real name, brings his remarkable life story up to date.

Writing with his customary charm and frank humor, Tobias tells of love affairs and heartbreak, hot New York parties and tough political battles, the excitement of genuine social change and the tragedy of seeing dear friends die young. Here too are the unforgettable scenes of Tobias revealing his sexual orientation not only to his parents but to the president of the United States.

The author is an irresistible companion as he shares with us his proud stories, embarrassing confessions, and hilarious musings on "the homosexual lifestyle." Witty, heartfelt, and wonderfully affirming in every sense, this is Andrew Tobias's finest book to date.

Whether a pro in the kitchen, or a novice just starting out, cooks will find everything they need to serve delicious meals. Each recipe contains fewer calories, less salt, sugar, and fat—prepared with less time and effort. Includes more than 1,300 delicious recipes for all occasions, hundreds of cooking tips, 30 pages of easy-to-use charts, nutritional analysis for each recipe, and more than 440 full-color photos.

A campy travel guide leads the gay and lesbian traveler and resident through bars, clubs, restaurants, cruising areas, and other attractions of gay New York, including an expanded section for lesbians in Brooklyn. Original. IP. "

The Severe Queer Review guides lesbian and gay travelers and residents alike to hundreds of absolutely fabulous sites offered in no other single volume. This fully updated edition reviews all the newest bars, cafes, clubs, and restaurants, as well as providing helpful lists and maps. An expanded lesbian section includes San Francisco and East Bay resources.

A trip to Paris can be a culturally enriching experience for anyone, even a pair of rambunctious pooches like Betty and Rita. And while they do soak in some of haute couture, Betty and Rita's main concern is good-old, down-home, butt-sniffin', roll-in-something-dead fun. These are two girls who know how to gnaw on the bones of life and suck out all the marrow.

The girls generously brought their favorite humans along with them on the trip. Michael Malyszko, whose work has been published in 40 countries, photographed the mad escapades while wordsmith Judith Hughes chronicled their trip through the City of Light in appropriate cano-centric verse: A spot to cool off is what every dog needs,
so we dipped our paws at la Place St. Placide.
Big and refreshing and deep as a well,
But not so grand as la Place St. Michel.

If you were looking for biting cultural commentary, you are surely barking up the wrong arbre with these girls. But if you are a dog lover and a fan of whimsy (and who isn't?), you are sure to find Betty and Rita Go to Paris a doggone bewitching book. —Perry Atterberry

Donna German, the pioneer and undisputed expert in bread machine baking, puts more than 600 of her delicious bread recipes together in one convenient volume, together with information and tips for successful results every time. The Big Book of Bread Machine Recipes is fully indexed and contains complete ingredient information, recipes and baking hints from 5 bread machine cookbooks.

Once again available in the Modern Library are the two classic novels featuring private eye Philip Marlowe that made Raymond Chandler's name synonymous with America's hard-boiled school of crime fiction.