(Other) Best Wishes

The Early Stories: 1953-1975
by John Updike
Knopf, 838 pp., $35
The WASP master at his most New Yorker-y, and with introductory remarks regretful of the terms Negro and fairy. Re-collects the out-of-print Olinger Stories, while re-establishing Updike (again) as the fiery voice of the comfortable. Still, the preternatural talent within shames most contemporary fictioners of any stripe, and you know this.

In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot
by Graham Roumieu
Manic D Press, 41 pp., $12.95
More than a novelty, an artful, exciting, and witty look at a larger-than-life character.

Tiny Giants
by Nate Powell
Soft Skull, 200 pp., $15 (paper)
Mournful Midwestern anthology by (formerly) underground comic author/artist with Frank Miller’s blessing.

My New Fighting Technique Is Unstoppable
by David Rees
Riverhead, 62 pp., $10 (paper)
The follow-up to Get Your War On, and funny in a different way.

Beautiful Angiola: The Great Treasury of Sicilian Folk and Fairy Tales
collected by Laura Gonzenbach, edited by Jack Zipes
Routledge, 364 pp., $30
Latin American Folktales: Stories From Hispanic and Indian Traditions
edited by John Bierhorst
Pantheon, 386 pp., $17 (paper)
For kids and the intellectually curious.

The Pythons
by Graham Chapman et al.
Thomas Dunne, 368 pp., $60
A gorgeous volume stacked with reminiscences, stills, and stories. At times earnest and moving, at times all the things about the troupe we hold dear.

I Promise to Be Good: The Letters of Arthur Rimbaud, Volume II
edited by Wyatt Mason
Modern Library, 364 pp., $24.95
Every young creative’s favorite poet is more alive than ever.

Pariah: The Complete Award-Winning Serial Novel
by Charles Romalotti
Layman Books, 376 pp., $15
Local self-published author makes good with Rash, Talon, and The Stickler all in one horrifying place.

— Shawn Badgley

This article appears in December 5 • 2003.

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