Manners & Customs

Religion scholar Kate Bowler used to believe God had a plan for her life. Then she was diagnosed with incurable colon cancer. "I really had to rethink what trust and hope looks like," she says.

In New York Diaries, editor Teresa Carpenter presents 400 years of diary excerpts written by people who've lived in or just passed through one of the greatest cities in the world.

New York Times advice columnist Philip Galanes details how to handle breakups, cellphone calls and food allergies — among other topics — in his book Social Q's: How to Survive the Quirks, Quandaries and Quagmires of Today.

Raoul Ruiz's 4 1/2 hour Portuguese/French melodrama -- a puppet theater of the upper class -- won't be everybody's cup of tea. But critic David Edelstein says the film's haunting mix of distance and intimacy makes the hours fly by.

Writer Alice McDermott won the National Book Award in 1998 for her novel, Charming Billy. McDermott has just brought out a new novel called After This, and our book critic says that it's a stunner.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan considers Lucky Girls (Ecco), the debut short story collection by Nell Freudenberger.

Writer Sarah Waters is the author of three novels which she calls "lesbo-Victorian romps." The lesbian-themed books are: Tipping the Velvet (about "a sort of Moll Flanders in drag"); Affinity (a historical book set in a Victorian women's prison); and Fingersmith (a gothic melodrama). Fingersmith was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Tipping the Velvet was made into a BBC miniseries and it will be shown on BBC America, beginning Friday, May 23.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Gilligan's Wake, a new novel by Tom Carson.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews McSorleys Wonderful Saloon by Joseph Mitchell.

We remember Quentin Crisp, who died last Sunday at the age of 90. Crisp became a cult figure after the publication of his autobiography, The Naked Civil Servant. He came out of the closet in his native London in 1931, when homosexuality was very clandestine. His flamboyant and exhibitionist style often made him the object of ridicule and violence. Crisp moved to New York at the age of 72. (Rebroadcast from 1/21/1986)

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Birds of America" (Knopf) by Lorrie Moore.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Gina Berriault's new collection of short stories "Women in their Beds."

Garfield has reported on the oddities of America for "All Things Considered" and in his syndicated column. His new book "Waking Up Screaming from the American Dream" (Scribner) is a collection of stories about the bizarre measures people have taken to live the American dream.

Newspaper columnist and the etiquette expert, Judith Martin, otherwise known as Miss Manners. Her new book is "Miss Manners' Basic Training: Communication" (Crown News) about the social issues of phone answering machines, e-mail, and cyberspace.

The nation's most trusted source on proper etiquette, Judith Martin... better known as Miss Manners. Her new book is "Miss Manners Rescues Civilization: From Sexual Harassment, Frivolous Lawsuits, Dissing and Other Lapses in Civility" (Crown Publishers). Coinciding with the release of her new book, Martin has declared June 24 the start of "National Civility Week," in an effort to liberate society from problems caused by the rejection of etiquette.

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "The New Age," starring Judy Davis and Peter Weller. The film is directed by Michael Tolkin, author of "The Player."

Halberstam has a new book -- a social, political, economic, and cultural history of what he considers the most pivotal decade of the century -- called "The Fifties." His other books include, "The Best and the Brightest" and "The Powers That Be."

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "BAD, or the Dumbing of America," by Paul Fussell. In his book, Fussell decries the decline of quality and taste in everything from movies to education. (It's published by Summit Books).

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the book "It Happened in the Catskills," an oral history of the resorts that made up what was known as the Borsht Belt.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan is no fan of minimalist literature, which she derides for its familiar, navel-gazing themes. By contrast, she admires T. Coraghesson's expansive, political, and historical fiction. Unfortunately, his approach is better suited to the novel, rather than the short stories in his latest collection, If the River Was Whiskey.