Random Notes

More October Titles: Joyce Carol Oates, who is as productive as Dickens and as fertile as the starfish, is ready with another novel: Childwold (Vanguard, $8.95), about a May-August relationship in what could pass for western New York state . . . Alex Haley, who was Malcolm X’s collaborator on Mr. X’s autobiography, has written Roots (Doubleday, $12.50), a history of his ancestors’ peregrinations in the United States . . . Vietnam: The Unforgettable Tragedy (Horizon Press, $8.95) reproduces the correspondence between President Ngo Dinh Diem and the author, Joseph Buttinger, who did rescue work in Vietnam for political refugees and all but talked Diem’s ear off trying to convert him to the doctrines of Common Cause. . . . Shana Alexander offers for your inspection a book called Talking Woman (Dela-corte, $9.95). If her performance is up to that of a dog walking on its hind legs, we’re impressed . . . Albert Parry’s Terrorism: From Robespierre to Arafat (Vanguard, $15) appropriately kicks off its discussion of modern terrorism with an account of Chairman Mao’s humane ministrations, though it clearly believes that long before another Mao comes along we’ll see a couple of hundred crazed Croations from Stamford, Conn. . . . There’s an interesting little book out called C. S. Lewis: The Shape of His Faith and Thought (Harper, $6.95; paper, $3.95) by Paul L. Holmer. It concentrates on Lewis’ literary criticism and theological commentary . . . Glen B. Infield has written Leni Riefenstahl: The Fallen Film Goddess (T. Y. Crowell, $9.95). Apparently, life among the Nubi has done little to resurrect the moral reputation of the girl who played diddlywinks with der Fiührer . . . According to Magda Denes, author of In Necessity and Sorrow: Life and Death in an Abortion Hospital (Basic Books, $10.95), it is verboten to use, in hospitales, the word “abortion.” At Mme. Violette’s, you don’t say “whore.”

November Titles: John Dean’s account of Watergate—Blind Ambition: The White House Years (Simon & Schuster, $7.95)—proves conclusively that there is no honor among thieves: least of all, as Villon knew, among scribbling ones. . . Samuel Dash, the chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, though he figured prominently in the interminable soap opera that was the Committee’s hearings, will probably be less remembered by future generations than Louise Lasser. However, he too has written a book, entitled Chief Counsel: Inside the Ervin Committee—The Untold Story of Watergate (Random House, $10) . . . Charles Reich, the greened-over guru, was once even as you and I. In fact he was worse. He worked in Washington, wore button down collars, and he was a closet virgin!!! In The Sorcerer of Bolinas Reef (Random House, $8.95) he tells how he surmounted all, including chastity.

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More October Titles: Joyce Carol Oates, who is as productive as Dickens and as fertile as the starfish, is ready with another novel: Childwold (Vanguard, $8.95), about a May-August relationship in what could pass for western New York state . . . Alex Haley, who was Malcolm X’s collaborator on Mr. X’s autobiography, has written Roots (Doubleday, $12.50), a history of his ancestors’ peregrinations in the United States . . . Vietnam: The Unforgettable Tragedy (Horizon Press, $8.95) reproduces the correspondence between President Ngo Dinh Diem and the author, Joseph Buttinger, who did rescue work in Vietnam for political refugees and all but talked Diem’s ear off trying to convert him to the doctrines of Common Cause. . . . Shana Alexander offers for your inspection a book called Talking Woman (Dela-corte, $9.95). If her performance is up to that of a dog walking on its hind legs, we’re impressed . . . Albert Parry’s Terrorism: From Robespierre to Arafat (Vanguard, $15) appropriately kicks off its discussion of modern terrorism with an account of Chairman Mao’s humane ministrations, though it clearly believes that long before another Mao comes along we’ll see a couple of hundred crazed Croations from Stamford, Conn. . . . There’s an interesting little book out called C. S. Lewis: The Shape of His Faith and Thought (Harper, $6.95; paper, $3.95) by Paul L. Holmer. It concentrates on Lewis’ literary criticism and theological commentary . . . Glen B. Infield has written Leni Riefenstahl: The Fallen Film Goddess (T. Y. Crowell, $9.95). Apparently, life among the Nubi has done little to resurrect the moral reputation of the girl who played diddlywinks with der Fiührer . . . According to Magda Denes, author of In Necessity and Sorrow: Life and Death in an Abortion Hospital (Basic Books, $10.95), it is verboten to use, in hospitales, the word “abortion.” At Mme. Violette’s, you don’t say “whore.”

November Titles: John Dean’s account of Watergate—Blind Ambition: The White House Years (Simon & Schuster, $7.95)—proves conclusively that there is no honor among thieves: least of all, as Villon knew, among scribbling ones. . . Samuel Dash, the chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, though he figured prominently in the interminable soap opera that was the Committee’s hearings, will probably be less remembered by future generations than Louise Lasser. However, he too has written a book, entitled Chief Counsel: Inside the Ervin Committee—The Untold Story of Watergate (Random House, $10) . . . Charles Reich, the greened-over guru, was once even as you and I. In fact he was worse. He worked in Washington, wore button down collars, and he was a closet virgin!!! In The Sorcerer of Bolinas Reef (Random House, $8.95) he tells how he surmounted all, including chastity.