European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 07, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Books i Vii is h1 of rat Ettag at the who mouse  19891993 by John Podhoretz Simon a schuster. How did George Bush go from being one of the most popular presidents in modern history in March 1991 to being voted out of office 18 months later in this Book Podhoretz a professional speech writer has written a shrewdly plausible analysis with a wit verging on occasional silliness that makes you wish All political studies could be this lighthearted and succinct. Working his Way up the White House Chain of command like some particularly corrosive form of rust Podhoretz performs a Parkinson an dissection of bureaucratic inertia that probably applies to any failing Enterprise on the Globe. In his most outrageous chapter in and out of the Loop or the gnomish gnostics meet Skull and Bones the author compares Richard Darman the director of the office of management and budget and John Sununu the White House chief of staff until late in 1991, to the Early Christian gnostics who believed there was a hidden meaning to the words of Jesus Only they could decipher by mystical knowledge with which Only they had been endowed  taking More serious aim at the Bush presidency s failings Podhoretz suggests that Bush suffered for what he describes As a betrayal of the Reagan Ruvo Lution. Where Reagan was the Teflon president to whom no blame adhered because he always con tended that the system was out of control Bush be came the velcro president to whom everything stuck because he revealed in the fact that he was the King of Washington the insider s  All this is written from the perspective of someone with recognizable right Wing credentials. Podhoretz worked in the Reagan administration and has worked at the american Spectator and the Washington times. In an afterword he thanks the Lynde and Harry Bradley foundation and the John m. Olin foundation for letting him write the present Book and delay the More scholarly project they had initially  All the same his argument makes sense. In his next to last chapter. The solipsistic presi Dency or. Message i care he argues that Bush s famously unstable syntax often arose from a conflict Between his fixation on himself and his desire to avoid using the first person singular. But i will not underestimate the Challenge ahead. And there s a seriousness that takes Over right this  Podhoretz concludes that while Bush May have won the presidency by wrapping Ronald Reagan around himself like a Blanket in the end he turned Back into a Liberal Rockefeller Republican some one who basically believes everything a Democrat believes but thinks he can manage it  whether you agree with Podhoretz s views his Book is Worth Reading. Chris Lehmann Haupt . Times slow Waltz in Ottar Bond by Robert James Waller Warner books. Waller s the Bridges of Madison county has been the publishing sensation of recent years. From a quiet unheralded largely a reviewed Start it has gone through 46 printings sold More than 4 million copies and seems Likely to be dislodged from atop the Best seller lists where it has sat for several months Only by Waller s new novel. The question is whether Waller can summon the lightning once again. Whatever happens it will not be for Lack of trying. He has left his formula for Suc Cess As intact As humanly possible without actually resorting to Carbon paper. His first hero was a photographer a rugged loner Waller is vocationally a professional photographer. His new hero is an economics professor a rugged loner at a Small Iowa University Waller has been an economics professor at a Small Iowa University. Writ ing from what he knows and feels has Given both books a useful grounding in reality before the fanta so takes Over. Ius r silk is president Bush and John Sununu in 1989. Waller s first heroine was another Man s wife of extraordinary but stifled sensuality. His new heroine is also another Man s wife of extraordinary but stifled sensuality although this time carrying a mysterious and obviously complicated past. What slow Waltz in Cedar Bend makes Clear is that Robert Waller is not an Accident but a Crafty and Clever writer who has touched a nerve of Wistful romantic longing in his audience and is not about to take his hand away. Charles Champlin los Angeles times Tho Boldon moans in which Tho Cut razor Denary correspondence of Griffin it a Brno concludes by Nick Bantock chronicle books. Dear Nick Bantock like some metaphysical soap opera your Griffin & Sabine books have Strung us along made us drool for the next perplexing episode. You have asked us to Ponder the meaning of kangaroos in red hats exploding wine glasses and snippets of difficult Yeats poems. Nick you have tempted us to read other peo ple s mail and made us agonize Over whether Griffin will Ever meet Sabine or whether Sabine should feed Griffin s cat. Mostly Nick you have teased us mercilessly. 1 beg you did Griffin and Sabine Ever get together Are they real or a figment of my fevered imagination write soon. . Who the Heck is Matthew in 1991, chronicle books published a modest 10,000 copies of a visually intriguing strange Little Book called Griffin & Sabine an extraordinary Cor Respondence. Two books and nearly 2 million copies later Bantock and his two lovelorn artist correspondents Are a certified publishing phenom. Bantock has just wrapped up the trilogy with a Best Selling third volume. Some of us Are still scratching our Heads. We read along As Griffin Moss a reclusive Lon Don artist and Sabine Stroem a postage stamp de signer who lives on a South Pacific Island probe each other s psyches via the mail. The interactive volumes crosses Between pop up books and High minded Romance novels invite the Reader to open envelopes glued to pages and extract Griffin and Sabine s letters. But most of the Exchange takes place on lavishly and often darkly illustrated postcards. The design on the front of the card offers As Many clues As the words on the Buck. Jocelyn Mcclurg the Hartford courant Shaw Attar by Shaquille o Neal with Jack me Callum hyperion. It takes some hubris to write an autobiography at the age of 21, after Only one season in the Aba and o Neal s account lacks the depth of perspective and wealth of anecdotes that made the recent Memoir of another famous basketball Center Kareem Abdul Jabbar so much fun to read. Still o Neal the 7-foot-l, 300-Pounder Center of the Orlando magic comes across As a highly person Able athlete who communicates his experiences As a Rookie with Energy and humor. Perhaps one Day when he has accumulated More experiences on and off the court he will write another Book. In the meantime fans can Only Hope that his exploits with the magic will Start to fill the huge vacuum left by Michael Jordan. Michiko Kakutani not Mew York time just hardback fiction 1 the or Igei of Modem county by Robert James Waller last week 1 weeks on if 65 -.-. T slow Wett i Coder Alfil by Robert James Walter first week on list Negm Flom  by Stephen King Las week 2 weeks on list 4 4 Lowhor by Ann Rice last week 3 weeks on list 6 5 without foment by Tom Clancy last week 4, weeks on list 11 i tilt he Ohnam by Robert Jordan last week. 3 weeks  2 7 older Broic Frinc if As week 1lweeksoni,st2. I a Congo it Fortt t r Ken of Ileal last week. 6 weeks on list 3. F Uhll ref Cuneo let Buuri a Vai ia5tweek 7wek50oii5t.30 10 secret Clem by Tony Hillerman last week 5 w e n Curtis Taylor last week 3 weeks on list 26 4 woe Tom tilt nothing for my Doorn to now by Maya Angeloa last week 4 eke on list 5. 5 a Morr lege Mode to  too tort of or m Amelr by Erma bomber last be t1 weeks on. List 5 i Trio hidden ufos of oort by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas last weeks weeks on Lisi 11 7 further along Tho Rood in Trev eled by m. 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Chopra weeks on hot 15 paperback fiction 1 the Joy Luck club by Amy Tan weeks on her 45 2 the age of in Weenee by edit Warton weeks on list 6 3 keeper of the Meert by Johanna Lindsey first week on list 4 the Lenerel e Deug Tor by Nelson Semi a weeks on list 2 9 the rid Rangole by Michael Shaara weeks on list 3. G the Pellem Itaf by John Anshan i weeks on hot 33 7 Uri of  by Catherine Coji or weeks on hot 4 g the Tele of the Betoff Tref by Arne  weeks on list 8 g  evidence by Phiiip  weeks on list 2 10 Oer ire a Ltd by Jom Tuti Kei  weeks on list 2 ii   by Nar stay car Rosenberg weeks on list 6 / 12 a time to we by John Gri him weeks on list 82 13 the Copper Bitch by Maeve Wincn lir to week on list 14 the secret Hottory by Gonna Tarn weeks on list 7 15 interview Wei the Vemple by Anne Rice new on list 11 non Letlon 1 the Hoed us Treem by m. Scon Peck weeks an ii i 522 2 the with Lungi ought Tele by ruin  weeks on use 83 the pret ment e Heom so Purtty pm cye am Shoju  weeks on list 5 4 i know Why the caged a ref stage by Maya Angeio weeks on u t 33 5 Mere air by Michael Jordan first wee on hit ". I a Yoer be presence by peer Mayie weeks on h t c3. 7 the Shert Kemege by Gail Sheehy yes on ii to 2b. G sub Milne by Tom Muncy weeks on . 2 f n Don take e Here by h Norman c a a to Cis on 6 10 Uli of by Robert Fuis num weeks on Hsi 12 11 Young men one fire by Norman Maclean yes on it 2 12 Prince the by Jean p. Vision weeks on hot -10. 13 von Jutt Joe l Unden Lem by Deboran Tien  on Iii. 123 14 Ewry a Vang thing by James Ernst weeks an hot 17 15 love. Medicine end my Erclee by Berne s. Sie i eau on hot. 133 in Toujouse pre ence try Peter Maylee into 3s. 17 save tour Job. Seve our cow iry to Boss Perc  pal Choa be n 8 11 a world let onry by fire by a 4,-n manures or eels on a 16 in by Krupcy 199�d/ Hary e.  or. I gsfj3 j.  to to week on a miscellaneous 1 the Oiye Are j1 pecked by by l Ware ran yes i hit 6 2 tie Svei a Tutti of he Gary  Poplet Cin r Cost  on list 12 3 the to Feeter Fet dam counter by  p pc a � Are Marti Krijn weeks on Lia 153 4 what to effect whoa you re Seipt Utteg to a you l Vedral a in i 16 5 the for Smeg Lery by Gary u san men most Rooks listed be available or on order at stars and sin pet Bookstore. November 7. 1993 sunday Page 25