Under the covers

>> Winter picks for reclusive readers

by JULIET WATERS

When choosing books for the unpredictable, possibly nasty weather of the next few months, I figure I have a responsibility to assume that most people are suffering from seasonal affective disorder. We need books that will take us out of our bleak, winter world, to somewhere warm and exotic, but not somewhere so nice that we'll become even more melancholy and jealous.

How about Pakistan, summer of 1998, just when the country is detonating its first nuclear weapons in an escalating test-for-test with India? Moth Smoke, a first novel by Mohsin Hamid, is told mostly from the perspective of Daru, a young man fired from his job as a banker, whose two great passions are hash and his best friend Ozi's wife, Mumtaz. Daru lives an underworld existence; unable to afford electricity or air conditioning, he lives alone in sweltering darkness. Ozi and Mumtaz, in contrast, run with Lahore's urban hip, the sushi-and-mobile-phone crowd. Clearly the book to buy if there's another ice storm.

Other good picks for bad weather might be Rick Riordan's latest mystery, The Last King of Texas. Riordan brings back Tres Navarre, tequila-swillin' P.I with a PhD in English, to solve a murder at the University of San Antonio. And for those who prefer Florida in the winter, Carl Hiaasen returns with Sick Puppy, a mystery populated with dognapping eco-terrorists, a Republicans-only hooker, an infamous ex-governor who's gone back to nature, and thousands of singing toads.

For those brave enough to face weather in Glasgow, acclaimed young Scottish writer A.L. Kennedy follows up her critically successful Original Bliss with So I Am Glad. It's the story of a radio announcer hiding from her life until she gets a new housemate--a stranger who she discovers is actually Cyrano de Bergerac, back from the dead. Mo Hayder is the new British thriller writer on the block. Her debut, Birdman, tracks a brutal serial killer who is dumping bodies near the Millennium Dome site in Greenwich, England. The Poet Game by Salar Abdoh is a particularly timely novel set in the shadowy world of Muslim radicals living in New York. Leaps of Faith by Rachel Kranz is a comic epic set in New York about an actor/bike messenger and a young union organizer, that looks interesting. Meanwhile, Carol Shields returns with a new book of short stories, Dressing Up for the Carnival.

Feeding on facts
In non-fiction, those intent on heading south might want to pick up a copy of Below the Belt: Religion, Sexuality, and Politics in the Rural South by Angelia R. Wilson. Among the issues this book focuses on are the ways gays and lesbians define themselves in contrast to "city-queers." But if you're sticking around here, Dr. Verne's Northern White Trash Etiquette by Verne Edstrom might come in handy. Another interesting exploration of social and sexual mores might be Courtney Weaver's Unzipped. Compiled from her column in Salon magazine, it follows her life and those of her friends "as they attempt to navigate the waters of intimate relationships without paddles." Sounds like a non-fiction Bridget Jones.

For more serious minds, Michael Ignatieff does a post-mortem on the war in Kosovo in Virtual War. Medical journalist Nicholas Regush argues the case for a new unrecognized supervirus in The Virus Within. And ex-Montrealer Naomi Klein comes to town this month to read from No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies. This examination of the growing resentment towards corporate giants like Microsoft and Nike is described as part cultural analysis, journalistic expose and mall-rat memoir.

For the coffee table crowd, John Margolies and Eric Baker recount the history of the U.S. through over-the-top travel brochures in See the USA. Barnaby Conrad III traces the roots of blonde mythology from Harlow to Monroe in The Blonde. Beneath It All: A Century of French Lingerie by Farid Chenoune is self-explanatory. And look for the ultimate pop-up book, Leonardo's Studio, a pop-up experience by Bob Hersey.

Finally, for those already nostalgic for fin-de-siecle millennialism, Devon Jackson's Conspiranoia! unmasks the vast and sticky web of conspiracy that threatens our very existence, including Roswell, Disney, the F.B.I. and John Tesh. :