<b>The Names of Things: A Passage in the Egyptian Desert</b> by
Susan Brind Morrow (Riverhead, $25.95). <br />
In this understated memoir, Morrow deftly blends her passions for
language and adventure to take us within her sometimes tortured
love affair with Egypt and its people. — <i>Craig Cox</i>
<p>
<b>Playing Indian</b> by Philip J. Deloria (Yale, $25).<br />
Deloria traces white America’s romance with Native American rituals
and dress, in spite of frequent hostility toward actual Indian
people, from the Boston Tea Party to the spiritual dabblings of the
New Age. — <i>Jeremiah Creedon</I>P>
</i>
</p>
<p>
<i>
<b>Letters to a Young Feminist</b> by Phyllis Chesler (Four
Walls Eight Windows, $18).<br />
Maybe struggling young women today need, instead of Prozac, a new
point of view. Chesler doesn’t pull any punches in explaining why
the feminist legacy must be rediscovered by each generation. —
Andrea Martin</i>
</p>
<p>
<b>Carrying Water as a Way of Life: A Homesteader’s History</b>
by Linda Tatelbaum (About Time Press, $9.95; 207/785-4634).<br />
Tatelbaum bailed on academia to live off the land in rural Maine.
These wise, funny essays about jars, beans, trash, and other
everyday realities illuminate the changing complexities of a simple
life. — <i>Cathy Madison</i>
</p>
<p>
<b>Rimshots!</b> photographs by James R. Dean (self- published,
17010 Norman Road, Avon, MN 56310; 320/356-9267, $19.95 plus
shipping).<br />
A fascinating tour of American culture through snapshots of
backyard basketball courts. — <i>Lynn Phelps</i>
</p>
<p>
<b>Tracking the Serpent: Journeys to Four Continents</b> by
Janine Pommy Vega (City Lights Books, $12.95).<br />
An evocative memoir of self-discovery by a poet with a knack for
living on the edge. — <i>Hugh Delehanty</i>
</p>
<p>
<b>A Whole Other Ball Game: Women’s Literature on Women’s
Sports</b> edited by Joli Sandoz (Noonday, $13).<br />
Esteemed women writers — from Marge Piercy to Mariah Burton Nelson
to Adrienne Rich to Ellen Gilchrist — write about sports and their
impact on the lives of women and girls. It should be required
reading for teachers, coaches, parents, and concerned citizens. —
<i>Andy Steiner</i>
</p>
<p>
<b>The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll</b> by H.G. Wells
(Breakaway, 800/548-4348, $12.95).<br />
Before he was dreaming up stories about time machines and rocket
ships, Wells penned this novel about bicycles — a tale of
two-wheeled romance set in the English countryside in the days
before automobiles. — <i>Jay Walljasper</i>
</p>
