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The Best Books of 1997.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan on the year's best books (that she's read): "Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier; "Matters of Chance" by Jeannette Haien; the reprint "Independent People" by Haldor Laxness; the short stories "Publish and Perish" by James Hynes, "Lives of the Monster Dogs" by Kirsten Bakis; for non-fiction: "Big Trouble" by J. Anthony Lukas; "Halfway Heaven" by Melanie Thernstrom; "The Gay Metropolis" by Charles Kaiser; volume 2 of "W.B. Yeats" a biography by R.F. Foster; "The End of the Novel of Love" by Vivian Gornick; "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer; "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" by John Dominique Bauby; "Miriam's Kitchen" by Elizabeth Ehrlich; Also: for murder/detective: "Deception on His Mind" by Elizabeth George; "Small Vices" by Robert B. Parker; "Even the Wicked" by Lawrence Block; and "The Club Dumas" by Spanish writer Arturo Perez-Reverte.

05:42

Other segments from the episode on December 30, 1997

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, December 30, 1997: Interview with Nancy Sinatra; Interview with Charles Granata; Commentary on Frank Sinatra; Commentary on the best books of 1997.

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