Writer as Cele

A writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Polak has a tendency to condense an author's talent and personality into something like a photo caption. For example, Germaine Greer, according to Polak, is a ""Shakespearean scholar who talks like a slut.'' Generally Polak gives the reader more gossipif wittythan insight. She tells about Marge Piercy's two husbands and Rita Mae Brown's first cheerleader lover, pom poms and all. Likewise we learn that Erma Bombeck can't put her ironing board up and down and that Calvin Trillin has to stop himself from dialing ``911'' when he sees the pallid complexions of health food store workers. These 45 snippets of writers' conversations are entertaining, but they do not add up to a book. (April)