
DATE: Thursday, August 7, 1997              TAG: 9708060065

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E9   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Book Review

SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON 

                                            LENGTH:   82 lines

SERIOUS READERS ARE TARGET OF C-SPAN BOOK

``BOOKNOTES'' IS a compilation of interviews with 120 writers who have appeared on C-SPAN's weekly program by the same name since it began in 1989. The program's host, Brian Lamb, has gathered some of his favorite interviews from its transcripts, edited them for length and clarity and arranged them in no particular order.

As Lamb admits in his introduction, ``. . . although this is a book about writing, there wasn't a lot of writing to be done - the authors' words speak for themselves.'' And he also admits that this hefty volume is not for everyone: ``Booknotes viewers and other readers drawn to this book are not likely to be average book consumers.'' That's because, he explains, there are book buyers and there are book lovers, the difference being that half the books bought in this country are never read.

But ``Booknotes viewers are readers,'' he writes. ``This book is for them and for you, if you love to read books.''

For those who are unfamiliar with the TV program, Lamb clarifies the show's rules: The books discussed are always hardcover, always non-fiction - history, politics or public policy - and always widely available. Authors may only appear on the program once, no matter how many books they write.

Authors featured in ``Booknotes'' range from storytellers such as Charles Kuralt, Peggy Noonan and bell hooks, to reporters such as Anna Quindlen, Morley Safer and George Will, to public figures, including such notables as Richard Nixon, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev. It's a wide and varied representation.

In these condensed interviews, authors tell tales about how and why they write, where they work and what happens if they get writer's block. Getting what feels like privileged information such as this is delicious and titillating to anyone who loves both books and writing.

For instance, you learn that Shelby Foote took more than 20 years to write his three-volume history of the Civil War, not just because he did exhaustive research on the subject, but also because he writes in longhand - with a nubbed dip-type fountain pen. ``It makes me take my time, and it gives me a real feeling of satisfaction.''

You find out that Albert Murray, author of nine books, including ``Blue Devils of Nada: A Contemporary American Approach to Aesthetic Statement,'' has lived in the same apartment on West 132nd Street in Harlem for the past 62 years, surrounded by his collections of jazz recordings and art.

Englishman Simon Schama, who appeared on ``Booknotes'' to discuss his book, ``Citizens: Chronicle of the French Revolution,'' says he was criticized for daring to make his storybook readable. ``There is an enormous hunger, not only in America either, for good, well-written narrative history. How dare I? I'm trying to wrest the attention of my readers - it's much better than if they fall asleep.''

Author and activist Betty Friedan, best known for her 1963 book, ``The Feminine Mystique,'' was interviewed about her new work, ``The Fountain of Age.'' When she was doing the research for the book, which explores myths about the aging process, Friedan felt ``depression, exhilaration and a weird kind of panic,'' she said.

``Then I realized what was wrong with me - I had just had my own sixtieth birthday. . . . I was as much in denial as anyone else.''

The late Charles Kuralt refused to boast about any natural writing skills. He said, simply, ``I don't know if I know how to write. I think writing is derivative. I think it comes from reading. I write most anywhere. I'm a slow thinker and a slow writer.''

Ah, if only more authors were so unassuming.

One of the attractions of this book is that you can pick it up any time, read for 10 or 15 minutes, then come back to it later, sort of like reading a book of short stories. Choose a writer you want to learn more about, read the two or three-page interview, get some new insight.

``Booknotes'' is a great training manual for readers who are interested in non-fiction writing and the authors who toil in this genre. It's also just plain fun. MEMO: Charlene Cason, a former Virginian-Pilot reporter, is finishing

her master's in fine arts in creative non-fiction at Old Dominion

University. She lives in Chesapeake. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

BOOK REVIEW

``Booknotes: America's Finest Authors on Reading, Writing and the

Power of Ideas''

Author: Brian Lamb

Publisher: Random House/Times Books. 412 pp.

Price: $25.