Books by Whitney Balliett.

The Talk of the Town Answers by Alec Wilkinson. Talk story about Jean-Pierre Fenyo, the person responsible for the slightly perceptible knot in pedestrian traffic at the corner of Bleecker Street and Seventh Avenue. Fenyo is the Free Advice Man. He has a sign: "J.P.'s Free Objective and Realistic Advice on Almost Any Subject." It says, "Make...

Comment by William Finnegan. It's what they really wanted. The people of Juigalpa told us, 'Boy, what this city really needs is a garbage truck.'" Kip Eckroad, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was talking about Ann Arbor's sister city--Juigalpa, Nicaragua. He went on to explain that the Sister City Task Force, of which he...

The Theatre UNDER THE DRYERS by Edith Oliver.

A Reporter at Large HAZARDS INVOLVED by E. J. Kahn. A REPORTER AT LARGE about a fatal climbing accident on Mt. Moran in Wyoming's Grand Teton National Park... On July 14, 1986, 2 young women tumbled uncontrollably for somewhat more than the height of the Empire State Building(1250'), along a snow-clad glacier on the slope of Mt. Moran...

Fiction An Absence of Cousins by Lore Segal. Ilka, an only child and refugee from N.Y., went to Conn. to interview for a junior appointment at the Concordance Foundation. While waiting to be interviewed, she sat on the Bernstine's porch; Joe Bernstine was a mamber of the Foundation. The academics were discussing Leslie Shakespere, a potential candidate in...

Fiction Jaws by Donald Barthelme. Rex, the narrator, works at an A & P in N.Y.C. He often gives advice to a couple he knows. He wonders how William can prove to Natasha that he still loves her. Natasha is a small woman, maybe 26, whom he met 3 years ago when she came over...

The Talk of the Town Toads by Mark Singer. Talk story about attending a slide show and an informal talk by Tom Langton, staff herpetologist of the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society, of London. The audience was there to find out how toads cross roads. The ideal answer is toad tunnels. Langton told about the first toad tunnel in...

Annals of Law II-THE TENTH JUSTICE by Lincoln Caplan. ANNALS OF LAW about a little=known figure in the Justice Dept. called the Solicitor General. To lawyers in the highest reaches of the profession, he once represented this country's dedication to the rule of law. The Reagan Administration has stripped the Solicitor General of that distinction & eliminated his...

Poetry Midsummer by Sherod Santos. Late in the day, the sun...