Laughter, Labor, Life and Leo
New Books for Bedtime Reading

BY NICK PETRULAKIS

HAVE YOU EVER WITNESSED
others "discover" a musician or writer who's been a longtime favorite of yours? When this happens, do you just sit back and laugh while the world catches up? Readers of the San Francisco Chronicle's Web page (sfgate.com) had the opportunity to read Beth Lisick's nightlife column for many years, but with the publication of Everybody Into the Pool, the world might finally be catching up to her enormous talent.
    With so many "woe-is-me" memoirs littering the landscape, Lisick's true-life tales are a bracing change. Her writing-usually hilarious and never piteous-chronicle how a girl from Saratoga ended up covering the Bay Area's nightlife scene; how someone who's never been a baby-person handles becoming a mom; and how that mom ends up in a foam banana suit hawking a fruit delivery service. Seriously, the banana-suit story is worth the price of admission. Read Everybody Into the Pool and let yourself feel a little superior at that next cocktail party when you to can introduce Lisick to new readers.
Everybody Into the Pool by Beth Lisick (Regan Books, 2005, 225 pp. $23.95)

    WHO WOULD THINK THAT A BOOK about making wine would end up reading like a great novel? But that's exactly what happens with Mike Weiss' A Very Good Year. His story begins in Sonoma County with four winemakers huddled inside a private tasting room. They're about to sample the 2002 vintage of their winery's most popular offering, its Fumé Blanc. What everyone hopes for is that the wine "jumps out of the friggin' glass." Just as the wine is about to be tasted, Weiss takes us back in time to the dormant vines. He then meticulously chronicles the wine's creation by following the owners, winemakers and laborers-and these characters come to life like they inhabit some vast Russian novel from the 19th century.
    Finally, teasingly, after the ups and downs of the industry have been explored, rivalries revealed and risks taken, Weiss brings us back to that tasting room to show whether or not the 2002 Ferrari-Carano Fumé Blanc was a success. Buy the book for the story, then call one of Alameda's fine wine shops to pick up a bottle and judge the wine for yourself.
A Very Good Year by Mike Weiss (Gotham Books, 2005, 276 pp. $26)

    ELISABETH KÜBLER-ROSS IS THE grande dame of those who study death and its effects on the living. Her groundbreaking study, On Death and Dying, was published more than 35 years ago and introduced the now-famous five stages of dying: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. While these concepts revolutionized the way we think about death and dying, it's time to revisit those broad notions and ask whether a more detailed examination can shed light on a topic that will affect each of us.
    Anneli Rufus, author and books editor for the East Bay Express, has answered that question-and more-in her new book, The Farewell Chronicles. Rufus broaches the hard topic of death in 16 chapters, recording her response to the deaths of family and friends. Her musings are never less than honest-even when she raises such awkward topics like the greed that can set in when family members die. With The Farewell Chronicles, Rufus has written an eloquent-and in the end, life-affirming-book.
The Farewell Chronicles, by Anneli Rufus (Marlowe and Company, 2005,
264 pp. $14.95)

    WATCH OUT, BECAUSE HERE COME the clichés: bigger is better, size does matter and yes, you have to see it to believe it. Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Paintings and Drawings is a masterwork. Because it weighs nearly 20 pounds and stands almost 2 feet high, the book is bound at the only bindery capable of handling such a large volume, and that bindery happens to be in the Vatican. This book is for the person who has everything, because he won't have this.
    Why is the book so big? It's to show off the incredible artistry of one of the world's greatest artists. With the book open, you have a nearly 2-foot-square expanse detailing the most famous paintings of all time. When you say "The Mona Lisa" or "The Last Supper," there are few people on the planet who won't know what you're talking about. Remember, it was Leonardo who put the Da Vinci in The Da Vinci Code. Take a look at this book and really see what all the fuss is about.
Leonardo Da Vinci: The Complete Paintings and Drawings by Frank Zollner and Johannes Nathan (Taschen, 2003, 600 pp. $200)