Outrageous Life Of Isaac Merritt Singer Given Needlesharp Look In Paperback

Paperback pick of the week

"Singer and the Sewing Machine: A Capitalist Romance," by Ruth Brandon (Kodansha Globe, $14). A splendid, spirited, needle-sharp look at an outrageous life. Brandon, author of "The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini," examines the career and "spectacular marital and extra-marital history" of the man whose name became synonymous with the sewing machine.

Born the son of German immigrants in 1811 in upstate New York, Isaac Merritt Singer grew up with acting ambitions and a knack for fixing things, neither of which brought in any income at first. After making his fortune with his mechanical genius, he put his acting skills to use in his love life, eventually fathering 24 children under three different names with four different women. Furthermore, he did this publicly, flouting the social conventions of his day by taking a candid, solicitous interest in all his offspring, if not their mothers.

Brandon makes the technical details of the patent wars between the unscrupulous Singer and his fellow sewing-machine manufacturers nearly as exciting as her subject's love life (no mean feat).

She is fascinating, too, on the importance - in social and corporate history - of the sewing machine as one of the first manufactured household objects. Laced with tasty oddments of information (example: Singer's last wife served as model for the Statue of Liberty), her book is an ever-surprising and informative delight.

Nonfiction

"Dr. Johnson & Mr. Savage," by Richard Holmes (Vintage, $13). An examination of the strange friendship between the future dictionary-writer and a murderer-poet who took Johnson under his wing. Seattle Times reviewer Joseph F. Keppler wrote that Holmes "unravels the mystery of their lives and profoundly reassesses the nature of biography itself." Vintage has also reissued "Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer" ($13), Holmes' behind-the-scenes look at the ties between biographers and their subjects.

"Endangered Pleasures: In Defense of Naps, Bacon, Martinis, Profanity, and Other Indulgences," by Barbara Holland (Harper, $8.99). A writer alarmed at the subtle way "joy has been leaking out of our lives" speaks out against the New Puritanism.

"Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence," by John Hockenberry (Hyperion, $14.95). A memoir by the paraplegic journalist describing his adventures in Iran, Iraq, Somalia and New York's subway system. Nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award.

"Anais Nin: A Biography," by Deirdre Bair (Penguin, $16.95). Bair, winner of the National Book Award for her biography of Samuel Beckett, takes on the legendary diarist-novelist as her subject.

"Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i," by Garrett Hongo (Vintage, $14). The Oregon poet tells of his return to his birthplace - the town of Volcano on the Big Island - in a book that Seattle Times reviewer Elizabeth Aoki praised for its "deft ability to capture intricate feelings and clarify elusive moments."

"The Primary Colors: Three Essays," by Alexander Theroux (Holt, $11). The paperback of this much-praised meditation on color omits the uncredited borrowings from Guy Murchie's "Song of the Sky" which almost landed Theroux and his publisher in a lawsuit. Holt is also offering Theroux's 1981 novel, "Darconville's Cat," in softcover for the first time.

"River Teeth: Stories and Writing," by David James Duncan (Bantam, $10.95). An oddball collection from the Oregonian-turned-Montanan novelist, ranging from powerful personal essay ("The Mickey Mantle Koan") to memorable novella ("The Garbage Man's Daughter"). Bantam has also reissued Duncan's fine Washington-set novel, "The Brothers K," in paperback ($10.95).

Fiction

"The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping, and the Novel," by Alain de Botton (Picador USA, $13). A reader's delight. This young British novelist is one of the brightest, funniest, most eccentric and big-hearted writers around, as he demonstrates in this hilarious dissection - complete with diagrams and floor plans - of a love affair gone wrong.

"From Potter's Field," by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley, $6.99). In this 1995 mystery, set in a wintry New York City, the queen of forensic pathology pits her heroine, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, against a "bold, brilliant killer from her past."

"Coming Home," by Rosamunde Pilcher (St. Martin's, $7.99). The author of "The Shell Seekers" and "September" returns with a novel about a family weathering wartime fears and uncertainty in 1940s Cornwall. Seattle Times critic Melinda Bargreen called this "a big, well-researched, emotionally satisfying, old-fashioned novel."

"The Riders," by Tim Winton (Scribner, $12). The latest from the Australian novelist was shortlisted for Britain's prestigious Booker Prize and was described by Seattle Times reviewer Dominic Gates as "a literary novel with heartbreaking emotional punch." The story concerns a seemingly happy marriage of working-class man and his bohemian wife, whose sudden disappearance sends her husband and young daughter into a tailspin.

"The Richer, the Poorer," by Dorothy West (Anchor, $12.95). A collection of stories, sketches and reminiscences by the last surviving writer of the Harlem Renaissance. Seattle Times reviewer Sandra Chait called these "emotionally resonant tales that, with moments of epiphany and psychological complexity, compare favorably with some of the best that 20th-century Modernism has produced." With an introduction by Mary Helen Washington.

"Face of a Stranger," by Yoji Yamaguchi (HarperPerennial, $11). A picaresque first novel about two Japanese picture brides who get duped into becoming prostitutes - and then take their revenge on the man who lured them to America.