THE FRAN LEBOWITZ READER

They say that age brings wisdom--or resignedness, at least--but every time you see Fran Leibowitz, she's just as hangdog as ever. Hey, Fran, how about writing a few more humor columns? That'll cheer you up! Or maybe not, but until she writes more columns, we'll have to make do with The Fran Leibowitz Reader. This paperback collects her two bestsellers of the 1970s into one volume, Metropolitan Life and Social Studies. Back then, her books defined knowing, urban cool. Guess what? They still do. If you were a mite too young to appreciate Leibowitz's take on that libertine decade the first time around ("Notes on Trick," anyone?), now is an excellent time to make her acquaintance. The pieces still hold up as good writing and deliver plenty of sharp laughs. Would that we had her jaundiced take on the '90s, which could use some Leibowitz-style deflating. Come back, Fran! Come back!