FICTIONSOME CAN WHISTLE by Larry McMurtry (Pocket:...

FICTION

SOME CAN WHISTLE by Larry McMurtry (Pocket: $5.95). Continuing to mine the vein of contemporary Western life, McMurtry presents us with a corral full of characters.

SPANISH SERENADE by Jennifer Blake (Fawcett Columbine: $8.95). Pilar Marie Sandoval y Serna, an 18th-Century ingenue, arranges her own kidnaping by the nobleman El Leon.

SUCCESSION by Andrew MacAllan (Headline: $9.95). Multigenerational saga of the personal and business fortunes won and lost by three families who co-own a trading company founded in the 1800s.

TORNADO ALLEY by Craig Nova (Delta: $10.95). An accidental meeting on a Northern California road between a young woman drifter and a married man is cataclysmic.

TEKWAR by William Shatner (Ace: $4.50). It’s the year 2120 and an ex-cop is released from suspended animation to quash the acid reign of a futuristic drugcartel.

NONFICTION

I WANT TO GROW HAIR, I WANT TO GROW UP, I WANT TO GO TO BOISE by Erma Bombeck (HarperCollins: $5.50). Young cancer patients share their fondest desires, humor and fears with the emphatic writer.

ARCHITECTS OF FORTUNE: Mies van der Rohe and the Third Reich by Elaine S. Hochman (Fromm: $11.95). Hochman unravels the mystery surrounding this modernist architect’s relationship with the Nazis.

HOT TODDY: The True Story of Hollywood’s Most Shocking Crime--The Murder of Thelma Todd by Andy Edmonds (Avon: $4.95). Though Thelma Todd was found brutally beaten behind the wheel of her parked car, her death was nevertheless labeled a suicide.

JUST A NURSE: From Clinic to Hospital Ward, Battleground to Cancer Unit--The Hearts and Minds of Nurses Today by Janet Kraegel and Mary Kachoyeanos (Dell: $4.95). Nurses put a face on a demanding, sometimes anonymous, thankless career through personal anecdotes.

CRAZY ENGLISH: The Ultimate Joy Ride Through Our Language by Richard Lederer (Pocket: $5.95). The perils of English (not to mention as a second language) are entirely unpredictable due to “conspicuously absent” logic.

SELF-HELP / REFERENCE

DON’T MISS OUT: The Ambitious Student’s Guide to Financial Aid, 15th Edition, 1991-1992 by Anna and Robert Leider (Dearborn: $5). Provides information on hundreds of scholarships, grants and loan resources.

GETTING INTO COLLEGE: A Guide for Students and Parents: Revised Edition by Frank Leana (Hill & Wang: $8.95). What to do--and avoid doing--to gain admission to the college of your choice.