TO BEGIN AGAIN: Stories and Memoirs 1908-1929...

TO BEGIN AGAIN: Stories and Memoirs 1908-1929 by M. F. K. Fisher (Pantheon: $12; 179 pp.). Recalling her anger at being accused of lying as a child, M. F. K. Fisher concludes, “I do not lie. But I have never seen any reason to be dull, and since I was less than 4 I have enjoyed entertaining and occasionally startling anyone who may be listening.” These previously uncollected essays and anecdotes prove that Fisher never was dull, even while discovering her vocation as a writer. She transforms the Whittier and Laguna Beach of her childhood into enchanted realms filled with adventure, eccentric relatives and, of course, good food. Admirers of Fisher’s work will enjoy discovering the roots of her unpretentious but entertaining style in these early pieces.