THE PORTABLE DOROTHY PARKER by Dorothy...

THE PORTABLE DOROTHY PARKER by Dorothy Parker (Penguin: $13.95; 610 pp.). Originally published in 1944, this collection has been reissued in conjunction with the film “Mrs. Parker and Her Vicious Circle,” which opens later this week. It would probably surprise the author of “Big Blonde” to learn that her work has proved more durable than the other members of the Algonquin Round Table. Her well-crafted short stories remain models of their genre. Although not always profound, her criticism is invariably entertaining: She describes Dashiell Hammett as “so hard-boiled you could roll him on the White House lawn,” and skewers A. A. Milne with withering bons mots. This comprehensive anthology proves there was more to Parker than the popular image of a clever alcoholic whose life spoiled her talent and vice versa.