AP - "85 Years of Great Writing in Time" (Time Books, 560 pages, $26.95): Those of us who traffic in words for a living feel somewhat under siege these days, like a Donkey Kong machine sitting forlornly in the corner of a ramshackle pizza parlor while teenagers on the sidewalk outside play Grand Theft Auto on their handhelds.

AP - The Grascals, "Keep On Walkin'" (Rounder)

AP - Albert Hammond Jr., "Como Te Llama?" (Black Seal)

AP - The Hold Steady, "Stay Positive" (Vagrant Records)

AP - Black Kids, "Partie Traumatic" (Almost Gold)

AP - Sitting in the back of a darkened arena, a Celtics hat pulled low on his head, a black warm-up suit covering his lanky frame, Dominican bachata and merengue star Juan Luis Guerra cuts an unassuming figure.

AP - John Mellencamp, "Life, Death, Love, and Freedom" (Hear Music)

AP - Randy Travis, "Around The Bend" (Warner Bros.)

AP - Abject misery has never been choreographed with such wit and pizazz as it is in the new production of Christopher Durang's "The Marriage of Bette and Boo."

AP - In Sam Shepard's latest play, "Kicking a Dead Horse," which opened Monday at off-Broadway's Public Theater, the iconic writer treads on familiar ground — the wide-open frontiers of the American West.

AP - It's difficult to separate the movie from its mystique.

AP - "Killer View" (G.P. Putnam's Sons. 340 pages. $24.95), by Ridley Pearson: Only Ridley Pearson could take a timeless children's tale and deftly turn it into a series of engaging thrillers.