OVERVIEW Words Wrapped Up It's been a year of strong fiction about strong women--and 1998 boasted other strengths as well. BY SUSAN WICKSTROM 243-2122 EXT. 328

Thank Monica Lewinsky for making 1998 the year of the enterprising intern--just wait until her book comes out. Whether you consider her a victim or vixen, her saga is sad, sordid and a poor reflection on women (remember Linda Tripp?). But the world of literature made up for the stink of scandal by providing several excellent examples of fiction by women, books that present strong, intelligent female characters who survive horrible situations but would never stoop to blowing Bubba. Here are 1998's top 10 books about women who live though tribulations: On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon by Kaye Gibbons (Putnam, 208 pages, $22.95): A genteel Southern woman recalls a life of battling her abusive father as the Civil War raged. The Voyage of the Narwahl by Andrea Barrett (W.W. Norton, 416 pages, $24.95): Two 19th-century women patiently await the return of their men from an arctic expedition--one of whom brings home an Eskimo woman as a souvenir. The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat (Soho Press, 312 pages, $23): A Haitian woman and her lover are persecuted by Dominicans in 1937. Charming Billy by Alice McDermott (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 256 pages, $25): A long-suffering Irish-American woman marries a popular drunk. Nobody's Girl by Antonya Nelson (Scribner, 288 pages, $22): A hip high-school teacher sleeps with a cute student. Birds of America by Lorrie Moore (Knopf, 291 pages, $23): Short stories about women, often neurotic, who roll with the punches of modern life. Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen (Random House, 272 pages, $23): A battered wife escapes with her child to begin a new life. Cavedweller by Dorothy Allison (E. P. Dutton, 352 pages, $24.95): A woman who escaped a violent relationship fights to regain the children she left behind. My Sister from the Black Lagoon by Laurie Fox (Simon & Schuster, 304 pages, $23): A mentally ill girl drives her family nuts. A Lover's Almanac by Maureen Howard (Viking, 288 pages, $24.95): An artist breaks up with her lover on New Year's Eve, 1999. HAPPIEST BOOK-WORLD SURPRISES OF 1998 * Angel books are dying off. * Self-publishing is waning. * Bookstores are getting more selective when choosing author readings, and 23rd Avenue Books is kicking ass with huge names. * Peter Ho Davies' The Ugliest House in the World, winner of the 1998 Oregon Book Award in fiction, has neither references to flyfishing nor the word "river" in its title. * Barnes & Noble didn't merge with US Bank to sell books at ATMs around the world. PREDICTIONS FOR 1999 * Bookstores will be crammed with annoying spiritual, religious and self-help tomes as we prepare for the year 2000. Work by serious authors will take an interesting metaphysical spin as the new millennium approaches. * Robert Sullivan will win the Oregon Book Award in nonfiction for Meadowlands: Wilderness Adventures at the Edge of a City, even though the book is about a New Jersey dumping ground. * Chuck Palahniuk will achieve godlike status with the release of Fight Club, the movie based on his novel of the same title; it stars Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter and Brad Pitt. * Literacy service groups such as SMART will replace social book-discussion clubs as the trendy literati thing to do. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published December 29, 1998