Pansy Chang
       New cellist in the Oxford String Quartet; faculty member, Miami University:
       The Stories of John Cheever (Vintage; $16).
       “I particularly enjoy Cheever's frank descriptions of American post-World War II society, which reveal his characters in all their humanity, stripped of the appearances that are typically maintained in public. His stories are at once comforting and sobering as you realize, once again, that people repeatedly encounter the same issues, regardless of the time period.”

       Randall Wolfe
       Artistic director, Cincinnati Boychoir:
       Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole by Dr. Jerri Nielsen (Hyperion; $14.95).
       “It's fascinating to read about Antarctica and the challenges she faced with her cancer (discovered in a self-administered biopsy). What was also fascinating to me was how often these scientists made music down there. My hunch was that a group of human beings in one place for a year would have to express themselves with music. Sure enough, Jerri's one non-essential item she took with her was her Celtic harp, and a famous physicist brought a violin. A bunch of people formed a band and played every Friday night for all the scientists.”

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