cover image Perfect Lies

Perfect Lies

. Doubleday Books, $18.95 (364pp) ISBN 978-0-385-24738-2

Baseball, as Hallberg ( The Rub of the Green ) notes in his introduction to this anthology of golf stories, lends itself to the depth and scope of the novel; golf ``thrives in a smaller literary area . . . which allows more personal conflicts to play themselves out.'' Hallberg has selected 23 tales, spanning the period from 1912 to the present. The earliest of these, Owen Johnson's ``Even Threes,'' is a surprisingly modern story of two duffers who play an almost perfect round and then can find no one to believe their accomplishment. While not all of the selections are truly ``golf'' stories (the game is peripheral to the storyline in F. Scott Fitzgerald's ``Winter Dreams,'' for example), the lineup of authors is impressive. Among them: P. G. Wodehouse, John Updike, Ethan Canin, Walker Percy and Ring Lardner, whose ``A Caddy's Diary'' captures precisely his unique style and perspective. A perfect gift for the dedicated golfer, this collection will offer solace on rained-out weekends. (June)