Naked Beneath My Clothes: 2tales of a Revealing Nature

Stand-up comic Rudner observes male-female interaction and muses on such everyday activities as cooking, driving and restaurant dining in this collection of some 40 short, mostly autobiographical essays. Beneath the giddy, easygoing exterior of these new pieces that are not a part of her act, readers will sense an alert and practical observer. Rudner ponders pregnancy (``Life is tough enough without having someone kick you from the inside'') and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue (``Wearing swimsuits is a sport like ketchup is a vegetable''); and stories of being audited by the IRS and coming out $200 ahead and being proposed to by a man who simply declared, ``Here!'' while handing her the ring are entertaining but decidedly light. Lester's unexceptional cartoons seem superfluous. The collection consists mainly of fluff, but it's fan-pleasing fluff. (July)