THAT'S AMORE: A Son Remembers Dean Martin

Celebrity-watchers keep tabloids in business hoping to catch a glimpse of the "real" side of favorite movie stars. This scattershot memoir by Dean Martin's youngest son proves that sometimes the image on the screen is a lot more colorful than the father who comes home and enjoys a slice of bread before dinner. Martin's affectionate, innocuous and slightly dull book of memories will be a treat only for true Dino fans, affording them an intimate look at the performer at home. The anecdotes have an "I guess you had to be there" flavor ("One of Dad's favorite jokes, which he would pull when we went out to dinner, was to be having a conversation and absent-mindedly butter his big hands as if they were pieces of bread") that should appeal to those who enjoy the humor in Reader's Digest. The younger Martin's focus is strictly Dino-as-Dad, with very few peeks into his father's work on screen or in the recording studio. Life at 601 Mountain Drive was pretty idyllic, with parents who didn't mind their kids shooting guns inside the house and who were blasé when older son Dean Paul bought a tank. The latter part of the book is sparked to life by a too-close-for-comfort association with Charles Manson and the tragic fatal plane crash of Dean Paul, which precipitated Dino's health deterioration. More than 100 b&w photos. (Feb.)

Forecast:Those looking for a companion to Nick Tosches's definitive Dino: High Living in the Dirty Business of Dreams (1992) won't find much juice here.