Self-Consciousness

``Updike's memoir--it is by no means an autobiography, but rather, as the title brilliantly suggests, a thoughtful communing with past selves--is, as expected, wonderfully written. It is also disarmingly frank about certain aspects of the writer's life,'' maintained PW. Updike discusses his psoriasis and stuttering, his parents and failures as husband and father, his politics, the ways in which God permeates his life, and his profound commitment to writing. (July)