Southwestbooksof theyear

"Blanket Weaving in the Southwest," the stunning product of a lifetime of research and another decade of editing, and "Las Misiones Antiguas," a photographic essay documenting the crumbling remains of 150 years of mission building in Baja California, Mexico, are two top picks for the 27th edition of Southwest Books of the Year. Both are very likely to become classics in their fields. Southwest Books of the Year began in 1977 in the Arizona Daily Star as an article in a Christmas Gift section. This year, a 16-page section underwritten primarily by the Friends of the Tucson/Pima Public Library and available at bookstores and public libraries statewide, features 34 top titles. They include memoirs, history, politics, ecology, fiction - short and long. In 1977, there were three panelists: W. David Laird, who today owns Books West Southwest, a mail order and Internet book service and was then a librarian of the University of Arizona; Don Powell, UA special collections librarian; and C.L. Sonnichsen, Arizona Historical Society senior editor. They were identified as "people who kept up with the Southwest book scene." They selected 27 titles, many that are as highly recommended today as they were then: Leslie Silko's "Ceremony," Byrd Baylor's "Yes Is Better Than No," and an enduring two-record LP from Western folk singer Katie Lee, "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle: A History of the American Cowboy in Song, Story and Verse." The selection process is pretty much the same - although it now includes five panelists. They work throughout the year. They concentrate on the areas of their special interests but generally will take a look at anything. For the first time, we have two panelists burning the midnight oil in other parts of the state: Patricia Etter, the curator of the Labriola National American Indian Data Center at Arizona State University, and Richard Quartaroli in special collections at Northern Arizona University Cline Library (and a veteran Grand Canyon boatman). The other panelists are Laird, now in his third year after some time off; Bruce Dinges, director of publications for the Arizona Historical Society; and Steven Phillips, manager of publications at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Deborah Bock, curator of the Elizabeth Steinheimer Children's Collection at Tucson/Pima Public Library, chose the children's books. Each of the five panelists is allowed to choose a maximum of 10 titles. When a title is selected by more than one panelist, it moves up a notch into the rarified air of a "Top Choice." Here are this year's top choices:

Four were selected by three panel members, including these two nonfiction works: "Blanket Weaving in the Southwest" (UA Press, $75), mentioned before, written by Joe Ben Wheat and edited by Ann Lane Hedlund; and "Las Misiones Antiguas: The Spanish Missions of Baja California" (University of New Mexico Press, $44.95) by Edward W. Vernon. The other two are fiction: "Brownsville" (Back Bay Books, $13.95), the debut short-story collection of a talented Hispanic writer, Oscar Casares; and "The Parrot Trainer" (St. Martin's Press, $24.95) by Swain Wolfe, a sly, comic send-up of contemporary archaeology. The books each selected by two panelists are: * "American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857" (Knopf, $26.95) by Sally Denton. * "Battle Rock: The Struggle Over a One-Room School in America's Vanishing West" (Public Affairs Books, $25) by William Celis. * "The Changing Mile Revisited: An Ecological Study of Vegetation Change With Time in the Lower Mile of an Arid and Semi-arid Region" (UA Press, $75) by Raymond M. Turner, Robert H. Webb, Janice E. Bowers and James Rodney Hastings. * "Exit Wounds: A Novel of Suspense" (William Morrow $24.95) by J.A. Jance. * "The Guaymas Chronicles: La Mandadera" (University of New Mexico Press, $24.95) by David E. Stuart. * "The Mountains Know Arizona: Images of the Land and Stories of Its People" (Arizona, Arizona Highways Books $39.95) by Rose Houk, photographs by Michael Collier. * "The River in Winter: New and Selected Essays" (University of New Mexico, $21.95) by Stanley Crawford. At 6:30 tonight, KUAT-TV's news magazine "Arizona Illustrated" host Bill Buckmaster will talk with panelists Etter and Dinges about this year's selections. From 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, the Arizona Historical Society will have its annual Book Fair, organized by Dinges, with many authors in attendance. The fair is held in the historical society's auditorium, 949 E. Second St. Call the Arizona Historical Society at 628-5774 for more information.