Finally, DeLillo's back from the 'Underworld'

Last week, I wrote about two spring books sure to pique reader interest, but it turns out I left out the most important title of all.

Ten years after the release of his last novel, Underworld, Don DeLillo is back in business. The National Book Award winner, author of White Noise, Libra and other acclaimed titles, is scheduled to bring us a new novel in June, titled Falling Man.

The novel "traces the way the events of Sept. 11 kindled or rekindled relationships, reconfigured our emotional landscape, our memory, and our perception of the world," according to an e-mail I received from his publicist at Scribner. "Falling Man is a direct encounter with the enormous force of history."

I have to admit that while Underworld was a dazzling display of prose pyrotechnics, it left me unsatisfied. Many jaw-dropping passages but not enough heart. In assessing the book, a Library Journal critic said much the same thing. "DeLillo is one of our most gifted contemporary authors whose works belong in all academic and public libraries, yet one suspects that his truly 'great' novel is yet to come," the critic wrote.

Will Falling Man fill that bill?

If there's anyone up to the task of wrestling with such broad issues, it's DeLillo, whose literary confidence is stunning. And if there's a subject that can put a writer to the ultimate test, it's 9/11.

We'll find out how he does with it June 5, when the novel hits the shelves. "Please save the date," said the e-mail.

As if they had to ask.

AND SPEAKING OF SAVING THE DATE . . .

The Denver Public Library is sponsoring two events of note:

• Monday, best-selling author Susan Isaacs, right, appears at the Central Library to discuss her work and read from her latest novel, Past Perfect (reviewed today on Page 34). Question- and-answer and a book signing follow. The free event begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Level B2 Conference Center.

• April 4, the Evil Companions Literary Award honors novelist T.C. Boyle. The award recognizes writers who are from the West or who write about the region. Boyle, who lives in California and has set several books there, qualifies on both counts - and I hear he's an awesome speaker, to boot. Tickets cost $65, which covers cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. The event at the Oxford Hotel begins at 6 p.m.

Information on Isaacs: 720-865- 1206. Evil Companions: 720-865- 2051.

THING 1, THING 2 . . . AND ANOTHER THING

To some people, a cat wearing a hat is way more than that! And those people will certainly want to buy The Annotated Cat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats, by Philip Nel (Random House, $30). In honor of the 50th birthday of the Seuss classic The Cat in the Hat, Nel painstakingly analyzes the story and its sequel, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, page by page and often line by line.

At one point, he muses that the author's probable inspiration for the giant snowstorm in the second book was a blizzard that dumped 22 inches in Seuss' hometown of Springfield, Mass., when Seuss was 11. At another, he notes that some people believe that the "spreading pink stain" that makes a mess of the snow in front of the kids' house was Seuss' commentary on the Cold War.

Cold War? Jeez. And to think I just wanted to know if that darned cat would get the place cleaned up before Mom gets home.