FICTION

STRANGERS by Rosie Thomas (Pocket: $4.50). Two strangers (a housewife and a debonair bachelor) are hurled together--with some unexpected results--in a bomb blast while Christmas shopping at a department store.

THE FIVE BELLS AND BLADEBONE by Martha Grimes (Dell: $4.50). All clues lead to an English pub when Scotland Yard’s Richard Jury and his partner, Melrose Plant, are summoned after a corpse is found in an antique rosewood secretary.

KINDRED by Octavia E. Butler (Beacon Press: $8.95). In an instance, a black woman from the 1970s finds herself in the antebellum South, saving a plantation owner’s son from drowning. It becomes apparent that she must keep the boy alive to protect her lineage.

DANCING AT THE RASCAL FAIR by Ivan Doig (Perennial: $8.95). A Scottish sheep farmer who emigrated to Montana and his family are indelibly affected by the love he lost.

ANSWERED PRAYERS: The Unfinished Novel by Truman Capote (Plume: $7.95). Capote’s last writings about the avaricious, self-indulgent, sexually permissive jet-set circle he knew well.

NONFICTION

SMALL COMFORTS: More Comments and Comic Pieces by Tom Bodett (Addison-Wesley: $7.95). Subtle and pithy humor from National Public Radio essayist on such weighty issues as the need to wear glasses, guilt and the mail.

HOLLYWOOD ANECDOTES by Paul F. Boller Jr. and Ronald L. Davis (Ballantine: $10.95). Chronicle of unknown vignettes on Hollywood censorship, directors, sets, promotions from nickelodeons to Panavision.

RIDIN’ THE MOON IN TEXAS: Word Paintings by Ntozake Shange (St. Martin’s: $9.95). Poetic renderings evoked from Shange’s ruminations on some of her favorite art pieces.

I’M WITH THE BAND: Confessions of a Groupie by Pamela Des Barres (Jove: $3.95). Des Barres kept a journal of her encounters and escapades with ‘60s rock personalities.

THE SAC AND FOX INDIANS by William T. Hagan (University of Oklahoma: $12.95). Narrative of the aftermath and battle between white settlers and the Sac and Fox Indians, at Bad Axe River, Wis.

SELF HELP / REFERENCE

OFFICIAL 1989 BLACKBOOK PRICE GUIDE OF UNITED STATES COINS, PAPER MONEY AND POSTAGE STAMPS, 3 vols. by Marc Hudgeons (Ballantine: $4.95 each). How to buy and evaluate these collectibles.

WEEKLY READER: 60 Years of News for Kids, 1928-1988 by editors of Weekly Reader (World Almanac: $11.95). Compilation of this children’s periodical, which was initiated and designed to bring the news to a youngster’s level.