RIDING THE YELLOW TROLLEY CAR by...

RIDING THE YELLOW TROLLEY CAR by William Kennedy (Penguin: $12.95; 494 pp.). The most engaging essays in this collection of nonfiction by the Pulitzer-winning novelist are the first-person accounts, including the visit to Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Barcelona that precipitated a search for an elusive trolley. The book reviews seem less interesting than the vivid descriptions of working on small-town newspapers and other minor-key adventures; although Kennedy adores James Joyce, he offers few insights into the embrangled universe of “Ulysses.”