Washington Is Also Reading . . . Selling Well in Local Independent Bookstores

This may end up being the summer of Sudoku. Or Su Doku. But the name variance is the least frustrating part of this numbers-placing game of logic that originated in Britain and has become a phenomenon the world over. These puzzles are wildly popular in the D.C. area, fueled in part by their recent introduction as a daily feature in The Washington Post and the Express newspapers. Those clamoring for more than a quotidian dose have a number of just-published books to satiate the craving. They include: The Book of Sudoku (Overlook, $9.95), volumes #1 and #2, both by Michael Mepham; The Essential Book of Su Doku (Atria, $9.95), by Peter Sinden; Sudoku Easy and Sudoku Easy to Hard (Griffin, $6.95 each), compiled by the New York Times' crossword savant, Will Shortz, with second "Easy to Hard" volume coming in October; New York Post Su Doku 1 (Collins, $7.95) by Wayne Gould (volumes 2 and 3 forthcoming); and finally, for those exasperated souls looking for relief, there's Su Doku for Dummies (Wiley, $9.99), by Andrew Heron and Edmund James. (NF)