From today's New York Post, by Liz Smith

October 13, 2004 -- 'WHOEVER FORSAKES the old way for the new knows what he is losing, but not what he will find," goes the Sicilian proverb.

Many moons ago, I suggested one of my favorite writers for the sequel to Mario Puzo's grand opus, "The Godfather." Random House didn't take my suggestion, having conducted their own search for an author in 2002. They picked Mark Winegardner, a novelist whose work has been compared to E.L. Doctorow and John Dos Passos.

So now "The Godfather Returns" is here, and a mighty wow of a read it is. I couldn't put it down and spent two feverish days and nights putting off everything else to finish the saga of the Corleones.

How can there be a sequel when the original story seemed to end with almost everyone dead? Well, Winegardner has chosen to flesh out Puzo's work with a "timeline," going back to 1945 and coming up through the years to end in 1980. The book is written in segments, and many details and happenings are added. It is very well done. I suppose some "Godfather" addicts will carp, but I think it's the read of the fall, along with Peter Evans' non-fiction word-of-mouth hit "Nemesis," which deals with Bobby Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis.

I don't want to spoil anyone's reading of "The Godfather Returns," so let me just say — get it. Find out what Fredo's real problem was, and stuff like that!