Translator Husain Haddawy grew up hearing his grandmothers' friends re-tell these tales on winter nights in Baghdad, and he has put his love of them into this Norton edition, which he translated from the Arabic text by Muhsin Mahdi. Mahdi's authoritative "Nights" excludes such famous tales as "Sindbad the Sailor" and "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp," neither of which appeared in the original thirteenth-century manuscript. But never fear: readers who simply must have "Sindbad" and "Ali Baba" can purchase Haddawy's "Arabian Nights II," a collection of four unauthentic but much-loved tales (ARB51).  (ARB10, $16.95)