Maxine Kumin, Bringing Together, poems: These poems from nine earlier collections crackle with intensity, offering Kumin’s refreshing and singular perspective on everyday experiences, examining the pain of loss, the idealism of youth, and the endurance of the natural world. (Norton)
Gerald Stern, What I Can’t Bear Losing, essays: Tenderly touching upon a number of events, from Sundays spent in Calvinist Pittsburgh to being shot in Newark, Stern provides magnificent lessons on the awakening of an artistic consciousness. (Norton)
Carl Phillips, The Rest of Love, poems: With his signature terse line and syntax, Phillips examines the myths that we make and return to in the name of desire, delving into the constant tension between abandon and control. (FSG)
Jay Neugeboren, Open Heart, memoir: In this inspiring book, Neugeboren thoughtfully recounts his emergency bypass surgery and ruminates on the state of doctor-patient relationships through discussions with four friends from high school, all prominent physicians. (Houghton Mifflin)
Philip Levine recommends What I Can’t Bear Losing, a memoir by Gerald Stern: “This book would have been more accurately titled What I Can’t Lose, since it is made up of a series of essays that deal with the images and events that have haunted Stern all his life. As in his poems, Stern is…
C. D. Wright, One Big Self, text and photographs: Wright and photographer Deborah Luster collaborate to produce intimate, haunting, and oddly gorgeous portraits of prisoners in Louisiana, giving voice to their isolation, heartache, and individualism. (Twin Palms)
Tobias Wolff, Old School, a novel: A scholarship student at a New England prep school vies for a literary prize in Wolff’s marvelous first novel, and the boy ends up being seduced by the irresistible power of self-creation. (Knopf)
Philip Levine recommends Fire, poems by Wesley McNair: “Is there any poet around who can catch the singular qualities of American voices better than Wesley McNair? If so, I haven’t found her. In this, his fifth book of poetry-and for me his most beautiful and moving-he reunites a dismal collection of people (what we call…
Philip Levine recommends Season of the Body, essays by Brenda Miller: “Personal essays that explore the relationships between the self and the other, the other being the creator, the world, the social order, the clan, the beloved, and more intimately the reader, the body, the soul. The writing is graceful and rich but never ornate…
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