Desesperanto by Marilyn Hacker
Marilyn Hacker, Desesperanto, poems: In her brilliant tenth collection, with typical wit, brio, and intelligence, Hacker refines the themes of loss, exile, and return that have consistently informed her work. (Norton)
Review
Fire by Wesley McNair
Maxine Kumin also recommends Fire by Wesley McNair: “Poems personal yet universal by a master craftsman with a remarkable ear and memory.” (Godine)
Flame Tree by Kevin Hart
Mark Strand recommends Flame Tree, poems by Kevin Hart: “For me, Kevin Hart is the best Australian poet of the past twenty-five years. Elegant, deeply philosophical, and utterly without pomposity.” (Paper Bark)
rev. of North True South Bright by Dan Beachy-Quick
North True South Bright, poems by Dan Beachy-Quick (Alice James):The poems in this first book could belong to no other, so assured and singular is Beachy-Quick’s voice. These poems appear before us with the urgency of prayer, the fever pitch of a spell being cast, and the desire to comprehend the mysteries of language. Words…
Anything Goes by Madison Smartt Bell
Madison Smartt Bell, Anything Goes, a novel: Showing stunning versatility in his thirteenth book, Bell follows a twenty-year-old bass player, Jesse Melungeon, over the course of a year as he traverses the South with his bar band. (Pantheon)
My Misspent Youth by Meghan Daum
Dan Wakefield recommends My Misspent Youth, essays by Meghan Daum: “A first book of Didion-like essays on contemporary life, with wit and insight and graceful prose.” (Open City)
rev. of How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
How to Breathe Underwater, stories by Julie Orringer: The three stories that open this debut collection are pure gems, rollicking along with scintillating prose and surety. Just when you think they will stop—and lesser writers would stop—they keep going with inexorable momentum. Almost all of the stories involve youths imperiled—by accidents, illness, fate, and, most…
Two Lives in 1950s New York by Anne Bernays and Justin Kaplan
Anne Bernays and Justin Kaplan, Two Lives in 1950s New York, a memoir: In alternating chapters, Bernays and Kaplan charmingly recount their youth, courtship, and new careers in publishing and writing in Manhattan during the fifties. (Morrow)
So Ask: Essays, Conversations, and Interviews by Philip Levine
Philip Levine, So Ask: Essays, Conversations, and Interviews: With his trademark humor and down-to-earth intelligence, Levine mixes memoir and criticism, reflecting on his working-class Detroit roots, his apprenticeship with John Berryman, his years teaching, and other stages in his formation as a poet. (Michigan)