Philip Levine recommends Boy, poems by Patrick Phillips. "For me this is a real discovery. In many of the poems—’Nathaniel’ or ‘Matinee’ or ‘Star Quilt’—the language is quiet and accurate, the details precise, and the emotions—though never insisted upon—are there, unquestionable and complex. Phillips never dawdles or repeats himself; he gets down what matters…
Gary Soto, Partly Cloudy, poems: A humorous and tender collection of poems giving testimony to the trials and folly of being in young, sweet, uncontrollable teenage love. (Harcourt)
You might think that Michael Chabon is simply trying to twist your tongue when he writes sentences like this: "She had on one of those glittering, opalescent Intergalactic Amazon leotard-and-tights combinations that seem to be made of cavorite and adamantium and do not so much cling to a woman's body as seal her off from…
Joyce Peseroff recommends History of Hurricanes, poems by Teresa Cader: "Cader’s third book examines the mind, heart and soul of contemporary life through domestic speculations, historical wonder, and a response to the natural world that’s both lyrical and visceral. Her sharp observations on the precariousness of what we possess—knowledge, love, and joy—enrich the reader’s…
Shopping for Porcupine: A Life in Arctic Alaska, a memoir by Seth Kantner (Milkweed): Because of its engagement with the American imagination, authentic Alaska is all too often lost in overly romanticized tales of survival, or politically motivated descriptions of "barren, lifeless tundra." The best antidote for this, perhaps, is a rooted literary voice that…
A Muriel Rukeyser Reader Poems and prose by Muriel Rukeyser, edited by Jan Heller Levi. W.W. Norton & Co., $25.00 cloth. Reviewed by M. L. Rosenthal. It is a delight to see Muriel Rukeyser in print again. Her intimately self-searching lyricism and her identification with the world’s insulted and injured have a special place in…
Sherman Alexie, Face, poems and short prose: In his first full collection in nine years, Alexie shows his celebrated passion and wit while also exploring new directions. (Hanging Loose)
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, a memoir by Haruki Murakami (Knopf): This plain-speaking, suggestive memoir by the prolific and internationally acclaimed novelist Murakami is part runner’s diary, part writer’s handbook, part spiritual meditation. "Writing honestly about running and writing honestly about myself are nearly the same thing," he states. His example…
"We should contribute to the surprise of creation," a country pastor says during a sermon in one of Charles Baxter's stories, "by exercising charity." "Surprise" and "charity" — these two words suggest both the form and the theme of Charles Baxter's brilliant new collection, A Relative Stranger. The surprising always happens in these wonderful stories…
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