Editor's Corner

Kevin Young, For the Confederate Dead, poems: A passionate pilgrimage embracing the contradictions of our “Confederate” legacy and the troubled nation where it still lingers. (Knopf)

Russell Banks, The Reserve, a novel: Part love story, part murder mystery, and set on the cusp of the Second World War, this deeply engaging new novel raises dangerous questions about class, politics, art, love, and madness. (Harper)

Sherman Alexie, Flight, a novel: A troubled teenager is shot back in time, resurfacing as an FBI agent during the civil rights era and an Indian child during the battle of Little Big Horn. Alexie’s first novel in ten years is an irrepressible, groundbreaking romp. (Grove)

Charles Baxter, The Soul Thief, a novel: A graduate student is drawn into a tangle of relationships that cause him to question his own identity, in Baxter’s compelling new novel. (Pantheon)

Ron Carlson, Five Skies, a novel: In Carlson’s first novel in thirty years, three men gather high in the Rocky Mountains for a construction project and end up revealing themselves in cautiously resonant, profound ways. A voice of striking intimacy and grace. (Viking)

Frank Bidart, Watching the Spring Festival, poems: In these darkly radiant poems, mortality forces the self to question the relation between the life actually lived and what was once the promise of transformation. (FSG)

Mark Doty, Dog Years, a memoir: In this radiantly unsentimental yet affecting meditation, Doty adopts a second dog as a companion for his dying partner. A moving memoir with reflections on animals and the lessons they teach us. (HarperCollins)

Mark Doty, Fire to Fire, new and selected poems: In this collection of the best from Doty’s seven books, alongside a generous selection of new work, Doty’s subjects echo and develop, his signature style encompassing both the plainspoken and the artfully wrought. (Harper)

Fanny Howe, The Lyrics, poems: With each poem a lament formed in a place of rest, this intense and vital collection responds to Howe’s long-term commitment to social justice, weaving through the inconsistencies of the human soul and the inherent violence of humans. (Graywolf)