Marie Howe, What the Living Do, poems: Howe’s powerful, much-anticipated second collection gives us stories of childhood, its thicket of sex and sorrow and joy, of boys and girls growing into men and women, and of a beloved brother who in his dying offered lessons on how to be most alive. (Norton)
Dan Wakefield, Going All the Way, a novel: First published in 1970, this coming-of-age novel of the 1950’s, described as “The Midwestern Catcher in the Rye,” has been reprinted in a new edition with a foreword by Kurt Vonnegut. A film based on Wakefield’s own adaptation was released this past fall. (Indiana)
Ann Beattie, My Life, Starring Dara Falcon, a novel: Beattie’s sixth novel is narrated, with soaring irony and comic verve, by Jean Warner, a young bride in New England whose life and marriage are spun helter-skelter by the arrival of Dara Falcon, a brilliant, pathological liar. (Knopf)
Richard Ford, Women with Men, three stories: Three long stories which once again demonstrate Ford’s mastery. Two of the stories are set in contemporary Paris, the third in Montana-all about men trying to fathom the women they love. (Knopf)
Maxine Kumin, Telling the Barn Swallow, essays edited by Emily Grosholz: Lively analyses by twelve fellow poets of Kumin’s diction and prosody, her literary forebears, and characteristic thematic patterns. Also included here are provocative poems, some published here for the first time, to or about Maxine Kumin. (New England)
Anne Bernays and Justin Kaplan, The Language of Names: What We’re Called and Why It Matters, nonfiction: Bernays and Kaplan present a fascinating and very readable account of names and naming in contemporary society, touching on class structure, ethnic and religious practices, manners, and everyday life. (Simon & Schuster)
Robert Boswell, American Owned Love, a novel: In his fourth novel, Boswell examines the unique border culture along the Rio Grande, unforgettably weaving together disparate people-Anglos, Mexicans, lovers, children-as they wade through this particular world’s infinite possibilities and strangeness. (Knopf)
Maxine Kumin, Selected Poems 1960-1990, poems: A rich and varied selection of poems from nine previous collections, spanning three decades of work. Kumin’s voice is full of strength and grace as she meditates on her New Hampshire farm, her family, and the natural world. (Norton)
Philip Levine, Unselected Poems, poems: This provocative, quirky volume collects the best of Levine’s work-some of his favorites-that he was unable to include in his New Selected Poems, which is now out of print, and in his previous three books. (Greenhouse Review)
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