Editor's Shelf

Maxine Kumin recommends When Men Were the Only Models We Had, a memoir by Carolyn G. Heilbrun: “A study of the influences of Clifton Fadiman, Lionel Trilling, and Jacques Barzun on Heilbrun’s own literary development, but the book is far broader than that-really, a history of Columbia University in the turmoil of the sixties and…

Philip Levine recommends I Thought My Father Was God, true tales edited by Paul Auster: “Paul Auster has chosen one hundred eighty of the thousands of true tales submitted to NPR’s National Story Project and divided them into eight categories (animals, objects, war, love, etc.) and introduced them with sympathy and verve. The power, wit,…

Rosellen Brown recommends Inspired Sleep, a novel by Robert Cohen: “This novel, more gently than DeLillo’s White Noise, and with a wicked wit, takes an appalled look at Americans’ current work-weary, sleep-deprived, multitasking-unsatisfactory-lives and shows why it’s no wonder so many reach for the anodyne of pills. Sympathetic to some and hell on others, this…

Madeline DeFrees recommends I Want This World, poems by Margaret Szumowsky: “Margaret Szumowsky’s poems embody a global consciousness. In her first full-length collection, she reveals a lively energy, a sharp eye for the triumphs and the foibles of the human condition, and a wide-ranging empathy. These are poems the reader will return to again and…

Maxine Kumin recommends Chester Stubbs, a novel by Craig Miles Miller: “This vibrant first novel set in Pensacola is about a reformed redneck trying to reconnect with humanity. An adventure story with heart.” (Dennis McMillan)

Jane Shore recommends Heroin, poems by Charlie Smith: “A brilliant book by a poet whose work I have recently discovered. The ease and yet surprise of the language and the passion are compelling. Where have I been for his other four books?” (Norton)

Chase Twichell recommends Vortex of Indian Fevers, poems by Adrian C. Louis (TriQuarterly): “More passionate, funny, dead-serious poems from one of the most overlooked poets in America.”

Ellen Bryant Voigt recommends Changeable Thunder, poems by David Baker: “David Baker’s sixth book combines a flexible syllabic line, a highly idiomatic voice, and a wide range of reference in meditative poems of great intelligence and feeling.” (Arkansas)

Don Lee recommends Watermark, poetry and prose edited by Barbara Tran, Monique T. D. Truong, and Luu Truong Khoi: “A fascinating and surprising collection by a new generation of Vietnamese American writers, delving into identity and displacement with energy and grace.” (Temple)