James Alan McPherson recommends Billy Verité, a novel by Rick Harsch: “A portrait of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and the human condition, in late twentieth-century America, from an absolutely original point of view.” (Steerforth)
David Gullette recommends Bite Every Sorrow, poems by Barbara Ras: “Barbara Ras has written a dazzling first book of poems-C. K. Williams’s choice for this year’s Walt Whitman Award. She favors long, opulent, clever lines, as when she falls for a man in Central America: ‘I loved the gesture for wait, two hands pumping the…
Maxine Kumin recommends Black Drum, poems by Enid Shomer: “Dazzling work by a Florida poet now living in Manhattan; Shomer weaves her net so skillfully that the reader is caught up in the story long before realizing the formal element that holds the squares in place. This book deserves serious attention.” (Arkansas)
Chase Twichell recommends Blood Thirsty Savages, poems by Adrian C. Louis(Time Being): “Louis writes rough, smart, honest poems that cut through all the polite twinges of political correctness. Tenderness is one side of the blade, and rage the other. His Native America is not the one we normally hear about, stripped as it is of…
James Alan McPherson recommends Blues and Trouble, short stories by Tom Piazzi: “In these stories, Tom Piazzi is touching the grain of actual, as opposed to imaginary, human life. He sees both the pain and the humor, the tragic as well as the comic.” (St. Martin’s)
Mary Gordon recommends Break Every Rule, essays by Carole Maso: “An original and compelling exploration of narrative strategies.” (Counterpoint)
Robert Boswell recommends Breathe Something Nice, stories by Emily Hammond: “This is an extraordinary collection of stories-beautifully written, artfully crafted, and utterly haunting. It should be required reading in every workshop in the country.” Reviewed in “Bookshelf” on page 229. (Nevada)
Gary Soto recommends A Mayan Astronomer in Hell’s Kitchen, poems by Martín Espada: “Martín Espada is a courageous poet who champions with grace the working class, the disheveled, the outcast, the ignored, and the imprisoned-all without sentiment. He gets better with every collection.” (Norton)
Madeline DeFrees recommends Adam Chooses, poems by Michael Spence: “These spare, understated poems have the elegant design and the formal ease we’ve come to expect of Michael Spence’s work. The stance is reminiscent of James Wright’s Green Wall poems in their escape from ‘that vacant Paradise’ to the celebration of the here and now.” (Rose…
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