Ron Carlson recommends A Proper Knowledge, a novel by Michelle Latiolais: “Here is a deep look at a doctor who works with autistic children, so frustrated with science and the tiny progress he’s making with the young people with whom he works, that he comes to life himself. Latiolais writes sharply and beautifully about the…
Jane Hirshfield recommends The Opposite of Clairvoyance, poems by Gillian Wegener: “This is a first collection of uncommonly sure-handed grace. These poems, many set in California’s Central Valley, mix the recognizable with the revelatory in a way quietly but entirely Wegener’s own. They see exactly what was there to be seen, but wasn’t, and then…
David St. John recommends Litanies Near Water, poems by Paula Clausson Buck: “Paula Clausson Buck’s latest collection is a stunning and quietly elegant series of meditations upon the power of human endurance and the grace of the imagination. Sometimes these lyrics feel prayer-like in their simplicity, and timeless in their daily revelations.” (LSU)
Robert Boswell recommends House of Bone, poems by Sheila Black: "This is a complex and surprising collection, a very mature first book of poetry. House of Bone is beautifully written, and the poems are genuinely moving. Sheila Black deserves a wide and enthusiastic audience." (Custom Words)
Maxine Kumin recommends Ultra-Talk, essays by David Kirby: “Kirby’s essays leapfrog from remembering Johnny Cash’s ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ while touring Sicily to a piece called ‘Give Me Life Coarse and Rank,’ a disquisition on dithyrambs and more in Whitman. My favorite essay, ‘Shrouded in a Fiery Mist,’ examines the eroticism of Saint Teresa of Avila…
Philip Levine recommends Space Walk, poems by Tom Sleigh: “Sleigh’s reviewers use words such as ‘adept,’ ‘elegant,’ and ‘classical.’ Reading his new book, I find all those terms beside the point, even though not one is inaccurate. I am struck by the human dramas that are enacted in these poems, the deep encounters that often…
James Alan McPherson recommends The Interloper, a novel by Antoine Wilson: "The Interloper is an admirable exploration of the complex emotional bond that develops between an imprisoned man and another male, bent on vengeance, who employs the affectations of a female. The exploration of this developing bond will enlighten the novel’s readers. Antoine Wilson, a…
Gerald Stern recommends My Body, new and selected poems by Joan Larkin: "Over the decades of writing, Joan Larkin has proved her mastery, whether the poem is mythic, elegiac, or biographical. Her honesty is overwhelming, but it is coupled with poetic cunning, gorgeous language, and a rhythm and tone so precise and appropriate that it…
Maxine Kumin recommends That or Which, and Why: A Usage Guide for Thoughtful Writers and Editors, by Evan Jenkins: “A pragmatic and wonderfully witty collection of advice on slippery usage issues. Even if you think you know it all, read it for entertainment.” (Routledge)
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