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Margaret Sweeney is a native Vermonter and a recent graduate of Bennington College, where she studied literature and writing. She loves fiction, most specifically short stories, and was a fiction editor for plain china, Bennington's anthology of undergraduate writing. She is so excited to take on the role of First Editions Director!
This haunting novel tackles the subject of Katrina head on, focusing in on one family and the challenges they face in the storm’s wake. There is Cora, the older of the Boisdore sisters, who refused to leave and is so traumatized she can barely piece together what she saw. Then there is Del, who is hesitant to leave the safe bubble of New York City to face the tragedy. Their parents, Joe and Tess, find their marriage in shambles, and they are unable to pick up the pieces. Babst is a New Orleans native, and her love for the city shines through in her poetic descriptions of the damage and the characters’ nostalgic longings for a home that will never be the same again. Her characters, while facing personal tragedies, also come face to face with the political and racial implications of the way the storm and subsequent evacuation were handled by the city. This is a terrific multigenerational family novel, and also an important historical document.
I fell in love with this book after only two or three pages. It was something about the rhythm and the unique voicing. The novel recounts the death of Abraham Lincoln’s son Willie in 1863. However, it is not your average historical novel; it reads more like a long form poem, or an experimental play, and though Lincoln and his son are at its center, the heart of the novel is the chorus of souls in the graveyard where much of the action takes place. As these souls recount their tales of love, loss, pain and humor, tales that run parallel to Lincoln’s own story, a sense of collective history emerges, a sense of history, in this case the Civil War era, as it should be told. It is a must read for lovers of historical fiction, alternative histories, and unconventional narratives, and an important model for a new era of genre-bending fiction.
I haven’t been as interested in or riveted by a short story collection in quite a while. Over the course of this collection, Benz brings to life a diverse and life-filled chorus of voices, and no two are even close to the same. From an adolescent boy in the inner city to a sixteenth-century monk, there is no shortage of variety. And yet, despite the consistent sense of contrast, Benz manages to unify characters with their experiences of violence, their lives on the fringes of society, and their questioning and rebuking social and moral norms. I have a feeling Benz will have a lot to say and a lot more voices to inhabit in the years to come.
Zadie Smith’s latest oscillates between two central narratives: the narrator’s reminiscences about taking dance lessons with her childhood friend Tracey, and her later professional and personal relationship with a do-gooding pop singer. As a child, the (unnamed) narrator is always second best to Tracey, whose physical skill and presence is captivating. She can’t find her own image in the old dance films she is entranced with, and even as an adult she finds herself somehow overshadowed by both the woman she works for and the underrepresented people she is determined to help. This is, therefore, a sweeping tale of identity. Both racial identity (she is of mixed descent) and otherwise—it begs the question, how do we find ourselves when there is no map to begin with?
I am probably the world’s biggest Anne Carson fan, so I may admit to a little bias, but her newest project is especially exciting to me. This new collection is presented as a series of bifold chapbooks on beautiful paper. They are meant to be read in any order, and in any combination. Carson has always straddled the line between classical scholar and experimental poet, so avid readers won’t be surprised to find that in addition to poems she has also included pieces of lectures, notes, and ephemera. A treat that can be read again and again, and comes as a beautiful box set that makes a great looking gift.
What happens when two turtles find a hat and it looks good on both of them? Naturally, because they’re nice turtles who like to keep things fair, they decide that no one should get the hat. But one of them just can’t keep his mind off it. And therein lies the conflict of Klassen’s latest. With a subtly hilarious plot conveyed mostly through the turtles’ eyes, and gorgeous desert-toned illustrations, this book is sure to become a laugh-out-loud classic for kids of all ages. There are also lots of good lessons to be learned about sharing and friendship.
A widely misunderstood poet, Emily Dickinson was so much more than the recluse dressed in white that springs to mind when her name is mentioned. She did prefer to be at home, yes, but she loved it fiercely. She was an essential participant in the daily activities of the Dickinson household, all the while scribbling lines on anything she could make a pencil mark on, including envelopes, some of which made their way to close friends, and some of which were later found with her other papers. The short poems on these envelopes are seeds of deep truth and examples of her very active process, which often included trying out several word choices on the fly; they are evidence of a person who was very much a passionate citizen of the world, very much alive. An essential for anyone who loves poetry.
In just under one-hundred pages, poet Ari Banias manages to reach a scope that I, as a writer myself, can only dream of. At first glance this book is an intensely personal chronicle of gender-identity transformation, and it is that, but this exploration also invariably brings up the question of what the “self” is, and how it can be reconciled with a collective “we” in various ways—political, familial, cultural. The poet CA Conrad wrote of this book that it “courageously makes room for everybody,” and I think that is just right. Only the most compassionate poet can endeavor so tirelessly to bring their work beyond their own experience, the “I,” especially when their own sense of self is so fragile and uncertain. This book is not to be missed.
I am very often sold on books that meditate on childhood, and also books that meditate on the writing process. This novel does both. A quietly and deftly written time capsule that spans multiple decades, this book chronicles the events that blossom out of one small moment that alters the lives of two families forever. The Cousins and Keating children, united by shared experiences of divorce, re-marriage, and tragedy, form a unique bond, and the narrative telescopes between them and their parents, providing the reader with an ever mutating sense of emotional complexity. And when, by chance, the family saga gets woven into a novel, a new slew of questions—about the sanctity of memory and forgiveness—are pushed to the forefront. This is a highly relatable novel full of heart that everyone should read this fall.
— This book is hard to peg down, genre-wise, and this fact only emboldens it and makes it more powerful. In a whirlwind 160 pages, Nelson meditates on motherhood, writing, and life with her fluidly gendered partner. At once a poem, a lyric essay, and an academic study, it not only attests to her deft poetic hand, but her whip-smart ability to participate in traditional academia while simultaneously subverting it. This is one of those rare works of literature where the writing itself becomes a product of its subject matter: constantly shifting, bending, and even questioning itself. A must-read for anyone interested in gender theory, motherhood, psychology, and well, humans, really.
I have never felt as immediately transported to another place as I was when I began Salt Houses, which inserts the reader into Nablus in the 1960s. The poetic descriptions, the graceful motions of a wedding ceremony—I was transfixed, and I felt I had begun to understand what it might be to love a place so beautiful. Which is perhaps why I was so deeply affected when the Yacoub family has it abruptly pulled out from under them. And as they are uprooted and separated time and time again, it becomes clear that this book’s ultimate and bittersweet beauty lies not solely in its depiction of the many places it touches, but in its depiction of the uniquely painful experience of the displaced, to carry and salvage fragments of identity across generations and borders. A book that transports in so many different ways is too vital to be missed.
Three British siblings, separated by geography, face different issues of cultural and family identity that ultimately unite them. Isma, the oldest, has left London to study in America, but she is desperately worried about her brother Parvaiz, who has gone to Syria to follow in the footsteps of his jihadist father. The youngest, Aneeka, has become close to Eamonn, the son of an important politician whose platform on immigration will challenge their relationship. An immersive and explosive exploration of many different kinds of loyalty: to family, to one’s country, to one’s own heart, this novel had me holding my breath all the way through. Also, Kamila Shamsie studied at UMass Amherst, so the college town where Isma spends some of the novel is very much inspired by Western Massachusetts.
I was curious to see what Jennifer Egan’s latest would be like, because she tends to approach the novel in creative and nontraditional ways. Suffice it to say, once I read it, I was surprised by how traditional it was. But don’t let the word “traditional” get you down! I was absolutely riveted by this book from start to finish. It traces the story of Anna Kerrigan, who becomes a diver at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II, and the parallel narrative of a gangster, Dexter Styles. Looming over the whole novel is the disappearance of Anna’s father, an event that has haunted Anna since she was twelve years old, and ends up connecting the novel’s plot threads in unexpected ways. The writing is cinematic and reminiscent of noir, pulsing with the energy of New York City in the 1940s. Quite possibly my favorite novel of fall 2017.
In rural, Depression-era rural Georgia, a young woman name Elma Jesup gives birth to twins, one light-skinned, and one dark-skinned. People come from far and wide to see the two babies, nicknamed the “Gemini Twins.” But, as Henderson reveals, their existence is far from a miracle. In hypnotic prose that oscillates between the past and the present, she slowly unearths the dark secrets and unspoken truths surrounding the twins’ birth, revealing an undercurrent of racism and sexism that runs through the entire novel. Though this novel is set over eighty years ago, the truths it speaks about racism and bodily autonomy are still incredibly relevant. It is important, lyrically sweeping, and utterly absorbing.
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is perhaps best known for his many odes. Many of them explore the grander, more abstract subjects one expects from the traditional ode form, like romance, politics, and other writers, but Neruda seemed to most enjoy sending up smaller, everyday pleasures and objects: his odes to French fries and the color green spring to mind. For the first time, all 225 of his odes are together in one bilingual volume edited by Ilan Stavans, one of Neruda’s premier translators. It includes the work of 18 different translators, and provides a unique opportunity to compare different approaches to Neruda’s work. Also, the book itself is a beautiful object. It would make a great addition to the bookshelf of anyone who loves Neruda or Latin American poetry in general.
Literary translation is a subject that has always fascinated me, and I was so excited to see a book that approaches the topic in such a unique way. Moving more or less chronologically, the book offers up poems in their original language, each accompanied by three different translations and an analytical essay. Not only does it take the reader on a journey around the world—to Japan, Spain, Syria, and beyond—it also offers a unique demonstration of how translation is a fluid art. Two translations of the same poem can look completely different depending on each translator’s style and interpretation, and even political and social circumstances. This book is an essential gift for anyone who loves reading, writing, or discussing poetry.
This book may be travel-size, but its contents are mighty. As author Dan Jones writes in his introduction, the people contained in its pages are “Tough-ass political activitsts and sugary pop culture icons, plus non-binary pioneers nand gender non-conformists, gay codebreakers, and trans revolutionaries.” In succinct, clear prose, Jones elaborates on the major biographical points and achievements of fifty people who have contributed to the LGBTQ+ movement through activism, art, or simply fearlessly being themselves. Bright, color-blocked illustrations by Michelle Rosenthal add to the celebration. ~Margaret
Thumbing through this book brought tears to my eyes. Authors Geoff Blackwell and Ruth Hobday interviewed 200 different women and asked them what is important to them and what brings them joy. These women are activists, artists, entrepreneurs, mothers, and survivors. I love that a variety of ages, walks of life, cultures, and parts of the world are represented, and how the authors asked each woman to pick a word that they most identify with. Some are famous, and some are not, but all are given an equal opportunity to tell their stories. This is a beautiful book to share and cherish with friends and family.
This is a perfect gift for anyone who loves books or wants to know more about their history. It starts with a general overview that traces the origins of the book through modern times, and then delves into a chronological examination of specific, famous works known both for their beauty and innovation. The full-color photographs are stunning, and make it feel like you can almost reach out and touch the real pages. This book also provides fantastic insight into the politics of printing and publishing through the years.
I am not a student anymore, but I am a vegetarian and am always looking for flavorful, meat-free meals I can make on a budget. I am excited to make Warm Chickpea salad with Spiced Mushrooms; Spaghetti With Butternut Squash, Sage, and Pecorino; and Cauliflower Masala. The book also has a great “Kitchen Know-How” section in the beginning for cooks (like me) who sometimes need some a little coaching, even on the basics. A great gift for a student, beginning cook, or anyone in need of some easy culinary inspiration. ~Margaret
