Editors’ Picks

Material: Making and the Art of Transformation by Nick Kary

By Rob Vollmar

Winter 2021
Rob Vollmar

NICK KARY’S MATERIAL (Chelsea Green, 2020) uses the narrative tools of the psychogeographer to map the flows from human needs to the natural environment as resources...
Sunlight & Cedar by Ken Hada

By Michelle Johnson

Autumn 2020
Michelle Johnson

During quarantine, when not watching the news or reading a novel, I find my daily vision drawn to immediate surroundings: geese touching down in the parking lot where we safely walk (no need to come w...
Took House by Lauren Camp

By Daniel Simon

Summer 2020
Daniel Simon

Lauren Camp Took House Tupelo Press I will speak of this wind . . . of the seams of desire. —Lauren Camp, “Remember It Was” The Greek mythological term omophagia...
Aviva-No by Shimon Adaf

By Daniel Simon

Winter 2020
Daniel Simon

Shimon Adaf Aviva-No Trans. Yael Segalovitz Alice James Books thus I shall not let slip between my hands / a sister into time. – Shimon Adaf I must confess: Shimon Adaf’s...
The Wild Boy by Paolo Cognetti

By Rob Vollmar

Autumn 2019
Rob Vollmar

Paolo Cognetti The Wild Boy Trans. Erica Segre & Simon Carnell Washington Square Press / Atria FEELING A BIT overburdened by the demands of civilized life but la...
Summer Reads 2019

By WLT

Summer 2019
WLT

With a two-week driving vacation ahead of her this summer, Managing and Culture Editor Michelle Johnson is already setting aside books for the trip—plus a few to read poolside when she returns. ...
Little Dancer Aged Fourteen: The True Story Behind Degas’s Masterpiece by Camille Laurens

By Jen Rickard Blair

Spring 2019
Jen Rickard Blair

Camille Laurens Little Dancer Aged Fourteen: The True Story Behind Degas’s Masterpiece Trans. Willard Wood Other Press Camille...
Editor’s Pick: The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

By Michelle Johnson

Winter 2019
Michelle Johnson

Sigrid Nunez The Friend Riverhead Books D o the books we need find us? A few months ago, I purchased a used copy of Sigrid Nunez’s seventh novel, The Friend. The inside jacket promis...
Hearth: A Global Conversation on Community, Identity, and Place

By Daniel Simon

November 2018
Daniel Simon

Hearth: A Global Conversation on Community, Identity, and Place Ed. Annick Smith & Susan O’ConnorMilkweed Editions In many of the essays and poems in this remarkable new collection, the...
Hummingbirds Between the Pages by Chris Arthur

By Rob Vollmar

September 2018
Rob Vollmar

Hummingbirds Between the Pages Chris Arthur Ohio State University Press (2018) Chris Arthur’s most recent collection of essays, Hummingbirds Between the Pages, makes a compelling argument on...
Summer Reads 2018

By WLT

May 2018
WLT

The winter break was one of long reads: Exit West, If Beale Street Could Talk, Manhattan Beach, Little Fires Everywhere. After a busy four months of editing and...
The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story, by Edwidge Danticat

By Daniel Simon

March 2018
Daniel Simon

The Art of Death Edwidge Danticat Graywolf Press (2017) It might seem odd to focus on a book called The Art of Death as spring approaches (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), but we all know about t...
Compass, by Mathias Énard

By Rob Vollmar

January 2018
Rob Vollmar

Compass Mathias Énard Trans. Charlotte Mandell New Directions, 2017 At the very time one should be looking ahead to the excellent works in transl...
In Other Words, by Jhumpa Lahiri

By Jen Rickard Blair

November 2017
Jen Rickard Blair

In Other Words Jhumpa LahiriTrans. Ann GoldsteinKnopf, 2016 Jhumpa Lahiri’s In Other Words is a vulnerable journey of self-exploration by means of linguistic exile. It’s notably her...
Browse: The World in Bookshops, Ed. Henry Hitchings

By Michelle Johnson

September 2017
Michelle Johnson

Browse: The World in Bookshops Ed. Henry Hitchings Pushkin Press, 2016 Don’t mistake Browse for a collection of breezy tributes to writers’ favorite bookshops. The essays in this lit...
RC Davis-Undiano’s Summer Reads

By Robert Con Davis-Undiano

May 2017
Robert Con Davis-Undiano

There are three recent books from the University of Oklahoma Press that I know would make great summer reading. My own Mestizos Come Home! Making and Claiming Mexican American Identity...
Michelle Johnson’s Summer Reads

By Michelle Johnson

May 2017
Michelle Johnson

As much as Managing Editor Michelle Johnson loves traveling, she also loves returning home. Her summer reading list reflects a similar course this year. Eli...
Jen Rickard Blair’s Summer Reads

By Jen Rickard Blair

May 2017
Jen Rickard Blair

This summer Web Editor Jen Rickard Blair is planning to read a balance of books that refuel calm and creativity as well as examine human nature and our shared hi...
Daniel Simon’s Summer Reads

By Daniel Simon

May 2017
Daniel Simon

Editor in Chief Daniel Simon picks three books that promise to unsettle, console, and inspire. Anne Carson Float Random House I fo...
Rob Vollmar’s Summer Reads

By Rob Vollmar

May 2017
Rob Vollmar

With a wealth of fiction, nonfiction, and verse stacking up in his office, Book Review Editor Rob Vollmar has narrowed his reading ambitions for the summer down to these three worthy titles....
The Flavor of Unity: Post-Election Poems, by Kim Stafford

By Daniel Simon

March 2017
Daniel Simon

Kim Stafford The Flavor of Unity: Post-Election Poems Little Infinities, 2017 Are you dreading the future after reading all the dystopian lit in this issue, or feeling paralyzed by the ge...
Baba Dunja’s Last Love, by Alina Bronsky

By Jen Rickard Blair

January 2017
Jen Rickard Blair

Alina Bronsky Baba Dunja’s Last Love Trans. Tim Mohr Europa Editions Alina Bronsky is skillful at inventing darkly humorous protagonists, and Baba Dunja is no exception. This short novel is a surp...
Rotten Row, by Petina Gappah

By Michelle Johnson

November 2016
Michelle Johnson

Petina Gappah Rotten Row Faber & Faber 2016 Petina Gappah’s new collection of stories is named after the street where the criminal courts in Harare sit: Rotten Row, where the powerful...
The Bible for Unbelievers: The Beginning: Genesis by Guus Kuijer

By Rob Vollmar

September 2016
Rob Vollmar

Guus Kuijer The Bible for Unbelievers: The Beginning: Genesis Trans. Laura Watkinson Seven Stories Press, 2016 The Bible has occupied a central position in Western culture sin...
Rob Vollmar’s Summer Reads

By Rob Vollmar

May 2016
Rob Vollmar

With a toddler to parent, WLT’s book review editor, Rob Vollmar, isn’t anticipating being able to go much of anywhere this summer, so he’s relying on his summer reads to take...