Boxing the Compass, Sandy Florian. Noemi Press, 2013. Paper: $15. 114 pages.
In Sandy Florian’s Boxing the Compass, the reader encounters a novella by an author whose restlessness with English pushes her to reinvent her idiom altogether from work …
Anonymous
The Testing of Luther Albright
The Testing of Luther Albright, by MacKenzie Bezos. Harper, 2005. $14.99, 256 pages.
Some readers maintain that plots conform to several basic skeletons, with minor variations in between. Regardless of whether this is true, of the models currently on …
Água Viva
Água Viva, by Clarice Lispector (translated by Stefan Tobler). New Directions, 2012. $14.95. 88 pages.
Without time, without names, without actions, Clarice Lispector’s novel Água Viva recalls the style of her other novels—a woman’s interior monologue. Here she is …
Farther Away
Farther Away, by Jonathan Franzen. FSG, 2012. $26.00, 336 pages.
The idea that Jonathan Franzen is a man who might have fit in better half a century ago is tossed around quite often, and for good reason: he writes …
Incarnadine
Incarnadine, by Mary Szybist. Graywolf Press, 2013. $15.00, 80 pages.
“I’m not religious, I’m spiritual”—at long last, the eye-roll inducing mantra is granted explanation and elegance in Mary Szybist’s second collection of poetry. “Incarnadine” is a word whose Latin …
Standing Still in a Concrete Jungle
Standing Still in a Concrete Jungle, by Justin Nobel. Zoom Books, 2012. $12.00, 105 pages.
Justin Nobel’s autobiographical psycho-geography of New York is at turns disciplined and whimsical, insightful and playful. Structured around eleven site-specific observations or reflections, the …
Where the West Ends
Where the West Ends, by Michael Totten. CreateSpace, 2012. $19.95, 282 pages.
Where the West Ends is a collection of travel essays by the foreign correspondent and policy analyst Michael Totten, whose journeys here span thirteen countries. At times, …
Murder Ballad
Murder Ballad, by Jane Springer. Alice James Books, 2012. $15.95, 80 pages.
Billie Holiday presides over Jane Springer’s Murder Ballad, winner of the Beatrice Hawley Award. It’s not the public radio cliché of the flower-wearing chanteuse that shadows …
The American (Busboy) Dream
American Busboy, by Matthew Guenette. The University of Akron Press, 2011. $14.95, 64 pages.
American Busboy is an edgy take on the highs and lows of thankless work. Matthew Guenette dives deep into the service industry, unearthing the strange …
Minimal Damage
Minimal Damage: Stories of Veterans, by H. Lee Barnes. University of Nevada Press, 2007. $24.95, 200 pages.
In H. Lee Barnes’ short story collection, Minimal Damage: Stories of Veterans, the physical damage the characters suffer may be small, …
