Source of Lit - The Postman!

I see we're spiraling down the same paths taken in 2007 and 2008 in regard to reviews and interviews around here at the EWN.  So many notes scribbled in so many places and they never seem to make it over here.  They will, they will.  I actually have typed up the majority of three sets of interview questions, just need to put some finishing touches on them and shoot them out via email. 

In lieu of any full reviews, I'm going to put up some nice pictures of book covers I've received lately and in some cases have even read.  These are books I've either very recently enjoyed, or plan to soon.

Stephanie Johnson's story collection, One of These Things is Not Like the Others (Keyhole, June 2009) - this cover isn't the actual cover (for one the blurb is a fake!), but I can't find the actual cover anywhere online yet.  From two pages to twenty plus pages, Johnson knows what she's doing with the short form.  This second title from Keyhole is a really nice looking book.

Arthur Phillips latest novel, This Song is You (Random House, out now) is a quick and great read.  Music, the muse, middle age, iPods, and more.  Phillips is a very smart writer who has written a truly engaging story.

Suzanne Burns' new poetry chapbook, Vacancy (Pudding House, out now), continues showing off her ability to take people or events and write fantastic prose poems about them.

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist, translated from the Swedish by Marlaine Delargy (Other Press, June 2009).  In the middle of this one, and having trouble getting away from it, even when not reading it.  The Unit is where dispensable persons are sent - women at age 50, men at 60.  Specifically those with no children, no families depending on them.  A great story so far, with some obvious moral questions, but not written in a way that slaps you as the authors stance on the issue. 

Graywolf has recently published a couple of J. Robert Lennon's books - a new novel, Castle, and the first US printing of Pieces for the Left Hand (story collection previously published in the UK).  Castle was another 'can't put down' book - a man returns to his hometown and purchases a fixer upper home on a large plot of land.  He then discovers there is a block of land in the middle of his that he does not own.  The collection has one to two page vignettes that are complex in their seeming simplicity.  Really solid.

Turns out this is more a list of those that I HAVE read.  Go look for them, you won't be disappointed!

Comments

[Ian]

I guess Kafka fans are going to pick up copies of 'Castle' just to see if it has any connection.

Personally, I always prefer titles with definite articles. "The" tells the reader this is unique.

[Darby]

I liked The Unit, myself, too. It...caught me a little off-guard, I think.

[Dan Wickett]

I agree, Darby. If even poorly written it would have been a concept that was interesting, but Holmqvist with translator Delargy took the story in a place or two I wasn't expecting, even with the set up, and the writing is far from poor.

[Anis Shivani]

Dan, I've reviewed both Castle and The Song Is You. The Castle is one of the year's best novels. The Song Is You is also terrific, and makes you look forward to the author's next book. A lot of great fiction has come out in the last two or three years. The mood seems to be shifting.

[Dan Wickett]

Anis, I agree on both counts. Both were tough to put down once started. Castle has Lennon doing a great job of bouncing around from style to style, or almost from genre to genre, constantly surprising the reader while maintaining suspense throughout and I thought Phillips did a great job doing something maybe opposite, maintaining a certain feeling or atmosphere throughout the entire novel, The Song is You.