Forces of Nature (2024)
I don't know enough about comics or cartooning to allow myself much in the way of hyperbole, so I'll just say that Steed's drawings make me laugh more than anyone's.
Burning the Days (1997)
Among the many astonishing things I learned from this book was that Salter—in addition to being Jack Kerouac's high-school classmate, a Korean War fighter pilot, and one of the most exceptional writers of prose America has known—was very nearly an astronaut.
All Fours (2024)
I don't care what you know or think you know about Miranda July, this book deserves all the hype and then some. A brilliant and hilarious hymn to freedom.
The Intellectual Situation (2024)
It's rare for a little magazine to survive its first ten years. It's rarer still for one to survive that long without getting complacent. I'm still not entirely sure how n+1 escaped that fate, but here's the proof it managed the trick.
Recognizing the Stranger (2024)
A short and powerful book about recognition in art, life, and geopolitics—particularly recognition in and of Palestine.
Dayswork (2023)
I've made myself obnoxious pushing this strange and wonderful little book on people. I love it so much.
Past Lives (2024)
A book of wise, wistful, often hilarious poems by an old friend and editorial comrade-at-arms.
Transcendent Kingdom (2020)
A(nother) novel about graduate school and religion. How could I resist? (Why would I want to?)
Independent People (1934)
People told me for years that I had to read this book, and I waited way too long to listen to them. Don't be me.
Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs (2023)
A wild romp through the shadows of the security state, by one of the best feature writers working today.
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here (2024)
I hate the word "magisterial" in most contexts, but I feel compelled to make an exception for this deeply reported and brilliantly written history of the American immigration crisis.
Help Wanted (2024)
Not many literary novelists manage to write about the working-class precariat without romanticism or condescension. Waldman, who spent time working at a big-box store to research this excellent and entertaining novel, handles the feat with aplomb.
Eternal Sections #1 (2024)
Worth the price of admission for the Jennifer Moxley elegy to Stephen Rodefer alone. A limited edition: get one before they're gone.
Matrix (2021)
I'll follow Groff's prose anywhere it wants to take me, but for someone who spent a lot of time studying medieval mysticism in grad school this was a particular treat.
Under the Skin (2022)
A brilliant, enraging book by America's best reporter on the intersection of racism and medicine.
