Bowers, Cathy Smith: Traveling in Time of Danger (Iris Press). "A sensuous intelligence, a tongue both observant and precise, a brave and vulnerable heart… Reading her poems I find myself instructed, awakened, and moved." – Jane Hirshfield

Chekhov, Anton: The Undiscovered Chekhov (38 New Stories). Newly found short stories from his youth, including "On Mortality" and "Indigestion." Many are quite good.

Dillard, Annie. For the Time Being (Knopf). "It is this dilemma, the incomprehensibility of God and our profound need to understand, that underlie this graceful examination of the big questions: life and death, good and evil, the source of holiness." – Kirkus Reviews

Ellison, Ralph: Juneteenth (Random House). It's been 40 years since this author's last novel, The Invisible Man. His latest beautifully mythologizes June 19, 1865, the day the union troops landed at Galveston, Texas, bringing the news of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, two and a half years after the event.

Flannery, Tim: Throwim Way Leg (Grove/ Atlantic). A scientist writes of the wonders he found in New Guinea and the dangers its primitive peoples face from civilization. Non-fiction.

Gowdy, Barbara: The White Bone (Henry Holt & Co.). Told from the point of view of Young Mud, an elephant. "Pretty amazing" – Amy Hempel

Grand, David: Louse (Arcade). Remarkable first novel on Louse, a man working for a Howard Hughes-like character. Darkly comic, thrilling, yet reflects somewhat on theology. Reminiscent of Orwell's 1984 or Niccol's Gattaca.

Herbert, Zbigniew. Elegy for the Departure: And Other Poems (The Ecco Press). This genius died last year – if you haven’t read him, you must. This translation is wonderfully accessible.

Herbert, Zbigniew. The King of the Ants: Mythological Essays (The Ecco Press). Second book published since he died.

Keegan, John: The First World War (Knopf). Another brilliant book from the award-winning author of The Second World War. Wonderfully readable scholarly description of the first Great War. Non-fiction.

Lesser, Wendy: The Amateur: An Independent Life of Letters (Pantheon). Extraordinary essays by the founder and editor of The Threepenny Review.

Lehman, David: The Last Avant-Garde (Doubleday). "A book you should make the time for" –Rachel Barenblat, Pif Magazine.

Levine, Philip: The Mercy: Poems (Knopf). "Ordinary, you say? Not on your tintype." - Peter Davison, The Atlantic Monthly.

Lish, Gordon: Arcade or How to Write a Novel (Four Walls). Lish fans -it's his best work yet! Describes in true Lish fashion his quick journey from childhood to aging novelist.

Merwin, M.S.: The River Sound: Poems (Knopf). Not his best work, but still quite good.

Phillips, Dale Ray: My People’s Waltz (WW Norton). Debut collection. "Intense, fresh, ragged life." – Barry Hannah

Pound, Ezra and Dorothy: Letters in Captivity, 1945 - 1946 (Oxford University, ed. by O. Pound and R. Spoo). Documents Pound’s years of imprisonment in Italy then in Washington. Non-fiction.

Schiff, Stacy: Vera, Mrs. Vladimar Nabakov (Random House). Account of the Nabakov’s 52-year marriage with wonderful insights into the mindset of Vera, Vladimar’s prime reader.

Stark, Marisa Kantor: Bring Us the Old People (Coffee House). Praised by Russell Banks, this author's first novel is about a woman in NYC nursing home who's haunted by her upbringing in Nazi Poland.

Taylor, Mel: The Mitt Man (William Morrow). A pulsating first novel about how American racism shapes King Fish, a New Orleans grifter.

Warner, Alan: The Sopranos (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux). Possibly this Scottish icon’s best yet. See his interview in the Spring 1999 issue of Bomb Magazine or read the first chapter in April 4th’s NY Times: Books online.

White, Bailey: Quite a Year For Plums (Vintage). Hysterically funny stories from Georgian whose commentaries on NPR have made her famous.

Wiesel, Elie: The Testament (Pantheon). Story of a fictional poet, Paltiel Kossover, who was executed on August 15, 1952, when Russia's greatest Jewish writers were secretly executed by Stalin, but not before leaving us this written testament.