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

Broyard, Bliss: My Father Dancing (Knopf). Stories from the daughter of the late New York Times literary critic Anatole Broyard. "A dazzingly brilliant debut by a writer who is clearly destined for a long and important literary career." – Robert Olen Butler

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.

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

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.

Livesey, Margot: The Missing World (Knopf). I haven’t read it yet, but after reading Criminals, I wouldn’t miss Livesey’s next novel for the world.

Michaels, Anne: Poems (Knopf). Her first collection of poetry to be published in the States. Michael Ondaatje has commented about her poetry: "These are poems that go way beyond games or fashion or politics… they represent the human being entire."

Olds, Sharon: Blood, Tin, Straw (Knopf). Her latest collection of poems.

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

Slavin, Julia: The Woman Who Cut Off Her Leg at the Maidstone Club (Henry Holt & Company, Inc.). Her characters do the unimaginable in an attempt to salvage their realities. Hilarious and inventive.

Updike, John: More Matter (Knopf). His 50th book. Contains essays, criticism, addresses, and more – all written over the last eight years.

Wallace, David Foster: Brief Interviews with Hideous Men: Stories (Little, Brown). Stories told in Q&A formats. A series of imagined interviews with men on their relationships with women – often tense, often hilarious.

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.

Wiesel, Elie: And the Sea Is Never Full (Knopf). The concluding volume of the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s "passionate and revealing memoirs."

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CAMILLE RENSHAW is the Senior Editor for Pif Magazine. She currently resides in Boston, MA.