Highlighted in orange are the top 10% that blew my mind. While there were many more than that I found fantastic, to give you my top 39 favorites is a little ridiculous (how many I initially highlighted). Top-3-go-read-now: Shane McCrae's Forgiveness, Forgiveness, Ariana Reine's Coeur de Lion, and Anne Carson's The Albertine Workout, in that order. McCrae's book hit me so hard I read it in one sitting, and then read it again in that same sitting. I'm leaving off a few obvious ones that everyone is already talking about. Those are good too.
A handful of books were re-readings and of course I love those, but didn't include them in my so excited count. Also, I read Ariel for the first time ever and can kind of see why a few people have cited Plath as something of an influence in my work. Because while I hadn't ever read it until now, I'm pretty clearly influenced by some writers who are pretty clearly influenced by her. In sum: I liked it, this book I've been hearing so much about.
Though I maintain that genre is mostly a useless distinction, last year I read 47 nonfiction books, 22 fiction, 130 poetry. 38 books from 2014, 23 books from 2013, 14 books from 2012. This is the best year I've ever had for reading what's happening Now. I blame/thank AWP being in Seattle for that, though I still have more I picked up there that I haven't yet gotten to. This year (2015) so far I've only "read" one book, Richard McGuire's Here. I mention it now because I don't want to wait until next January to tell you to go out and get it. It's in my top 5 favorite things with pages ever.
Here's to an excellent year in reading, 2014:
1. New Year Letter - W.H. Auden
(Faber and Faber, 1965)
2. Eating in the Underworld – Rachel
Zucker (Wesleyan, 2003)
3. Apocalypse Theory: A Reader –
Kristy Bowen (SFSU Poetry Center Chapbook Exchange, 2013)
4. The Fall – Albert Camus (1956;
Vintage Reissue, 1991)
5. Quipu – Arthur Sze (Copper Canyon,
2005)
6. Slouching Towards Bethlehem – Joan
Didion (1968; FSG Classics, 2008)
7. Stories That Listen – Priscilla
Becker (Four Way, 2010)
8. A Coney Island of the Mind –
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (New Directions, 1968)
9. Sayonara Michelangelo – Waldemar
Januszczak (Addison-Wesley, 1990)
10. The Book of Frank – CA Conrad
(Wave Books, 2010)
11. Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir
of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality – Jacob Tomsky (Anchor, 2013)
12. My Lorenzo– Sebastien Smirou,
trans. Andrew Zawaki (Burning Deck, 2012)
13. Impossible Princess – Kevin
Killian (City Lights, 2009)
14. Madness – Marya Hornbacher
(Mariner, 2009)
15. The Monarchs – Melanie Noel
(Stockport Flats, 2013)
16. –The Vital System – CM Burroughs
(Tupelo, 2012)
17. Children of the Days: A Calendar
of Human History – Eduardo Galeano (Nation Books, 2013)
18. On Ghosts – Elizabeth Robinson
(Solid Objects, 2013)
19. Enormous Changes at the Last
Minute – Grace Paley (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1985)
20. Both Flesh and Not – David Foster
Wallace (Little Brown, 2012)
21. When My Brother Was an Aztec –
Natalie Diaz (Copper Canyon, 2012)
22. The Next Monsters – Julie Doxsee
(Black Ocean, 2013)
23. --Herman Hesse: Pictorial
Biography (FSG, 1975)
24. Drift – Rachel Maddow (Broadway
Books, 2013)
25. Make Me a Mother – Susanne
Antonetta (Norton, 2014)
26. We Come Elemental – Tamiko Beyer
(Alice James, 2013)
27. The Rings of Saturn – W.G. Sebald
(New Directions, 1999)
28. Pact-Blood,
Fever Grass – Miriam Bird Greenberg (Ricochet Editions, 2014)
29. MxT –
Sina Queyras (Coach House, 2014)
30. Dark Sky Question – Larissa
Szporluk (Beacon Press, 1998)
31. Spectacle – Susan Steinberg
(Graywolf, 2013)
32. The White Album – Joan Didion
(Simon & Schuster, 1979)
33. All You Do Is Perceive – Joy Katz
(Four Way, 2013)
34. Whip Smart – Melissa Febos (Thomas
Dunne Books, 2010)
35. --Ark – Ronald Johnson (Flood
Editions reissue, 2013, of early 1980s)
36. All Movies Love the Moon – Gregory
Robinson (Rose Metal Press, 2014)
37. My Daughter La Chola – Farik Matuk
(Ahsahta, 2013)
38. The World of Rae English – Lucy
Rosenthal (Black Lawrence Press, 2014)
39. Lines the Quarry – Robin Clarke
(Omnidawn, 2013)
40. Purgatory – Raul Zurita, trans.
Anna Deeny (University of California Press, 2009)
41. Viper Rum – Mary Karr (New
Directions, 1998)
42. The Ada Poems – Cynthia Zarin
(Knopf, 2010)
43. Gnomic Verses – Robert Creeley (Zasterle
Press, 1991)
44. As Long As Trees Last – Hoa Nguyen
(Wave Books, 2012)
45. Science & Steepleflower –
Forrest Gander (New Directions, 1998)
46. Dark Seasons – Georg Trakl, trans.
Robin Skelton (Broken Jaw Press, 1994)
47. Chromosomory – Layli Long
Soldier (Q Ave Press, 2010)
48. Quarantine – Malachi Black (Argos
Books, 2012)
49. Prose Poems – Pierre Reverdy,
trans. Ron Padgett (Black Square Editions, 2007)
50. The Absent Father in Dumbo –
Charles Bernstein (Zasterle Press, 1990)
51. from Unincorporated Territories
[Saina] – Craig Santos Perez (Omnidawn, 2010)
52. Lake Superior – Lorine Niedecker
(Wave Books, 2013)
53. Sea Ice – Stephen Berg (The
Cummington Press, 1988)
54. Overtakelessness – Dan
Beachy-Quick (Spork Press)
55. Eye Against Eye – Forrest Gander
(New Directions, 2005)
56. Wayfare – Pattiann Rogers
(Penguin, 2008)
57. Poker – Tomaz Salamun (Ugly
Duckling, 2004)
58. Inner China – Eva Sjodin (Litmus
Press, 2005)
59. O New York – Trey Sager (Ugly
Duckling)
60. King Me – Roger Reeves (Copper
Canyon, 2013)
61. The Pedestrians – Rachel Zucker
(Wave Books, 2014)
62. One Big Self: Prisoners of
Louisiana – Deborah Luster & C.D. Wright (Twin Palms Publishers, 2003)
63. The Address Book – Sophie Calle (siglio,
2012)
64. Several Gravities – Keith Waldrop
(siglio, 2009)
65. Going Back to the River – Marilyn
Hacker (Vintage, 1990)
66. Factory of Tears – Valzhyna Mort
(Copper Canyon, 2008)
67. Another Water (The River Thames,
for Example) – Roni Horn (Scalo, 2000)
68. The Lost Art of Reading: Why Books
Matter in a Distracted Time – David L. Ulin (Sasquatch, 2010)
69. Heavy Jars – Anselm Hollo
(Toothpaste Press, 1977)
70. Little Mysteries – Ken Mikolowski
(Toothpaste Press, 1979)
71. Cadaver, Speak – Marianne Boruch
(Copper Canyon, 2014)
72. It – Inger Christensen, trans.
Susanna Nied (New Directions, 2006)
73. One With Others: [a little book of
her days] – C.D. Wright (Copper Canyon, 2011)
74. Romey’s Order – Atsuro Riley (University
Of Chicago Press, 2010)
75. Meditations in an Emergency –
Frank O’Hara (Grove Press, 1957)
76. Torn Awake – Forrest Gander (New
Directions, 2001)
77. pool [5 choruses] – Endi Bogue
Hartigan (Omnidawn, 2014)
78. The Book of Repulsive Women: 8
Rhythms and 5 Drawings – Djuna Barnes (Sun & Moon Press, 1994)
79. The South is Only a Home – Daniela
Olszewska (Small Monster Press, 2011)
80. I Want to Make You Safe – Amy King
(Litmus Press, 2011)
81. The Not Forever – Keith Waldrop
(Omnidawn, 2013)
82. The Annotated Waste Land with
Eliot’s Contemporary Prose – T.S. Eliot (edited, with annotations and
introduction, by Lawrence Rainey) (Yale University Press, 2006)
83. --Go Find Your Father / A Famous
Blues – Harmony Holiday (Ricochet Editions, 2014)
84. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me
(And Other Concerns) – Mindy Kaling (Three Rivers Press, 2012)
85. Eros the Bittersweet – Anne Carson
(Dalkey Archive, 1986)
86. Two Memoirs – Amanda Montei (Jaded
Ibis Press, 2015)
87. Call – Liz Waldner (Meow Press,
2000)
88. The Plot Genie – Gillian Conoley
(Omnidawn, 2009)
89. Aunt Pig of Puglia – Patricia
Catto (Jaded Ibis, 2009)
90. Sorrow
Arrow – Emily Kendal Frey (Octopus Books, 2014)
91. Roget’s Illusion – Linda Bierds (Putnam,
2014)
92. Arkansas: Three Novellas – David
Leavitt (Houghton Mifflin, 1997)
93. Work Together – Christine Deavel
& John Marshall (Cash Machine, 2014)
94. Trace – Simone Muench (Black
Lawrence, 2014)
95. –Drinking Coffee Elsewhere – ZZ
Packer (Riverhead Books, 2003)
96. Like Oysters Observing the Sun –
Brenda Sieczkowski (Black Lawrence, 2014)
97. Lilies Without – Laura Kasischke
(Ausable Press, 2007)
98. All About Lulu – Jonathan Evison
(Soft Skull, 2008)
99. The Professor of Desire – Philip Roth
(Farrar Straus Giroux, 1977)
100. In
Orbit – Kim-An Lieberman (Blue Begonia Press, 2014)
101. School – Jen Currin (Coach House Books, 2014)
102. Seam –
Tarfia Faizullah (Southern Illinois University Press, 2014)
103. A Handbook
for Drowning – David Shields (HarperPerennial, 1993)
104. The Albertine Workout – Anne Carson (New Directions,
2014)
105. Blind
Willow, Sleeping Woman – Haruki Murakami (Knopf, 2006)
106. Two and
Two – Denise Duhamel (Pittsburgh, 2005)
107. ---How to Feel Confident With Your Special Talents –
Carol Guess & Daniela Olzewska (Black Lawrence Press, 2014)
108. Top –
Sandra Yannone
109. A Rainbow
in the Night: The Tumultuous Birth of South Africa – Dominique Lapierre (De
Capo Press, 2009)
110. The
Tulip-Flame – Chloe Honum (Cleveland, 2014)
111. Not
Nothing - Ray Johnson (Siglio, 2014)
112. red doc>
- Anne Carson (Knopf, 2013)
113. Coeur de
Lion – Ariana Reines (Fence, 2011)
114. Trances of
the Blast – Mary Ruefle (Wave, 2013)
115. The Other
Hand – CD Wright (Horse Less Press, 2012)
116. Patriot –
Laurie Saurborn Young (Forklift, Ohio, 2013)
117. Loud Mouth
– Jay Nebel (Steel Bridge Publishing Co., 2012)
118. Mercury –
Ariana Reines (Fence, 2013)
119. The
Unfolding Center – Arthur Sze & Susan York (Radius Books, 2013)
120. Figment –
Rebecca Wolff (Norton, 2004)
121. The Paper
Snake – Ray Johnson (Siglio, 2014; 1965 reissue)
122. The Dance
of No Hard Feelings – Mark Bibbins (Copper Canyon, 2009)
123. Ithaca:
Little Summer in Winter – Olga Broumas & T Begley (Radiolarian Press, 1996)
124. X= Stephen Berg (University of Illinois Press, 2002)
125. Deeds of
Utmost Kindness - Forrest Gander (Wesleyan, 1994)
126. The Waste
Land and Other Poems – John Beer (Canarium, 2010)
127. Glamorous
Freak: how I taught my dress to act – Roxanne Carter (Jaded Ibis Press, 2012)
128. Kamastone
– Pamela Mills (Jaded Ibis Press, 2015)
129, His Days
Go By the Way Her Years – Ye Mimi, trans. by Steve Bradbury (Anomalous Press,
2014)
130. Work from
Memory: In Response to In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust – Dan
Beachy-Quick & Matthew Goulish (Ahsahta Press, 2012)
131. Letters
from a Seducer – Hilda Hilst, trans. by John Keene (Nightboat, 2014)
132. Falling in
Love Falling in Love With You Syntax – Sheila E. Murphy (Potes & Poets
Press, 1997)
133. Black Box
– Erin Belieu (Copper Canyon, 2006)
134. The Wisdom
of the Desert – Thomas Merton (New Directions, 1970)
135. ---The Cow
– Ariana Reines (Fence, 2011)
136. The Divine
Comedy – Dante Alighieri
137. Illness and
its Metaphors – Susan Sontag
138. Vital
Signs – ed. Richard Canning (Carroll & Graf, 2007)
139. What
Silence Equals – Tory Dent (Persea, 1993)
140. Poets for
Life: Seventy-Six Poets Respond to AIDS – ed. Michael Klein (Persea, 1992)
141. 7 Miles a
Second – David Wojnarowicz (Fantagraphics Books, 2012)
142. Catastrophe
Practice – Nicholas Mosley (Dalkey Archive, 1979)
143. Reader’s
Block – David Markson (Dalkey Archive, 1996)
144. --253 –
Geoff Ryman (St. Martin’s, 1996)
145. Flash
Fiction: 72 Very Short Stories – James Thomas, Denise Thomas, & Tom Hazuka,
eds. (Norton, 1992)
146. The Murder
of King Tut – James Patterson (Grand Central Publishing, 2010)
147. Incarnadine
– Mary Szybist (Graywolf, 2013)
148. No
Shelter: Selected Poems (trans. Forrest Gander) – Pura Lopez-Colome (Graywolf,
1989)
149. The Transformation
– Juliana Spahr (Atelos, 2007)
150. Post
Subject: A Fable – Oliver de la Paz (Akron, 2014)
151. Put Your
Hands In – Chris Hosea (Louisiana State University, 2014)
152. Powerless:
Selected Poems 1973-1990 – Tim Dlugos (Serpent’s Tail, 1996)
153. f2f –
Janet Holmes (University of Notre Dame Press, 2006)
154. Oh Baby:
Flash Fictions & Prose Poems – Kim Chinquee (Ravenna Press Books, 2007)
155. Time Is a
Toy: The Selected Poems of Michael Benedikt – ed. John Gallaher & Laura
Boss (Akron, 2014)
156. The Big
Smoke – Adrian Matejka (Penguin, 2013)
157. Particle
and Wave – Benjamin Landry (The University of Chicago Press, 2014)
158. Palm-of-the-Hand
Stories – Yasunari Kawabata, trans. Lane Dunlop & J. Martin Holman (North Point
Press, 1988)
159. Beyond the
Chainlink – Rusty Morrison (Ahsahta, 2014)
160. On the
Cave You Live In – Philip Jenks (Flood Editions, 2002)
161. Sweethearts
– Jayne Anne Phillips (Wingbow / Truck Press, 1982)
162. Blood
Meridian – Cormac McCarthy (Vintage, 1992)
163. The Art of
Daring: Risk, Restlessness, Imagination – Carl Phillips (Graywolf, 2014)
164. My first
painting will be “The Accuser” – Philip Jenks (Zephyr, 2005)
165. –Letters
to Kelly Clarkson – Julia Bloch (Sidebrow, 2012)
166. HIV, Mon
Amour – Tory Dent (Sheep Meadow, 1997)
167. The
Balloonists – Eula Biss (Hanging Loose, 2002)
168. --To Keep
Time – Joseph Massey (Omnidawn, 2014)
169. Not That
Kind of Girl – Lena Dunham (Random House, 2014)
170. --Beautiful
Signor – Cyrus Cassells (Copper Canyon, 1997)
171. My Brother
– Jamaica Kincaid (Macmillan, 1997)
172. Fragments:
The Collected Wisdom of Heraclitus, trans. Brooks Haxton (Viking, 2001)
173. The Inside
of a Dog – Alexandra Horowitz (Scribner, 2009)
174. Citizen – Claudia Rankine (Graywolf, 2014)
175. Forgiveness, Forgiveness – Shane McCrae (Factory Hollow
Press, 2014)
176. The Book
of Beginnings and Endings – Jenny Boully (Sarabande, 2007)
177. Salvinia
Molesta – Victoria Chang (Georgia, 2008)
178. Figure
Studies – Claudia Emerson (Louisiana State University Press, 2008)
179. The Book
of Accident – Beckian Fritz Goldberg (Akron, 2006)
180. Night
Scenes - Lisa Jarnot (Flood Editions, 2008)
181. Dream Machine – Sade Murphy (co-im-press, 2014)
182. --Head Off
& Split – Nikky Finney (TriQuarterly Books, 2011) (won National Book Award)
183. Shakespeare
Wrote for Money – Nick Hornby (McSweeney’s, 2008)
184. The
Paradise of Forms: Selected Poems – Aaron Shurin (Talisman House, 1999)
185. Stone
Butch Blues – Leslie Feinberg (Firebrand, 1993)
186. And For
Example – Ann Lauterbach (Penguin, 1994)
187. If the Tabloids are True What Are You? (2014)
188. The Nine Senses
– Melissa Kwasny (Milkweed Editions, 2011)
189. And the
Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks – Jack Kerouac & William S. Burroughs (Grove
Press, 2008; 1945)
190. Enduring
Freedom – Laura Mullen (Otis Books | Seismicity Editions, 2012)
191. The Boys I
Borrow – Heather Sellers (New Issues, 2007)
192. The Garden
Room – Joy Katz (Tupelo Press, 2006)
193. In the
Company of My Solitude: American Writing from the AIDS Pandemic – Ed. Marie
Howe & Michael Klein (Persea, 1995)
194. History of
Collage: An anthology of collage, assemblage and event structures – Eddie
Wolfram (Macmillan, 1975)
195. Glass,
Irony & God – Anne Carson (New Directions, 1992)
196. I Remember
– Joe Brainard (Grainary Books, 2001)
197. Dear
Apocalypse – K.A. Hays (Carnegie Mellon, 2009)
198. Ariel: The
Restored Edition – Sylvia Plath (Harper Perennial, 2005)
199. The
Descent of Alette – Alice Notley (Penguin, 1992)
