Poetry
Unauthorized Autobiography by Richard Jackson
These poems will take your breath away. They are incredibly lucid and incredibly grounded at the same time. His other books also deliver the same punch and are highly recommended.
Broken Hallelujahs by Sean Thomas Dougherty
Broken Hallelujahs will mend your soul. These poems soar. They are musical and revealing, both about the author and the reader simultaneously
Prose
Travels in the Scriptorium by Paul Auster
This little book turns everything upside-down or upside-up or sideways through the looking glass. Its trajectory takes the reader on a beautiful Borgesian circle. Fans of Auster and others will delight.
The Gathering by Anne Enright (Booker Prize ’07)
The Gathering is written in remarkable prose. The beauty of language. The darkness of family secrets.
Nothing Like An Ocean by Jim Tomlinson
This second collection of short stories is a beautifully written regional gem. It draws the reader into the Kentucky/Appalachian world through a variety of authentic voices, old and young, male and female. “Rose” could be the best short-short ever written.