Staggerford, by Jon Hassler

Minnesota’s Jon Hassler, who died this past month, is noted for his thoughtful, well-drawn characters, his realistic settings, and his clear prose style. Hassler writes of people living ordinary lives who in some moment are caught up in events that change them in a variety of ways that they never expected. There is a sense [...]

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Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow continues his tales of the Port William membership, which he began in Nathan Coulter in 1960. Berry’s writing is marked by a strong sense of place. He captures the beauty of the upland Kentucky farms, the forests, and the small towns along the Ohio River and tributaries. A farmer himself, [...]

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Bellwether, by Connie Willis

Connie Willis is known for her clever, creative science fiction writing that deftly blends issues of importance with dry humor and intriguing characters. Willis’s work ranges from the somewhat dark and dystopian vision in The Doomsday Book to the much lighter, more hopeful, and certainly funnier To Say Nothing of the Dog. Her 1996 novel, [...]

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The Body in the Gallery, by Katherine Hall Page

Crime fiction has taken a generally darker tone over the past decade, with stories featuring more realistic approaches to detection that reflect the violence of the initial crime and the often devastating impact of the crime on people’s lives. But readers whose tastes run more to Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers than to George [...]

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The Uncommon Reader, by Alan Bennett

I know, I know, librarians are always singing the praises of books about books and reading. I think that for many of us, these sorts of titles remind us of why we chose to become librarians in the first place; we have a passion for the printed word and a belief that books can effect [...]

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Rules for the Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse, by Mary Oliver

So, after four days of some of the best poetry around, I have no doubts that you are inspired not only to read more poetry (I did not have time or space to talk about everyone this week, but you should also look for Thomas Wyatt, Thomas Campion, Wendell Berry, Billy Collins, Jane Kenyon, and [...]

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The Odes of Horace, David Ferry, trans.

Under Caesar Augustus, Rome finally achieved a measure of stability and peace that would last for at least a few years. During this time some of the best poetry written in the ancient world was being made. Virgil’s Aeneid is a masterwork of epic tale telling, and there are some great translations out there. But, [...]

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War Poetry

World War I began in a burst of idealistic patriotism. Soldiers marched off lauded with garlands and with tales of heroes ringing in their ears. They were soon to find that these ideals had nothing to do with the realities of war in the trenches. These realities have been brought home to modern readers [...]

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Hopkins to Hardy to Heaney

It sounds like a good infield for the Yankees in the 1930s, but it is really a progression of three of the finest poets of the last century and a half. We lead off with Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins was a Jesuit priest in England, who died in 1889 with little of his poetry having [...]

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The Top 500 Poems, William Harmon, ed.

Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
Ever since having to memorize a wide range of poetry in elementary school (I can still recite Leigh Hunt’s “The Glove and the Lions” for anyone who cares to hear it), I have loved to hear and read poetry. April being [...]

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