Some favorite books of 2013
In thinking about my absolute favorite books of 2013, I need to mention In the House Upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell (Soho), Mira Corpora by Jeff Jackson (Two Dollar Radio), and Spectacle by Susan Steinberg (Graywolf). These are the ones that have lingered most acutely in my memory and which I find myself turning back to again and again. My interviews with these three authors are linked below.
One poetry chapbook I absolutely loved was Orthorexia by Kristin Sanders (Dancing Girl Press) and the literary magazine I keep thinking about was issue 88 of Glimmer Train, which included Laura Van Der Berg’s stunning “Antarctica” and the debut story by my former student Michael Deagler, “Etymology.”
While there are still so many promising 2013 titles on my to-read shelf, probably too many, I also catch myself looking forward to what 2014 will bring: Chris Abani’s The Secret History of Las Vegas (Penguin), Roxane Gay’s An Untamed State (Grove), Kyle Minor’s Praying Drunk (Sarabande), Richard Powers’s Orfeo (Norton). It should be another wonderful and inspiring year.
My interview with Matt Bell for Tin House is here.
My interview with Jeff Jackson, also for Tin House, is here.
And my interview with Susan Steinberg for Hobart is here.