An American lit-mag in Paris, David Foster Wallace, and more...

FEATURES

Postcard from Paris: Frank
Essay by Linda Lappin
Frank, the longest-running Anglophone literary magazine in Paris, is a journal of contemporary art, literature, and culture offering a vibrant mix of perspectives from the Americas, Europe, and Africa. It keeps afloat through the ingenuity of its publisher, a man who came to Paris with a dream.

REVIEWS: FICTION

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Susanna Clarke
It all begins with a simple question—"Why was there no more magic done in England?"—and a fantastic and witty history explodes with a Big Bang. Reviewed by Kelly Everding

Checkpoint
Nicholson Baker
The publication of Baker's latest novel generated as much controversy and official nervousness as might have been expected from a novel by a prominent author about two men discussing the potential assassination of George W. Bush. Reviewed by Andrew Palmer

Oblivion
David Foster Wallace
One of the great things about Oblivion, the new collection of stories from David Foster Wallace, is that it absolutely would not get a passing grade in your typical writing workshop. Reviewed by Scott Bryan Wilson

Ilium
Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons's first foray into science fiction since his epic Hyperion saga, Ilium stretches across over four thousand years in an astounding display of writing and ideas, not only about the potential future, but the potential past. Reviewed by Allan Vorda

The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories
edited by Ben Marcus
An excellent gathering of contemporary American short fiction guaranteed to wake the reader from whatever stupor they happen to be in. Reviewed by Laird Hunt

REVIEWS: GRAPHIC NOVELS

Transmetropolitan: One More Time
Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson, Rodney Ramos, et al.
A comic about a gonzo journalist in a grim but not quite dystopian future,Transmetropolitan has managed to be unique in a field where uniqueness is more often aspired to than achieved. Reviewed by Rudi Dornemann

Planetes: Volumes 1-3
Makoto Yukimura
Set seventy years in the future, this manga series explores an Earth that is neither utopic or apocalyptic, but rather muddles through with short-term solutions to long-term problems—sans wacky aliens, giant robots, or beautiful android maids Reviewed by Robert Boyd

REVIEWS: MIXED GENRE

Haze: Essays, Poems, Prose
Mark Wallace
In this collection of essays and poems, Wallace presents an inquisitive view of organizational and individual elements of poetry and expression. Reviewed by Karl Kraus

REVIEWS: POETRY

The Unsubscriber
Bill Knott
By shtick, trick, or lick, Knott elicits illumination by shaking up our complacency in his newest full-length collection of poems. Reviewed by Cindra Halm

Alaskaphrenia
Christine Hume
In her second book, Hume plumbs the cold depths of human consciousness, never letting her readers forget their mortality. Reviewed by Sun Yung Shin

Dog Island and Other Florida Poems
Laurence Donovan
This posthumously published volume by a poet and printmaker offers a sustained meditation on an earthly paradise. Reviewed by Robert Zaller

What Is This Thing Called Love?
Kim Addonizio
Despite all of the drugs, booze, and sex in Addonizio's fourth book of poems, the collection becomes a fascinating sort of love poem for the speaker's daughter. Reviewed by Mike Chasar

War and Peace
edited by Leslie Scalapino
The second of Scalapino's anti-war anthologies attempts to turn toward the wreckage, taking as its impetus the living in war of Tolstoy's novel. Reviewed by Michael Cross

REVIEWS: NONFICTION

I'll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews
Edited by Kenneth Goldsmith
Could Andy Warhol have been as superficial as he appeared? Both admirers and detractors of the controversial artist will find material to support their positions in this hefty collection of interviews. Reviewed by Christopher Luna

The Bells in Their Silence: Travels Through Germany
Michael Gorra
Modeling his book after Goethe's Italian Travels, Gorra attempts to explore the deep contradictions of Germany, wondering if travel narrative is still possible after Buchenwald. Reviewed by Leland de la Durantaye

Emancipating Pragmatism
Michael Magee
Magee links the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ralph W. Ellison, Frank O'Hara, and Amiri Baraka to the avowed classic pragmatists John Dewey and William James. Reviewed by Jefferson Hanson

The Mommy Myth
Susan J. Douglas and Meredith W. Michaels
The Mommy Myth provides a powerful antidote to every "mom" who professes to want do to nothing more in life than tend to her brood. Reviewed by Sarah Buttenwieser