On Bumblebees
Poet Deborah Meadows has long created a kaleidoscopic display on the screen of the brain. By Kit Robinson
Will Eisner: A Comics Biography
The real misery of the comic artist, fighting poverty sans respect or sentimentalization of the historic suffering-artist kind, is evident in this new book by Stephen Weiner and Dan Mazur. Reviewed by Paul Buhle
Shadow Ticket
A time machine swiveling us to an assortment of cultural markers from the 1930s, Thomas Pynchon’s latest novel is a history-steeped cautionary tale. Reviewed by Ben Sloan
Waste Land
Admittedly a “relentlessly pessimistic” foreign affairs observer, Robert D. Kaplan doesn’t ignore progress and betterments in his new book but puts them in historical contexts that tend to prove them unsustainable. Reviewed by Poul Houe
Cavalier Perspective
Austin Carder’s translation of these final volleys from André Breton delivers something precious to English-language readers from the founder of Surrealism. Reviewed by Allan Graubard
North Sun
The lilting prose and carefully constructed narrative of North Sun, Ethan Rutherford’s debut novel and a finalist for the 2025 National Book Award, feel like the most expansive of embraces. Reviewed by Nicole Emanuel
Crane
Tessa Bolsover successfully immerses the reader in a cycle of reemerging motifs and ideas, a subliminal sublime that only poetry hinging on metaphor can concoct. Reviewed by Robert Eric Shoemaker
Document
Originally published in 1976, Amelia Rosselli’s sprawling third collection captures a significant chapter of the late poet’s life, one in which daily musings were chiseled into literary form. Reviewed by Greg Bem
3 Shades of Blue
James Kaplan brings the milieu of New York City jazz to life in this new triple biography of legends Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans. Reviewed by Daniel Picker
The Odds
Suzanne Cleary renders a panorama of exacting images that emphatically evoke the joy of living—and that underscore how poetry is more about questions than answers. Reviewed by Peter Mladinic