Wendy Brenner Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill ($21.95) by Ann Veronica Simon "Critics taught me something I didn't know," Wendy Brenner recently told an interviewer;

Ali Smith Anchor Books ($12) by Jessica Hoffmann Try this: judge a book by the times its words wind you with excitement, astonishment, joy, wonder.

Alfredo Bryce Echenique Pantheon Books ($23) by Jay Miskowiec Like many other Latin American writers, Alfredo Bryce Echenique has divided his life between his homeland

Susan Daitch Dalkey Archive ($14.95) by Jason Picone First published in 1986, Susan Daitch's debut novel is a challenging and complex work that defies easy

Michael Hemmingson Forge ($21.95) by Tim Brown If Michael Hemmingson is not yet the high priest of transgressive fiction, then he certainly is among the

Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper Harriet Scott Chessman Seven Stories Press ($24) La Tour Dreams of the Wolf Girl David Huddle Houghton Mifflin ($24)

T. R. Hummer Louisiana State University Press ($16.95) by Justin B. Lacour In his previous collection, Walt Whitman in Hell, T. R. Hummer contrasted Whitman's

Joseph Millar Eastern Washington University Press ($14.95) by Julie Drake As the title suggests, Overtime contains many work poems. Joseph Millar now earns a living

Joseph Lease Jensen / Daniels Publishers ($4) by Thomas Fink A poet of lyric grace and specific, evocative images, Joseph Lease engages in trenchant, often

Chelsey Minnis Fence Books ($12) by John Erhardt Part of the allure of a prose poem is that there is one continuous "line"; every word