ON LEAVE: A Book of Anecdotes

Keith Tuma Salt Publishing ($14.95) by Stephen Burt What a bad title for such a good—and, paradoxically, ambitious—book: though it presents itself as a low-pressure

WILDWOOD

The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I Colin Meloy illustrated by Carson Ellis Balzer + Bray ($17.99) by Steve Bramucci Wildwood tells the story of Prue McKeel, a

VANISHING ACTS

A Tragedy Forrest Hylton City Works Press ($12.95) by Kristin Thiel People often read to escape, but Forrest Hylton’s first book-length fiction reminds us how

THIRST

Andrei Gelasimov translated by Marian Schwartz AmazonCrossing ($14.95) by Amy Henry “I’m sorry to bother you again,” she said. “My Nikita’s acting up. Please help

MONSTRESS

Lysley Tenorio Ecco ($13.99) by Robert Martin The debate has been long, and inconclusive, and in many ways irrelevant: are MFA programs good for writing,

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF FRADIQUE MENDES

José Maria de Eça de Queirós translated by Gregory Rabassa Tagus Press / UMass Dartmouth ($19.95) by Douglas Messerli Fradique Mendes, originally conceived as a

CALL ME WHEN YOU LAND

Michael Schiavone The Permanent Press ($28) by Soo Young Lee At the heart of Michael Schiavone’s debut novel Call Me When You Land is a fractured family

VARAMO

César Aira translated by Chris Andrews New Directions ($12.95) by Douglas Messerli An insignificant Panamanian government employee named Varamo is paid his monthly salary, one

WE MAKE MUD

Peter Markus Dzanc Books ($16) by Nick Ripatrazone Recursivity in prose was a favorite trick of American postmodernists, with Donald Barthelme, John Barth, and William