Summer 2025—Books We Are Reading, Have Read, Recommend, or Want You to Read
Staff picks are available for purchase in our store and online!
Terrence’s Picks
Runes and Chords by Alice Notley
Alice Notley, to paraphrase Ted Berrigan, is still even better than anyone has yet said she is. She invented new poetical futures, and futures for all of us, in a throwaway line, or a poem or book written in a form she would never return to. For example, Runes and Chords responds proactively to a future in which all writing and images are suspect. AI can write more poems and essays than anyone, and read more books. Alice knew that the only way to write authentically now would be to write in colorful crayons, with drawings, prophecies, and visions.
Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
On a similar note, Christina Sharpe tears down any genre divisions that might be left in Ordinary Notes. In her previous book, In the Wake, every word glows with imbued history, as she carefully recombines numerous strands of criticism, history, and resistance as being “in the wake,” i.e. anti-black remnants of the slave trade, and formulates future “wake work.” In Ordinary Notes, Sharpe writes 248 notes that function as art and literature criticism, diaristic entries, political commentary, and more, fusing them all into something else entirely.
Lisa’s Picks
The King of a Rainy Country by Brigid Brophy
When 19-year-old Susan and her quasi-boyfriend happen upon an erotic photo of an old crush of hers at a shady bookshop, mayhem (to say the least) occurs. This is a very kooky story about two impoverished young bohemians who make their way from London to Venice to track down the crush and completely upend their lives. A delightful & extremely intelligent romp.
The Children’s Bach by Helen Garner
Helen Garner’s The Children’s Bach is a family novel about a certain kind of domestic bliss, until it isn’t. Then it’s a very dark and very smart story about the rocky road of liberation. Athena and Dexter Fox are unforgettable characters and this is a pitch-perfect gem of a book.
Adi’s Picks
The Comforters by Muriel Spark
When I needed a pleasurable read, I found this: Muriel Spark’s first novel, sharp and fun throughout. Caroline, recently returned to society after a diabolical Catholic retreat, begins to hear a phantom voice echoing her thoughts and perhaps typing them into a novel. This book reminds me of a line from Spark’s later novel The Driver’s Seat: “a whydunnit in Q-sharp major.”
A tale from six summers ago, when India revoked the special status of the Jammu and Kashmir regions. The essays and photographs here—of internet blackouts, policing tactics, and perpetual accusations of terrorism—form a collective document of a living occupation.
Will’s Picks
The Virgin Mountain by Roberto Echavarren, translated by Donald Wellman and Roberto Echavarren
Donald Wellman is an inspired translator of Roberto Echavarren, an Uruguayan poet of the “neobaroque.” Echavarren’s poems have some of the drifting, discursive feel of John Ashbery’s work. But they lack a certain wistful, backward glance that I associate with Ashbery—Echavarren is turned toward the unknown.
Meaning a Life: An Autobiography by Mary Oppen
In her autobiography, Mary Oppen describes how she fled a middle-class upbringing in Montana, wandering the country with her lover, George, and dedicating herself to poetry, later to Communist politics. It’s remarkable that Oppen doesn’t sensationalize these events. In fact, she seems to have zero interest in recreating an emotional experience for the reader (a relief to me).
Hayley’s Picks
Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me by Javier Marías, translated by Margaret Jull Costa
Starts with a dilemma—what to do when a near stranger dies in one’s arms?—and spirals outward in dark, ruminative tendrils. A perfect introduction to Javier Marías’s unique brand of contemplative, obsessive noir.
Tamarisk Row by Gerald Murnane
Imaginary worlds within worlds made up of children’s marble games and horse races in a dusty backyard somewhere in Australia. Best read when hot and drowsy.