I don’t know about you, my friends, but here in Columbus the snows have set in, which means it’s time for me to get back to my duties as Online Editor, and likely means it’s time for you all to come in from your holidays and get back to your books. As we let this past year’s frozen remains sink into the ocean’s icy dark, while we remain on a piece of wreckage-turned-life-raft, floating into the mysterious waters of 2013, it’s time for 2012’s last gasp (“We’ll never let go!”). And thus, I come to you this week with an end-of-the-year list.
Nick McRae, Poetry Review Editor: Olives, A.E. Stallings; The Coal Life, Adam Vines
McRae’s first pick is the third collection of poems by Athens-based American Alicia Elsbeth, and you can read and listen to the title poem here. Nick’s second pick is The Coal Life by Adam Vines, who is the editor of the Birmingham Poetry Review. This debut collection is available from the University of Arkansas Press.
Dominic Russ, Fiction and Nonfiction Review Editor: Train Dreams, Denis Johnson
Mr. Russ picked a book that came out in August 2011, but it’s the Holidays so I let it slide. Also, I have a soft spot for Denis Johnson, who, in my opinion, is one of our greatest living prosers. Not one of his books has failed to impress me, including this novella about the development and expansion of the American West during the early 20th century, which was originally published in The Paris Review in 2002.
Silas Hansen, Nonfiction Editor: Wild, Cheryl Strayed; Hitless Wonder: A Life in Minor League Rock and Roll, Joe Oestreich
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail is Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of hiking up the West Coast after the death of her mother and the dissolution of her marriage and, being a Pacific Northwesterner myself, I’m looking forward to reading it (Wild was also the first selection for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0). Joe Oestreich is an OSU Alumnus who was very kind and funny when he was here for the Creative Writing Bookfair in September. The reading he gave from his book dealt with his experiences with his Columbus-based band, Watershed, and was also quite hilarious.
Michael Marberry, Poetry Editor: Touch, Henri Cole; Holding Company, Major Jackson; Slow Lightning, Eduardo Corral; Maybe the Saddest Thing, Marcus Wicker; Animal Eye, Paisley Rekdal
If this list is any indication, Mr. Marberry has been busy this year. I won’t try to cover all of these titles, but I’ll note that Henri Cole is a member of the faculty here at OSU, who has gained himself a good bit of notice for his excellent dispatches in The New Yorker. Good reading, if you’re in a Paris state of mind.
Nick White, Fiction Editor: This Is How You Lose Her, Junot Díaz; The Round House, Louise Erdrich
My brother gave me Díaz’s story collection for Christmas, which Nick has picked as one of his favorite titles of 2012. This Is How You Lose Her reunites us with Yunior, and in it Díaz uses a variety of perspectives to paint this portrait of a cheater’s downfall. The Round House just won Louise Erdrich a much-deserved National Book Award, and deals with a rape on a Native American reservation.
As for me, the best I’ve read this year is either Nathan Englander’s spectacular short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, or Kevin Powers’ The Yellow Birds, which is one of the first novels that deals with the most recent Iraq War in a way that feels equal to the subject. If you’re so inclined, you can read an excerpt here.
That’s it for 2012, ladies and gents. Celebrate duly, and check back with us in the New Year. Bonne nuit et bonne chance.