favorite reads of 2013

P O E T R Y
1]  Animal Eye by Paisley Rekdal:  I love her detail in the cruel corners of the natural world.
2]  Requiem for the Orchard by Oliver de la Paz:  I was struck by how much the boyness of experience compelled me in this collection.
3]  The Lifting Dress by Lauren Berry:  A sequence about sexual violence--each poem is so solid, the language so good.
4]  Love, An Index by Rebecca Lindenberg:  Oh my--poems that are sourced from her partner's disappearance but are about so much more.  Remarkable.
5]  At the Drive-In Volcano by Aimee Nezhukumatathil:  Clever narrative poems that are tight on the page.
6]  Exit, Civilian by Idra Novey:  Extremely elegant, brilliant poems.  Like glass or icicles.  Love.
7]  Instructions for My Mother's Funeral by Laura Read:  That turn between seasons.

H Y B R I D
1]  Ventifacts by Christine Hume:   This hybrid essay springboarded from the author's daughter's fear of the wind.
2]  The End of the Sentimental Journey by Sarah Vap:  Part treatise, part prose poem, part fierce roar.

N O N F I C T I O N
1]  The Music of Failure by Bill Holm:  Essays and essay-chips exploring place and language.
2]  The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yukanavitch:  A poetic memoir that examines grief and sexuality.
3]  Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala:  Plumes of grief after the 2004 tsunami.  Honest, spare.
4]  Still Point of the Turning World by Emily Rapp:  Grief, like a strong, hard hike.

F I C T I O N
1]  Run by Ann Patchett:  This one has lingered, perhaps because of the stuffy, snowy setting.
2]  Life After Life by Kate Atkinson:  Smoke in a chimney.  The huff as a fire goes out.  The huff as it's lit again.