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books roundup : february
Books I completed in the month of February:
Speaking With the Angel, edited by Nick Hornby
Lust, by Susan Minot
The October Palace, by Jane Hirshfield
Language, by Jack Spicer
Fifteen False Propositions About God, by Jack Spicer
Assorted Fire Events, by David Means
Dusk, by James Salter
The Book of Ecclesiastes (King James translation, in the stylish Grove Press 'Pocket Canons' edition)
Verdicts? The Hornby and Minot story collections have spots of brilliance but mostly work as breezy reads; at times they border on tepid. Dusk and Assorted Fire Events are the stronger collections here. The two volumes of Jack Spicer's poetry are interesting but they didn't always connect with me—I'm still not sure I have enough of a grasp on Spicer's project, but it warrants further investiagaton. The Hirshfield, on the other hand, is a devastating batch of lyrical, sensual, spiritual poems—her relative accessibility does not in any way dilute her restless intelligence or the startling clarity of her vision.
(I'll leave Ecclesiasties aside for now.)
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Tuesday, March 04, 2003
9:19 AM
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