The Irish writer John Banville is a novelist of ideas whose prose aspires to the condition of poetry.

For Twin Cities based Chinese artist Meng Tang, the personal is political.

The Nobel prize winning poet's verse is spare, elegant, precise, and serene.

Butler’s recursive, malleable syntax not only mirrors the blurry minds of the sleepless, his prose redefines that “sleeplike helpless state.” Reviewed by Nick Ripatrazone

In this collection of essays, Attlee challenges us to reexamine our relationship to the night sky for the sake of both our sense of mystery and our planet’s health. Reviewed by Paula Cisewski

While this memoir focuses on Yang’s win at the 2007 World Series of Poker, the more interesting portion follows his journey to America as a Hmong refugee. Reviewed by Adam Stemple

This debut collection of essays explores the silence around homosexuality and the difficulty in defining yourself when all you know is that you’re “different.” Reviewed by Nasir Sakandar

Muscio's new book continually affirms that a strong sense of self precipitates an expanded awareness of the surrounding world. Reviewed by Amy Wright

In his latest travelogue, Andrzej Stasiuk continues his exploration of remote parts of Europe to find out what makes people there survive. Reviewed by Amy Henry

Croatian writer Dubravka Ugresic offers essays that range from academic argument to the kind of visceral epiphanies one might expect over the backyard fence. Reviewed by Steve Street

In Digital Art and Meaning, critic Roberto Simanowski rigorously scrutinizes how media and art are blended. Reviewed by Chris Funkhouser

This collection of letters offers a litany of new insights into Luxemburg's character and her quick evolution as thinker and political insurgent. Reviewed by Vladislav Davidzon

Larson's bestselling book investigates Hitler’s Berlin through the eyes of the U.S. ambassador to Germany, William Dodd and his family. Reviewed by Rebecca Morales

Florence Howe writes a poignant memoir about coming of age as a feminist in mid-twentieth-century America. Reviewed by E. J. Levy

In his seventieth book, the late Khairy Shalaby takes on the pervasive and illegal use of hashish among Egypt’s youth culture. Reviewed by Brooke Horvath

Bergen brings the classic mid-life crisis story up to speed with the war-torn, plugged-in world in his recent Giller Prize-winning novel. Reviewed by Matthew Duffus

Embrace your inner geek with Reamde, a fast-paced, video-game-like story that is&unlike most of Stephenson’s work—more action than analysis.Reviewed by Alice Dodge

These thirteen science fiction tales by Hugo and Nebula Award winner Terry Bisson focus on what makes pop culture tick: voyeurism and violence. Reviewed by Jade Bové

Ribeiro’s novel, recently translated into English, revels in the bygone Olympia Press tradition of literary erotica. Reviewed by Shane Joaquin Jimenez

Whitehead's Zone One is a literary treatment of a popular theme, the zombie apocalypse. Reviewed by Victoria Blake

A stage magician named Prospero takes his daughter as an apprentice in this wondrous world of magic and dueling wizards. Reviewed by Greg Baldino

The timing of Helen DeWitt’s wicked new satire of corporate America probably could not have been better. Reviewed by Brent Cunningham

This anthology offers a rare combination of breadth and depth, without becoming a brick-heavy tome of plays. Reviewed by Justin Maxwell

This latest work by poet and translator Forrest Gander combines poetry, photography, and haibun to explore the ever-shifting geologic and human structures of the world. Reviewed by Justin Wadland

If the book's cover doesn’t tip you off, you’ll soon find out that Cervantes’s love poems manage to be witty, lyrical, and wise without a trace of sentimentality. Reviewed by Sharon Olinka

Finally, after 101 years of languishing uncollected and unpublished, these uncensored poems by one of the most outrageous dada poets of them all are revealed for our revelry. Reviewed by Gary Sullivan

Susan Briante’s poems playfully articulate the stagnancy of a population born and raised in the suburban sprawl. Reviewed by Abby Travis

Martin Corless-Smith’s fifth collection of poetry is a deeply companionable book, with powers of reflection, musicality, candor, and sympathetic magic. Reviewed by Daniel Tiffany

In this long-awaited seventh book, Dillard collects fifty-two poems, each a meditation upon a dead poet’s work and life. Reviewed by Greg Weiss