Poetry
The Trouble With Poetry: And Other Poems, by Billy Collins
In his ninth book of poems, Collins recalls a boyhood passion for collecting: “lantern, spyglass, tomahawk . . . in the order you would need them in,” a sweet beginning with ominous implications. Library Journal
Nonfiction
Lee Krasner: A Biography, by Gail Levin.
For far too long, artist Lee Krasner’s reputation has been overshadowed by that of her renowned husband, artist Jackson Pollock. This lively, well-researched biography by Levin (“Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography”) finally corrects this injustice. Publishers Weekly
Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture, by Alice Echols.
Other writers have done more to evoke the era’s sleazy glamour and animal excitement. But Echols has few peers among music sociologists. Scholarly but fun, “Hot Stuff” is not just about disco; it re-examines the ’70s as a decade of revolution. The New York Times
Fiction
Big Girl Small, by Rachel DeWoskin.
Judy Lohden is your above-average 16-year-old — sarcastic and vulnerable, talented and uncertain, full of big dreams for a big future.
Night Road, by Kristin Hannah.
Although “Night Road” is infused with a tad too much soap-opera drama, at its heart is a story about the choices parents face daily as they try to raise their children to be happy, independent and well-adjusted adults. Library Journal
Paperback
Outside Wonderland, by Lorna J. Cook.
When the three very young Stenen children lose their mother in a freak household accident and then, eight years later, their father, the tragedy of their being orphaned has far-reaching consequences, leaving them unmoored and coping with adulthood in wildly different ways. Publishers Weekly
Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes, by Betty Crocker.
Straightforward instructions on baking perfect cupcakes of any kind — yellow, chocolate, white or lemon cake, along with frostings and icings. From the Publisher
