Sinister Wisdom‘s issue 91 features the work of one author, Cheryl Clarke. In an introduction, Nancy K. Bereanowrites, “It is absolutely clear to me that Cheryl Clarke was then, and remains now, a singular, powerful voice articulating the truths of fierce, independent women of color: lesbians who often live lives made triply invisible by their sexuality, their race, and their working-class realities. And she writes with the kind of precision and attention to linguistic detail that might have impressed those Republican ladies if they had had the emotional and political wherewithal to take on her work.”

Co-published by A Midsummer Night’s Press and Sinister Wisdom, the Sapphic Classics Series publishes reprint editions of iconic works of lesbian poetry. The third Sapphic Classics will be issued in early 2015.

This week’s selections include poetry, Mexican fiction, and the memoir of a lost Holocaust childhood.

Out of Their Minds, fiction by Luis Humberto Crosthwaite, Cinco Puntos Press

“Hey, what’s up, come a little closer, I have something to tell you,” God said to Cornelio. The deal was simple: God would be the silent partner in the norteño band that Cornelio had started with his best friend Ramon. Cornelio would sing and play the bajo sexto, Ramon the accordion, and God would write the songs. Cornelio agreed; he would sell his soul to God.

Success and disaster followed. The band went from playing bars in Tijuana to playing the biggest stadiums in Mexico. Women started fan clubs and motorcycle gangs dedicated to their heroes, Ramon and Cornelio. It seemed to Cornelio and Ramon that they had everything, but fame was a cruel mistress.

“Of course, what good is a novel about music without music?” Cinco Puntos notes. They have created a Spotify playlist of music from the novel; the playlist can be accessed at the book’s page on the Cinco Puntos site. Turn up the volume while you read.

Looking for Strangers: The True Story of My Hidden Wartime Childhood, nonfiction by Dori Katz, University of Chicago Press

Dori Katz is a Jewish Holocaust survivor who thought that her lost memories of her childhood years in Belgium were irrecoverable. But after a chance viewing of a documentary about hidden children in German-occupied Belgium, she realized that she might, in fact, be able to unearth those years. Looking for Strangers is the deeply honest record of her attempt to do so, a detective story that unfolds through one of the most horrifying periods in history in an attempt to understand one’s place within it. A story at once about self-discovery, the transformation of memory, a fraught mother-daughter relationship, and the oppression of millions, Looking for Strangers is a book of both historical insight and imaginative grasp. In it, the past becomes alive, immediate, and of the most urgent importance.

Obedience, poetry by Chris Vitiello, Ahsahta Press

Obedience features dual-sided printing: begin with either cover (pictured above) and flip the book over and continue reading after you finish one side…or at any point, actually, as Ahsahta notes that the book can be read “forwards, backwards, and laterally.” From its dedication (“for the word ‘THIS’”) to its cascading sentences that demand “Explain yourself to this dot • ” or observe “The first word was a command,” Chris Vitiello’s unique book creates a reading experience of poetry that borders on the compulsive. “The title of this book should be the entirety of the text of this book over again,” the author suggests before urging the reader: “Go on.”

(And for those who are curious after seeing the book’s covers–the ISBN and bar code are on the spine.)

There are no poem titles or page numbers; this can be found about seven pages in, starting with the pink cover:

A tree performs a function: to itself grow
Tear out this page and cut a paper snowflake from it
Don’t read the rest of this book; cut the remaining pages into snowflakes
A photograph of a tree is
That someone created the concept of closure is disappointing

[flip the book over and read the following next to that passage]

That someone created the concept of closure is embarrassing
This line says that it is a photograph of a tree
Mulch this page and germinate a tree with it
Don’t read the rest of this book; mulch the remaining pages
The living really only replicate themselves

Check out more great reads in our latest batch of book reviews, posted last Monday.

After a brief hiatus, we’re back with more interesting book covers:

Bite Down Little Whisper, poetry by Don Domanski, Brick Books

 From “Ars Magica”:

Quietude is called returning to life Lao Tze says
even on a Tuesday afternoon in Nova Scotia
even with the hood ornaments of chocolate irises
gleaming outward from their arterial darkness
with the unborn standing high up in the trees
                                  like cemetery angels
one finger pointing to heaven    the other to earth

Because I Am the Shore I Want to Be the Sea, poetry by Renee Ashley, Subito Press

from the book’s title poem:

But you too know this: the wanting to be what you cannot—except by extension—and the bearing of those secrets so immeasurable not even an ocean can conceal them And in the ocean’s failure the mountain shows its hard side its watershed steep with its varied waves of not-sea its gravities and declivities its runnels its hummings and echoes vaulting against the inner ear a passel of unruly birds against a pearled tympan . . .

The Everyday Parade/Alone With Turntable, Old Records, poetry chapbook by Justin Hamm, Crisis Chronicles Press

After reading Justin Hamm’s The Everyday Parade, flip the chapbook over and take in its B side, Alone With Turntable, Old Records. (The image above shows the front and back covers.)

From “The Everyday Parade”:

She helps him swap out
the fuel pump
for one from the junkyard
delivered by goateed uncle
on motorbike,
and all afternoon they sit uptown,
a pair of grease-covered gearheads
in the white sunshine,
watching the long slow procession
of the Everyday Parade.

We’ll be back with more book covers after Thanksgiving…happy holidays!

As Thanksgiving and the season of gratitude approaches, consider purchasing a book that makes a difference with each sale. Like One: Poems for Boston, edited by Deborah Finkelstein, is a recent anthology that brings together pieces from a wide range of poets, from former Jersey City Poet Laureate Aaron Middlepoet Jackson to former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky to Dickinson and Whitman. All proceeds from the book go to The One Fund, created last summer to assist victims of the Boston Marathon bombings and their families.

For a complete list of poets included and their bios, visit the poets page on the website. Like One can be purchased via the website or on Amazon.

Monday May 13 at 6:00 pm EDT, Cinco Puntos Press presents two virtual discussions via Shindig: Remember Dippy: Middle Grade Fiction, Representing Autism with Shirley Reva Vernick and That Mad Game: Growing Up in a Warzone, Talking Children and War with J.L. Powers.

Remember Dippy: Middle Grade Fiction, Representing Autism by Shirley Reva Vernick

Johnny’s summer plans fly out the window when he learns he has to help out with his autistic older cousin, Remember. His premonitions of disaster appear at first to come to cringeworthy fruition, but when the two boys save a bully from drowning, salvage the pizzeria guy’s romance and share girl troubles, Johnny ends up having the summer of his life.

Come join us for Cinco Puntos’ debut Author Talk series with award-winning author Shirley Reva Vernick, who will talk about her second novel for young people where laughter and serious issues mix in a lightly humorous novel.

That Mad Game: Growing Up in a Warzone, Talking Children and War by J.L. Powers

In this 2013 Notable Book for a Global Society, seventeen writers from around the world contribute essays about coming of age during a time of war: fighting, dying, surviving. Powers will talk about war, violence, and childhood, and what these writers taught her about exile and belonging after their worlds were destroyed.

In the DailyMail (UK) article Female Novelist Sick of Patronising Covers on Women’s Books, Sam Webb explains how author Maureen Johnson claimed publishers pigeonhole books by women. She asked fans to ‘coverflip’ books and was inundated with classics with new ‘girly’ covers as well as a few made more ‘manly.’

Blue Cubicle Press announced the release of their new issue of Workers Write! Tales from the Concrete Highway, stories and poems from the driver’s point of view.

Unfortunately, the editors note that a number of copies they received from the printer have a “small but annoying mark on two of the pages. Nothing major, doesn’t take away from the readability of the page, just kind of looks like a skid mark, which, I guess, is wholly appropriate for this issue.”

Replacements have been ordered, and “clean” copies can be purchased for $10 (also available in PDF and Kindle versions). But, for $4.50, the cost of postage and envelope, readers can order a “slightly marked” copy.

Blue Cubicle Press is collecting stories and poems for their tenth issue of Workers Write! More Tales from the Cubicle.

Press 53 has just published In a World of Small Truths, the debut short story collection from Ray Morrison. This is the 100th book published by Press 53, which celebrated its seventh anniversary in October.

Morrison’s book focuses on the Southern city in a state of flux, jumping from backwoods thieves and farmers to professionals and students. Stories from the collection have appeared in Fiction Southeast, Ecotone, Aethlon, Carve Magazine, and Night Train. Morrison won first prize in the short story category of the 2011 Press 53 Open Awards and has twice received honorable mention in the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition.

Congratulations to both Press 53 and Ray Morrison.

Thinking about holiday shopping for the nature lover in your life? This year’s Outdoor Book Awards have been announced, and with the variety of categories in the awards, there’s something for everyone.

Is it a book? Is it a painting? It’s Very Different Animals by Frank Sherlock, an accordion-fold book set in fonts VTKS Animal 2 and Big Caslon and mounted in Blick Studio mini canvasses. Each canvas features original artwork by Philadelphia artist Nicole Donnelly. It is printed in an edition of 100 on reclaimed 120 gsm Arches cotton wove watercolor paper. It is officially available on Fact-Simile‘s website at a discounted pre-sale price.

Firewheel Editions has several new titles for sale and until Oct. 31 is offering to add on a second title from select books and issues of Sentence and Kugelmass for $3 each.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, published in 1962, is considered by many to be an essential book that helped to spark the modern environmental movement. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Silent Spring‘s publication, and programs celebrating this anniversary have been happening in the U.S. and around the world.

The Borderbend Arts Collective is working with other partnering organizations to present “Celebrating Silent Spring at 50.” This program includes creative responses to Silent Spring and celebrations of Rachel Carson’s life and legacy – with events, artistic contributions (writings, music, visual art, multidisciplinary works), and more. One of this program’s goals is for people and organizations from each of the U.S.’s 50 states to contribute to “Celebrating Silent Spring at 50,” and the organization welcomes contributions from around the world.

[Text from the Silent Spring at 50 website.]

Paul Dry Books is having a moving sale with a selection of backlisted titles available at $5 each when you order two or more titles. Some books are a few bucks more, but there’s a pretty good selection at this rock bottom pricing. The sale is good through September 26. What a great way to help someone move without hurting your back!

Ever since I read a news article about a woman who lived in a 200-square-foot home, I have been fascinated – and not doubt romanticizing – the idea of living (not just ‘vacationing’) in such a small space. What a great way to ‘de-clutter’ and ‘live simply’ as growing movements suggest we are better off doing so that others may ‘simply live.’ (The woman in the news article had a helpful rule we could all live better by: She only allowed herself a certain number of objects in her home. If she brought something new in, something old had to go.)

At NewPages, we get a lot of incoming, and one book I was thrilled to see was Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter, Scaling Back in the 21st Century by Lloyd Kahn, published by Shelter Publications.

This book features 150 builders who have created tiny homes (under 500 sq. ft.) on land, on wheels, on the road, on water, even in the trees. There are also studios, saunas, garden sheds, and greenhouses.

Most amazing, in the 224 pages are included 1,300 full-color photos, showing a rich variety of small homemade shelters, and there are stories (and thoughts and inspirations) of the owner-builders who are on the forefront of this new trend in downsizing and self-sufficiency.

This particular book does not include any intricate building plans – these are included in other publications put out by Shelter. Rather, the intent of this book is to showcase, inspire, and motivate people to consider this alternative way of taking up less space on the planet.

There’s a two-minute book trailer on the publisher’s website featuring Lloyd Kahn discussing the book, the concept of tiny shelters, and numerous images from the book as well. Certainly well worth a look.

In Children’s Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling, Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles introduce readers to the world of children’s picturebooks, providing a solid background to the industry while exploring the key concepts and practices that have gone into the creation of successful picturebooks.

In seven chapters, this book covers the key stages of conceiving a narrative, creating a visual language and developing storyboards and design of a picturebook. The book includes interviews with leading children’s picturebook illustrators, as well as case studies of their work. The picturebooks and artists featured hail from Australia, Belgium, Cuba, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, the UK and the USA. The authors close the book by considering e-publication and the future of children’s picturebooks.

Published by Laurence King Publishing, this gorgeous paperback is 192 pages and packed with 300 full-color illustrations throughout. Readers who remembers their own childhood picturebook favorites will not be able to put this book down. See the book website for a full table of contents and ordering information.

New from Modern Haiku Press: Haiku 21: An Anthology of Contemporary English-Language Haiku edited by Lee Gurga and Scott Metz with an introduction by the editors. Over 600 haiku by more than 200 poets, perfect bound, 205 pages.

I can honestly say, I hope eBooks will never replace the coffee table book. While I know digital picture quality can surpass print quality when it comes to art and images, it’s the cover of a book like this one that will get readers and “non-readers” alike to pick it up and thumb through its pages.

In his newest book, professional pet photographer Michael Kloth helps readers focus on the plight of the “pound puppies,” but without once showing the dark, heart wrenching images we think of when imagining life in “the shelter.” Instead of wire cages and cement floors as scenery, Kloth expertly poses the pups on clean backdrops with plenty of warm, bright light, letting viewers – and prospective owners – see the canine kids at their best. Little puppy personalities fill the pages of this book, and while they are the photographic subject, the real message of this effort is shared in Kloth’s introduction.

While Kloth recognizes there are “valid reasons to buy a puppy from a breeder,” he shares the message of animal advocates in promoting the adoption of shelter and foster animals. He cites research on the number of purebred dogs brought to shelter each year and that, though families may be eager when first purchasing designer-breeds, that excitement may wane when the resulting dogs turn out not to be such a good match.

Kloth volunteers his time each month to visit shelters in his area and photograph pets ready for adoption. The photos are used to help would-be owners find their next family member. Kloth offers helpful advice to shelters and volunteer photographers about ways to present these animals to give them the best chance at adoption. Photographing through wire cages, Kloth tells readers, is a no-no, along with images of the animal backed into the corner of a cage or in any way looking scared. While these may raise the sympathy meter, they don’t tend to help bring out the true, positive characters of the pet.

Kloth’s book features 65 puppies in full color on the main pages with a “follow-up” section in the back about what happened to each of the pups shortly after – most were successfully adopted with only a couple stories of return and retry. Also included are several later follow-up stories of the dogs now in adulthood and the lives they have changed. This is a truly heartwarming and highly educational addition to Kloth’s series on shelter pet books, which I hope he will continue.

I was initially interested in this book because it was promoted as one that donated a portion of the proceeds to the ASPCA. But, when I got the book, I was a bit let down to see that only twenty-five cents per book is donated. While this doesn’t seem like a lot, I relinquished that any amount is a good amount. Further, when reading about how much time, equipment, and resources Kloth devotes to his volunteer work photographing these animals, I understood that a great deal more of whatever he might earn from this book has already been donated through his kindness, and no doubt will continue.

In addition to his work with local shelters, Kloth is also a member of the new non-profit organization called HeARTs Speak. HeARTs Speak was founded with the expectation that visual artists can make a very real difference in helping adoptable animals find homes.

As with all my recommended books, this one makes a great personal or gift purchase, but would also be a good library donation to share with your community, or even purchasing a copy for your local shelter (who might benefit from the photography tips).