Fifth Wednesday Journal Blog

Archive for the ‘Book Talk’ Category

Book Review: ‘Black Birds : Blue Horse’ by Natalie Peeterse

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

Black Birds : Blue Horse by Natalie Peeterse
Gold Line Press, 2012
ISBN: 9781105543609
$9.95

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In her first chapbook of poetry, Natalie Peeterse takes the reader through the complicated process of grief. Dedicated to Nicole Dial, who was killed in Afghanistan while working for the International Rescue Committee, this long elegiac poem captures the emotional urgency one experiences after such a loss, the slow acceptance that curtails it, and all points in between. With power and honesty, the reader is ferried through the blurred boundaries of landscapes, urban and rural, familiar and foreign, tangible and surreal. Although the elegy may seem like well-trodden poetic territory, Black Birds : Blue Horse experiments with both form and subject matter to give the poem a contemporary urgency that makes this sequence worth exploring and savoring. (more…)

Posted in Book Talk, Katherine Hoerth | No Comments »

Did You Know?: A Contest

Thursday, June 28th, 2012

The Pulitzer Prize for fiction was not awarded for 2012. Think of that. The committee couldn’t find a single American novel published in 2011 good enough to be a Pulitzer Prize winner. The bookstores must have groaned twice when they heard — no gold stickers pasted on shiny new hard copies piled high on the table closest to the cash register. The announcement probably upset Amazon so much that the executives are now planning to purchase the Pulitzer Prize Foundation and rename the award the Amazon Pulitzer Prize.

Well, here’s your chance. You get to name a book of fiction that should have won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Send us your choice by August 15th, and if your selection receives the most votes, you will win a one-year subscription to Fifth Wednesday Journal.

Rules:

Only one vote per email address. The email address must be valid on August 15th.
The book must have been published in 2011.
The book must be fiction.
The book must be by an American author.

Send your vote to: editors [at] fifthwednesdayjournal [dot] org. Put “Pulitzer Prize Should’a Been” in the subject line. Include the title of the book and the name of the author in the body of the message. Please also include your name and the city/state in which you reside. Add your comment. We’ll post it to the blog if we like it.

The top five novels will be posted on our blog by order of name, city, and state.

Remember: Only one entry per valid email address. We look forward to your nominations!

Posted in Book Talk, FWJ Contests | No Comments »

New Poetry From Our Book Reviews Editor

Sunday, May 13th, 2012

Andrea Witzke Slot, our new book reviews editor starting in fall 2012, has recently published a book of poems titled To find a new beauty. The book has spent time on both Amazon’s Hot New Releases in Poetry and Amazon’s Hot New Releases in General. We encourage everyone to support Andrea and help her book continue to make waves!

Andrea’s work has appeared in Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Translation Review, Pacific Review, Southern Women’s Review, and Chiron Review, among other print and online journals. She teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is also on the editorial board of Rhino Poetry. To find a new beauty borrows its title from a line of H.D.’s and has been described by Marge Piercy as being “rich with cool, intelligent, and carefully crafted poems that often have a subtext of terror and darkness.”

Posted in Announcements, Book Talk, Our Staff | Comments Off

Another Friend, Another Book

Sunday, September 11th, 2011

Hey, how about a murder? a mystery? some 19th century Michigan history? a family saga? a love story? courtroom drama? jealously and suspicion lurking in a community? Read Becky Thacker’s novel and you will get it all. A great book for the shorter fall days ahead of us in the Midwest. Published by the University of Michigan Press and available from the publisher or ask at your favorite bookseller. And let me know what you think of my friends.

Vern Miller

Posted in Book Talk, Vern Miller | Comments Off

A Friend Writes a Book

Friday, September 9th, 2011

Not all that long ago I heard a friend say he was writing a book. I didn’t get excited; after all, we all have friends who say when they retire from another profession they will write a book. Phil Dobrin, a retired surgeon, did what he said. He wrote a book. In fact he wrote a good book about his life as a surgical resident. Take a look, you’ll find both the expected drama and some unexpected humor in the operating room.

This week we learned of the sudden death of Philip Dobrin from a massive bleed in the brain. He had been enjoying his travels around Florida to introduce himself and this book at as many people as had a moment to listen.

Vern

Posted in Book Talk, Vern Miller | Comments Off

The Book Bike

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Thanks to an email on another topic from Mike Zapata (Fifth Wednesday Journal, Spring 2010 Issue 6) I discovered this morning a magnificent contribution to the spirit and life of the printed book in American culture. If you haven’t already discovered The Book Bike for yourself, you might visit www.bookbike.org/gallery/

You will enjoy what you find there. The Book Bike lives and works in Chicago, but could thrive in many other cities around the world. If you are acquainted with any of its cousins in other places, let us know by commenting on my discovery.

Vern

Posted in Book Talk, General Musings, Vern Miller | Comments Off

Know This Game?

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

We need someone to demonstrate the usefulness of a blog for a literary magazine. After all, we invest resources in the manufacture and maintenance of these vehicles. In this case, “we” means the editors, designers, and webmasters who cobble the appearance and structure of them.

But we don’t really know who visits here, if anyone visits here, why anyone would visit here, how many visitors return for a second visit, or what thoughts, opinions, reactions, and attitudes the visitor carries away. So tell us. Leave a comment. Comment on this posting. Say what you want to say in the language of your choice. We do exercise a warden’s prerogative; we will censor abusive and pornographic rants, so let it hang out, knowing we will sanitize your act.

And while you are at it, join us in our new game. We ask you to name one important book published in the past decade that you have NOT read. Tattle on yourself. Novels, collections, anthologies, histories, biographies, philosophical, medical, political, scientific, memoir — if you haven’t read it but know you should, let us know about it. Don’t cheat! If you have read it, don’t list it here with the implied challenge to others to do so just to keep up with you.

My candidate is The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee, Scribner, Sept. 2010.

Or if you demand a “literary” text, how about this? I have not read The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Penguin Books 2010.

Top that if you can,
Vern Miller

Posted in Book Talk, General Musings, Vern Miller | 2 Comments »

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