#chicago review of books

Today is launch day for Chicago Review of Books, where you can find my review of New Zealand poet Joan Fleming’s second full-length collection, Failed Love Poems.

Over at Chicago Review of Books, I pick Kelly Schirmann’s Popular Music as one of the best poetry books of 2016 (the best book, poetry or otherwise, I read all year, for the record). It’s an incredible and surprising collection of poetry and essays, and you can read my praise (read: plea for you to read the book I can’t stop thinking about) at CHIRB.

Also worth noting and celebrating, the inclusion of Abigail Zimmer’s child in a winter house brighteningandJohn McCarthy’s Ghost County. This is the second year-end nod for Abigail, who took home the 2016 Chicago Review of Books Award for Best Poetry earlier this month. I interviewed John earlier this year to talk about Ghost County, his debut collection and the only book this year I finished in one sitting.

Congrats to all the amazing books that made the cut at CHIRB. What a year!

Abigail Zimmer’s child in a winter house brightening won the Chicago Review of Books Award for best poetry collection by a Chicago author in 2016. Thanks to Abi’s mesmerizing work, my press Tree Light Books now has a book award to add to our accolades, and I can finally say I’ve wandered through canyons with and drunkenly cried on the shoulder of an award-winning poet.

You can read Tree Light Books’ round-up of Abi’s panel discussion from last night’s award ceremony, along with a few thoughts on the win and publishing Abi’s chapbook at the Tree Light blog.

If you see Abi, buy the poetry queen a beer. If you see me, try to bring me back down to planet Earth. Or better yet, don’t.

EXCITING NEWS: BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN IS OUT April 6!

Blow Your House Down is a powerful testimony about the ways our culture seeks to cage women in traditional narratives of self-sacrifice and erasure. Frangello uses her personal story to examine the place of women in contemporary society: the violence they experience, the rage they suppress, the ways their bodies often reveal what they cannot say aloud, and finally, what it means to transgress “being good” in order to save your own life.

“In this searing memoir…Frangello charts the spectacular highs and devastating lows of her midlife with extraordinary candor…This unapologetic account both moves and fascinates.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Searingly honest and compulsively readable…uncompromisingly fearless in its candor, this memoir/feminist manifesto isa powerful account of a woman’s self-acceptance that deserves a place among the best literary memoirs of the last decade. Frangello’s groundbreaking testimony sets itself apart.”–Library Journal, starred review

“My bet for breakout of the year. The Chicagoan’s memoir takes on gender expectations and marital affairs in such a brutal, lacerating candor wonder who should play her in the movie.” –ChicagoTribune, Most Anticipated Book of 2021

“Raw, red-hot memoir…In this gutsy, dramatic feminist manifesto, Frangello recounts the cost of eschewing security to choose the utter necessity of love, of being more tomorrow than she is today.” –Booklist

Find this captivating memoir on Chicago Review of Books’ Must-Read list for April! https://chireviewofbooks.com/2021/04/01/12-must-read-books-for-april/