2024 was * checks notes * a year.
Since 2017, I’ve been keeping track of how many books I read each year. While I didn’t read more books this year than in past years, I certainly read more novels. A lot more novels.
Usually I read around 100 books a year and around 10-20 of those are novels. One novel a month, give or take. But this year, for whatever reason (oh right, I’m working on a novel), I read 130 books and 44 of them were novels. Significantly less poetry than ever before and significantly more novels.
I don’t know what it all means, other than my end-of-the-year list is featured below, first with new additions to my list, then repeat offenders (those who have been on past lists but whose books I read for this time), then re-reads. Poetry collections, short story collections, craft books, graphic novels, children’s stories, and, yes, novels.
Not including the 40+ additional unread books that are stacked on my floor, on my desk, on my ottoman, and beside my bed, here are the books I read and enjoyed this year.
Zan de Parry
Cold Dogs [2024]
Achievements of the Unlocked [2021]
This summer, Alan Felsenthal of indie press The Song Cave mailed me an advanced reading copy of Zan de Parry's debut full-length poetry collection, Cold Dogs. A book by an author I was unfamiliar with, it quickly became not only my favorite poetry collection of 2024, but the best ARC I think I’ve ever received. The unique collection is packed with a signature vernacular both matter-of-fact and uncommon. Sparse yet dense. Absurdist yet realistic. Rural and urban at the same damn time. The line between reality and absurdism, dreamspeak and normalcy is a mode Parry handles masterfully. Making bathtub gin with calloused hands. Laughing to keep from weeping, weeping to keep from laughing.
Along with having him in Chicago on November 6 as part of my Neon Night Mic reading series, I was fortunate enough to interview him and pick his brain about his debut collection, his past intersections between literature and theatrics, his history of odd-jobs, his DIY press with his brother, and enough media recommendations to overwhelm your local library.
Stefanie vor Schulte
Boy with a Black Rooster [2021 in German, 2024 in English]
Described as a modern Grimm fairytale for adults, this book is exactly that. It's brutal, unforgiving, desolate, heartwarming, touching, and covering many years and landscapes with ease. The voice is so precise and matter-of-fact. I couldn't stop reading (started and finished in less than 48 hours). If you’re like me, you’ll be rooting for the main character every step of the way. A hero's journey if I've ever read one. If you liked Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh, you'll adore this book. Here's hoping for more English translations of Stefanie vor Schulte's other novels.
Andrus Kivirähk
The Man Who Spoke Snakish [2007 in Estonian, 2015 in English]
Andrus Kivirähk’s The Man Who Spoke Snakish is one of the best novels I've ever read. From start to finish, it’s my kind of story and writing style. An epic Eastern European fable spanning decades. Medieval, folkloric, endlessly violent, magical, surreal, and hysterical. I'm working on a fairy tale-esque novel at the moment, and reading this book made me want to burn my manuscript and start from scratch. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this author's novel November is eventually translated into English, as I found out about Kivirähk because of the film adaptation of November. While November is a novel-turned-movie worthy of being translated into English, The Man Who Spoke Snakish is a book that has been translated into English and is worthy of becoming a novel-turned-movie.
Henry Hoke
Open Throat [2023]
Henry Hoke’s Open Throat is a speedy and touching novel split up into prose poem-like fragments and vignettes. The white space on every page really assists with the pacing of this book, as if the mountain lion narrator is taking time to breathe. Hoke mentioned how he listened to Balam Acab's 2011 album Wander/Wonder while writing this novel, and after reading this book (in a matter of days) and revisiting the LP, I haven't stopped thinking about the book and listening to the album. Both slap. If you need more, be sure to check out Hoke's conversation on So Many Damn Books podcast. A great episode and chat, one that resulted in me grabbing Open Throat.
Reka Nyitrai
Moon Flogged [2024]
Réka Nyitrai is a multilingual force. An international enigma. A surrealist soothsayer. A spirit who dreams in droplets of water and embers of bone. Whether writing prose poetry or haiku or (in this case) free verse, her words extend through the wanderlust of the underworld, the hypothetical and the magical, the ambient moment before waking. In the four sections of Moon Flogged, clouds talk, a pigeon becomes a hat, phantoms have ponytails, ants milk cows, and a horse sits in a living room. Husbands and wives flood the pages, a "rotunda of mothers" casually have cameos, and family members twirl around like mice. The vocabulary is simplistic and domestic yet the images are dense and complex, residing inside the absurdist beyond. Leonora Carrington and Gro Dahle chatter through these feminist poems, these hymnals, these chants. If Réka blows out birthday candles, the smoke might be full of crows. See also: wolves. See also: ghosts.
Lemmy Ya'akova
Tiger's Tail [2024]
Overflowing the Tub [2024]
It was a prolific year for Lemmy Ya’akova, who released two poetry collections in 2024. The first was Overflowing the Tub (Night Gallery Press) at the beginning of the year. Their proper debut full-length collection, it is full of a playful investigation of language, where a nothingness exists at the edge. A limited edition of 100 copies, this book (rightfully so) is currently very sold out. Next out was Tiger’s Tail (General Things Press), a beautiful handbound collection of dreams and interpretations and spells and rituals (“Clip your fingernails and feed the clippings to the fish in the closest pond.”). Part surrealist landscape, part mystical self-help guide, it feels both horoscope and tarot, dreamspeak and haunt.
Babak Lakghomi
South [2023]
I had an advance copy of this novel in my inbox since January 2023. After downloading the PDF (multiple times) and making a note to start reading, I *finally* cracked it open and finished it in two days. A surrealist masterpiece. Better late than never, right? I was honestly floored by this novel. The pacing and surrealist/amnesiac elements were all A+. 10 out of 10 if you like hallucinating while reading a book. I liked it so much that I interviewed Babak earlier this year to talk about his creative process and his history with writing. I was grateful for his time and am grateful for this strange book.
Joy Williams
Escapes [1990]
The Changeling [1978]
Reading the short stories of Joy Williams always makes me want to write Joy Williams-esque short stories. This always results in me churning out a handful of awful imitation first drafts, the message (and moral) being that I can not write like Joy Williams. For that, we are grateful. We put on our sunglasses. We applaud.
Her sophomore novel The Changeling was my first time reading one of her novels and it was one of the best things I've read. Joy Williams makes me want to work on my dialogue, on my descriptions, on my pacing, on my writing in general. Good lord, what a master. My jaw remained on the floor for the entirety of this book. Every damn sentence packed a punch. It felt like a kindred spirit with Fiskadoro by Denis Johnson (one of my favorite novels ever). 100/100.
Mosab Abu Toha
Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear [2022]
Forest of Noise [2024]
I started 2024 by reading Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha’s debut collection Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, and I ended 2024 by reading his sophomore collection Forest of Noise. I unintentionally bookmarked this year with his poetics but, given the ongoing terrors happening overseas, it’s all too necessary, and heartbreaking, and, again, necessary.
"In Gaza, / breathing is a task, / smiling is performing / plastic surgery / on one's own face, / and rising in the morning, / trying to survive / another day, is coming back / from the dead."
Both of his books are devastating and harrowing reads, both are unfortunately more timely than ever. If you have a heart, they will fill you with empathy and horror and rage, as well as historical context. These books should be in every library, on every bookcase, in every classroom.
"Don't ever be surprised / to see a rose shoulder up / among the ruins of the house: / This is how we survived."
Stephen Graham Jones
The Only Good Indians [2020]
I don’t read many horror books but Stephen Graham Jones’ The Only Good Indians was recommended to me so many time that I had to grab a copy. From the early pages until the very end of this novel, I had my jaw on the floor. It was my first time reading his prose and certainly not my last. A masterful bloodbath from start to finish with great voices, dialogue, and use of multi-POV. I’m sure the commercial rights have been acquired, as this one deserves to be a movie or a mini-series, hopefully sooner than later.
Premee Mohamed
The Butcher of the Forest [2024]
Premee Mohamed’s The Butcher of the Forest is an A+ fairytale novella. A heroic women enters a fantastical forest where anything can happen and nothing is safe. It's a short and sweet page turner, complete with monsters and things that go bump in the night. Fabulist, suspenseful, and full of heart. This was my introduction into the work of Premee Mohamed (am I reading it correctly that she released three books in 2024?!) and I’m told The Annual Migration of Clouds might act as a nice follow-up into her body of work. The Butcher of the Forest would make for a great animated film. DreamWorks, take note.
Sam Tallent
Running the Light [2020]
I didn't expect the debut novel from a stand-up comic to make me cry, but it got me quite a few times. I felt like I read this in one long breath and once it was done, I felt hungover. Taking place in a single week, this novel showcases a down-and-out comic trekking through Middle America, performing in small clubs and dive bars in the forgotten towns of the country. This was a heartbreaking, beautiful, vivid, drug-fueled, debauched novel. Denis Johnson's ghost approves.
william erickson
You Don’t Have to Believe in the World [2024]
Nothing Lied Still in the Sea [2024]
william erickson's debut collection, You Don’t Have to Believe in the World, is packed with uninvented inventions and invented uninventions. Surrealisms full of heart. Hearts full of surrealism. Stones are songs and tongues pile up in the desert. Grab it while you can, and while you’re at it, get your hands on his chapbook Nothing Lied Still in the Sea. I had the pleasure of hearing william read at my Chicago series back in July. Here's an intro poem I wrote for him, as well as an erasure of his bio: "Man holds / a tired bird. Death does / not happen here / yet death does not / get better. We're grateful. / We'd hate to / count more skulls." And the erasure bio: william erickson is a finch, a biscuit, and a sea. A strange space of body and fog, he lives in a large tree.
Maru Ayase
The Forest Brims Over [2019 in Japanese, 2023 in English]
I'm very into the idea of swallowing seeds and turning into a tree, then a forest. Maru Ayase’s The Forest Brims Over is an overgrowth of a novel, where each of the five sections is masterfully told through a new character’s perspective. Christopher briefly mentioned this one on his podcast So Many Damn Books and the premise had me pausing the episode in order to request it through my library. This book does not go where you would expect it to go and this book did not disappoint.
Layla Martinez
Woodworm [2021 in Spanish, 2024 in English]
The house is haunted. The yard is haunted. The people are haunted. The angels are insects. Nothing is what it seems. Layla Martinez’s Woodworm was of my favorite reads of 2024. A damn near flawless novel. It gets under your skin and feels not like a standard horror novel, but like a kindred spirit of Pan's Labyrinth. Chilling and thrilling. Fabulist and awesome and strange.
Anne de Marcken
It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over [2024]
"There is a crow in my chest."
I don't really gravitate toward zombie novels, but this book was highly recommended by Mathias Svalina, who had us read a segment during his monster writing workshop, and I was instantly hooked by the voice and style. Rather than a zombie novel, it reads more like a fragmented series of strange and haunting daydreams. Vik Shirley described it as the main character roaming the afterlife and that resonated with me. Equal parts poetic and surreal and haunting and funny. 'The Woman Who Lived Amongst The Cannibals' meets 'The Road' meets 'Grief is the Thing with Feathers', and yet, it's unlike anything I've ever read. One of my favorite reads of the year.
Barry Yourgrau
A Man Jumps out of an Airplane [1983]
The poet Tom Snarsky (bless him) sent me a prose poem / microfiction / short story from 1983 called "The Joke". It was a scan from some obscure old publication (JSC Poetry Publications) and I liked it so much that I had to read more of the author's work. The author was Barry Yourgrau and his collection A Man Jumps Out of an Airplane is a series of 1-3 page stories, many of which are only one paragraph in length. They're funny, they're slapstick, they're sexual, they're odd, and they're often very lonely and heartbreaking. My kind of writing. A book you can start and finish on a single lazy Sunday.
Maged Zaher
Sugar Break [2014]
Thank You for the Window Office [2012]
The Revolution Happened and You Didn't Call Me [2012]
I found out about Maged Zaher through his blurb of Zan de Parry's 2024 collection, Cold Dogs. It resulted in me going back and reading three of Zaher's collections, and eventually grabbing his new and collected (Opting Out: 2000-2015).
Thank You for the Window Office is one of my favorite kinds of poetry books, where the entire collection is one ongoing sequence. I learned later that this is a normalcy for Zaher. Here we have confessions and observations intertwined with strange visions and snapshots of life. Politics and war and international snapshots. Sexual, personal, gripping, and strange.
"I am hiding my vulnerability at the shawarma shop"
While the chapbook Sugar Break is out of print, but you can read the entire thing (for free) on Ugly Duckling's website.
Alessandro Boffa
You’re an Animal, Viskovitz! [1999 in Italian, 2002 in English]
You’re an Animal, Viskovitz! is a unique novel in that it was written by a Russian author in Italian then translated into English. Recommended to me by the poet Julian Martinez, and one I later recommended to the author Sebastian Castillo, it’s a very quirky and strange book, where each chapter has our lovesick Viskovitz narrator as a new animal, often with a new genre / trope. It reminded me a bit of Thanks by Pablo Katchadjian, although more light-hearted, but a hell of a lot of fun. One section was a detective story, one was a spaghetti western (I adored the scorpion section, a personal favorite), one felt like A Bug's Life, etc. etc.
John Burnside
The Dumb House [1997]
Selected Poems [2006]
Black Cat Bone [2011]
Scottish writer John Burnside, who passed away earlier this year, released about 20 poetry collections and 10 novels throughout his lifetime. I saw a post from the horror author Eric LaRocca, who recommended Burnside’s debut novel, The Dumb House, so I decided to grab a copy. From the time that I opened it until the time it was over, I couldn’t put it down. It made me sick to my stomach. It was disgusting, discomforting, unsettling, uncomfortable, and monstrous. Not a light read, but one that I found myself thinking about for weeks/months to follow.
At the same time that I checked out The Dumb House from my library, I also grabbed two of his poetry collections. They were full of haunted, quiet, ghostly poems. There was an ambient darkness lurking on every page that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
[1]
I'd also never read a poem where a new
[2]
section began mid-sentence. I didn't even know
[3]
that was allowed. This simple move by
[4]
Burnside turned my world upside down.
Victor LaValle
The Changeling [2017]
I asked for folktale/horror/fairytale recommendations on Twitter, and of the 619 comments in the thread, Victor LaValle's The Changeling was one of three most mentioned books (alongside T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead and Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber). After being 200 pages into this book, I was bored, tired of the realism, unsure of whether or not to continue. I didn't think it was the book for me. But, if you've read it, you know, there's a TURN that is magical / fantastical / masterful. I was hooked for the entire second half of this book and absolutely adored the direction it took. It's a slow burn, but once it gets going, it really gets going. I can't recommend this one enough. Be patient. It pays off.
Robert Macfarlane & Stanley Donwood
Ness [2019]
I don’t remember how or where I heard about this book but I’m glad I was able to track down a copy. Seeing a blurb from Max Porter definitely made sense, as this speedy read felt like Captain Planet mixed with Lanny mixed with Hagazussa in this prose poem slash bogland takeover. Reading this book, you will feel the lichen spilling out of your mouth by the end of this quick surrealist tale.
Tanya Tagaq
Split Tooth [2018]
Tanya Tagaq’s Split Tooth is not confined to a genre. It is not a collection of poems. It is not a novel. It is not a book of short stories. I don’t know how to describe it other than a hybrid coming-of-age fever dream. It’s mystical, it’s magical, it’s unclassifiable. It glows in the dark. It’s what happens when one makes love to the Northern Lights.
Anne Carson
Autobiography of Red [1999]
NOX [2010]
What can I say about Anne Carson’s Autobiography of Red that hasn’t been said before? Novel in verse? Check. Myth retelling? Check. I was quite late to the party but this was a great read. This year, I also read Carson’s accordion-style object book NOX. It is a box of collected grief. An experimental hybrid collage masterpiece.
Buck Downs
Nice Nose [2023]
I was introduced to Buck's work during a Zoom reading curated by Tom Snarsky. His reading had me laughing my ass off, and before the event was even finished, I had already ordered this book. Nice Nose is a self-published collection of tiny humorous poems. Observations and quick musings with forever playful stanzas. A nice reminder to not take things too seriously. This is a great book.
Mohammed El-Kurd
Rifqa [2021]
"I've been meaning to write something about hyenas."
Mohammed El-Kurd’s debut poetry collection Rifqa was published when the young Palestinian poet and political activist was only 23 years old. Released back in 2021, these stunning and deeply moving poems are all too timely, still unfortunately resonating with the state/hate of the world as we enter into 2025.
Michael Kimball
Big Ray [2012]
When seeking out more novels where a lengthy story was told in broken up fragments, author Babak Lakghomi recommended this book to me. Holy shit. It did not disappoint. This is not the kind of book where you read one chapter and go do something else. No. This is the kind of novel you read from start to finish in one or two sittings. It consumes you. You can't look away. Intense, brutal, heavy. From beginning to end, it packs a hell of a punch.
Vera Brosgol
Plain Jane and the Mermaid [2024]
Plain Jane is a badass. Reading this graphic novel fairy tale felt like watching a season of the animated series Hilda. From start to finish, this book was uplifting and touching and fun (and playfully dark) for all ages. Sabrina Orah Mark recommended this book in a New York Times article so I had to check it out. For fans of Steven Universe and Over the Garden Wall.
Charles Kell
Cage of Lit Glass [2019]
Ishmael Mask [2023]
I’m grateful to the poet Charles Kell, who solicited me to submit some poems to The Ocean State Review. Along with a contributor copy upon publication, he mailed me both of his poetry collections, which I read beside Lake Michigan over one relaxing weekend. His poetry deals with loss and incarceration and addiction and looking internally and externally in order to find meaning and purpose and peace in this strange and ever-changing world. “In a strange field never / entered. Here once, though / I can't remember when.”
Emilie Menzel
The Girl who Became a Rabbit [2024]
They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but how can you not, when a cover is so damn memorable? Poet and librarian Emilie Menzel’s debut book (look at that cover!) is a book-length prose poem. A sequence of snapshots. A series of fables. Tiny vignettes building into a larger narrative. It’s full of slipstream dreamspeak and surrealist sequences while also feeling grounded in reality and upbringing and childhood mentalities where anything is possible and nothing is what it seems. “The real question is this: when you die, will you have written all the rabbit fables you intended? You must think ambitiously and hope for many rabbit fables.”
Jedediah Berry
The Family Arcana [2015]
A novel as a stack of playing cards? Count me in! This was my introduction to Jedediah Berry and I'm looking forward to checking out more of his work (especially The Naming Song). The Family Arcana is a fun object to have at your desk as you write, if you need an extra boost or jolt of inspiration, or simply something to keep on your coffee table as a conversation starter when friends visit.
Jac Jemc
The Grip of It [2017]
Jac Jemc’s The Grip of It got under my skin, and rightfully so. I loved the pacing and the unraveling of chapters. A couple of scenes scared the shit out of me, which doesn't happen often as I'm reading. I mentioned it earlier about Stephen Graham Jones, but I don’t read horror very often, yet when visiting the Chicago bookstore Bucket O’ Blood earlier this year, this book practically jumped off the shelves and wrapped around my throat. I loved the cover, then skimmed through it and saw it was full of short chapters, so I made my purchase. Now I’m a Jemc fan and I need to read more.
Shaun Tan
The Singing Bones [2015]
Shaun Tan’s The Singing Bones is a coffee table book full of snippets of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. Because of the excerpted style alongside Tan’s own visual art, it’s almost as if the incredible accompanying sculptures appear next to prose poems / vignettes / snapshots. This one is a magical, visual treat.
Paulo Maurensig
A Devil Comes to Town [2018 in Italian, 2019 in English]
Paulo Maurensig's short and sweet novel presents a really unique narrative. A stranger comes to a town where every individual is a writer wanting to be published. Obsessive, competitive, and desperately seeking attention and acclaim, this one is absurdist and outlandish and dark and fun. Because of the cover and the title, I was expecting this book to contain a bit more supernatural elements (perhaps some fairy tale-esque surrealism), but it was a rather straightforward fable/folktale, one I enjoyed from beginning to end.
Gregory Ariail
The Gospel of Rot [2022]
Gregory Ariail’s debut novel The Gospel of Rot is an epic surrealist Appalachian voyage presented through the eyes of a 70-year-old woman who hadn't left her property in 50 years. Like Alice in Wonderland mixed with Little House on the Prairie. Apples are made of corpses, snowfall is never ending, and spacetime wormholes bring characters (and monsters) from different eras. Grotesque and beautiful, hallucinatory and poetic. This one's a trip.
Humberto Ak’abal
If Today Were Tomorrow [2024]
300 pages of poems by the late Humberto Ak'abal as translated by Michael Bazzett (a poet in his own right and one who received acclaim for his translation of The Popol Vuh). Most of these poems are only a few lines long. Short and sweet, meditative and reflective. Insightful and sharp, teetering on haiku levels of brevity. Aphorisms inspired by daily life. Like "Poets are born old: // as the years pass / we make ourselves into children." Or "Monday // yawns wide / as the week opens its mouth." Or "The moon / finds holes / in adobe houses / then slips in / to sit on the floor."
David Simmons
Ghosts of East Baltimore [2022]
David Simmons’ debut novel Ghosts of East Baltimore feels like The Wire meets Garbage Pail Kids meets Judge Dredd. This book rips. I read it in two sittings across two days, but it felt like reading it in one single breath. A violent, blood-splattered, ooze-filled, action-packed page turner. Like Brian Evenson covered in glow-in-the-dark slime. This was my first time reading David Simmons and I’m already eager to read the sequel, Ghosts of West Baltimore, as well as his upcoming novel with Apocalypse Party.
Eliot Weinberger
The Life of Tu Fu [2024]
A wonderfully meditative and insightful "fictional autobiography", essayist and translator Eliot Weinberger channels Chinese poet Tu Fu (712-770 AD) in this captivating book-length poem. It's tranquil, ambient, and largely told in four line snippets. Like this: "So dark I eat dinner at breakfast. / So rainy I imagine the mountain washing away. / The downpour so strong fish in the river sank. / The mud so bad I was sorry I asked you over." Or this: "In these mountains I imagine I hear / bears and leopards and tigers and baboons, / but all I see is a man on a ladder, / cutting bamboo."
Grant Wamack
God’s Leftovers [2022]
The hum of a cicada meditation as ancient demons return back to hell. God's Leftovers is equal parts Rob Zombie and Alejandro Jodorowsky. A desert fever dream and a bloodbath nightmare. Hallucinatory and twisted every step of the way. This is my first time reading one of Wamack's books (despite being loyal to his well-curated Substack) but it will certainly not be my last. It's official: splatterpunk (a sub-genre I learned through one of the blurbs) officially has my attention.
Morgan Võ
The Selkie [2024]
Poet and librarian Morgan Võ’s debut collection is made up of three sections of extended sequences. Blending humor, surrealism, and sparse yet dense vignettes, Võ looks closely at our main character (a fish monger), where a tunnel vision leads to a more worldwide and zoomed out perspective. Correspondences next to prose poems next to lined sequences. Looking local while going global. I had the pleasure of seeing these poems in their earlier forms taking shape during an online writing workshop led by Vi Khi Nao (shout-out The Poetry Project).
Asher McShane
Where's Wallaby? [2023]
Australian painter, animator, musician, and writer Asher McShane is an artist I was in close collaboration with this year. Not only did he turn one of my poems into an animated short film, but I also worked behind the scenes on a sequence of poems inspired by his citrus paintings, and he mailed me shirts, one of which features art from the animated short film. A shirt inspired by a short film inspired by a poem. Alongside all of this, McShane had a solo art gallery show in early 2024 where he presented his visual art as well as the all-ages adventure story Where’s Wallaby? It’s full of his own illustrations and fits nicely on a bookshelf next to Maurice Sendak and Roald Dahl.
Fady Joudah
[...] [2024]
Fady Joudah's sixth collection (and only the second of his I've read) is unfortunately as timely as ever. Heartbreaking and harrowing, and told in a cohesive sequence of poems, mostly titled [...], this collection feels like finding a bucket of tears in a warzone. A tiny bomb ticking inside of a heartbroken heart. "In Gaza, a girl and her brother / rescued their fish / from the rubble of airstrikes. A miracle // its tiny bowl / didn't shatter."
Bill Watterson & John Kascht
The Mysteries [2023]
Bill Watterson (of Calvin & Hobbes acclaim) has crafted a beautiful book with John Kascht. I read it too quickly the first time, so I read it again, sitting with each image, meditating on every page, soaking in this short and sweet bedtime fable. I can’t get enough of the cover.
Alina Pleskova
Toska [2023]
"We let the strangeness / course through us, take the long way out."
Alina Pleskova provides us with a banger of a debut poetry collection. It's sharp and nonchalant, metropolitan and punk rock, empathetic while ashing a cigarette onto a cop's bald head. Kissing a beautiful stranger while giving the middle finger to ICE. Created within the depths of a crumbling capitalist society, this collection is spiritual, curious, folkloric, and forever exploratory, floating between gutter and traffic jam and glam.
Justin Carter
Brazos [2024]
Justin Carter’s debut collection of poetry feels like taking an (un)scenic road trip through yesteryear. Trekking through a desolate landscape of Middle of Nowhere, America, his childhood memories and narrative poems reminded me of my own upbringing in the bored cornfields of Indiana. The run-ins with the law, the parties in abandoned barns, the late nights driving through the nothingness. This book does an incredible job of capturing a time and place. It’s not necessarily nostalgic but it is reflective and vivid as hell, as if you’re right there with him, grabbing the can of spray paint and staying up late.
George Wylesol
Curses [2023]
I’ve been a fan of George Wylesol’s Instagram page for quite some time so I was pleased to see he was releasing this thick fully colored book. Curses is a fuzzy and strange collection of surrealist head trips. If you put it on your bookshelf, the surrounding books will either push away in fear or succumb to its infestation. 10/10 this book is cursed.
Roberta Iannamico
Many Poems [2024]
Many Poems is a fine introduction into the work of Argentinian poet Roberta Iannamico (her first book in English, as translated by Alexis Almeida). This collection is intimate, personal, reflective, tender, and often masterful in its brevity. Any book that opens with a Pinocchio poem will instantly have my heart.
| Like Gepetto |
"In the belly of the whale / lighting a candle to write / the ribs are / a colorless rainbow / a temple / where I can hear / my own voice / far from the ocean / dancing alone"
Jon Klassen
The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale [2023]
I'm nothing if not a sucker for a good folktale retelling. The Skull by artist Jon Klassen is exactly that: a bedtime fable packed with immersive illustrations and speedy prose. This one is spooky fun for all ages. As recommended by poet and translator Rebecca Wadlinger during our interview earlier this year.
Hariton Pushwagner
Soft City [2009]
Soft City is a mind-bending dystopian graphic novel that feels like the present day, despite being created in the 70s (then lost and rediscovered in the early 2000s). The poet Zan de Parry recommended this one to me and it somewhat reminded of the films of twisted animator Bill Plympton.
Benjamin Percy
Thrill Me [2016]
Benjamin Percy’c Thrill Me is a really strong craft book that cuts to the chase and helped me with a lot of my own writing (pacing, action, movement). It’s a speedy read full of plenty of examples (across film and literature) with a very matter-of-fact and often humorous tone. Like chatting with an old friend about the best parts of horror movies. Now that I’ve read this craft book and listened to a few of his guest spots on podcasts, I need to read some of his fiction.
Samantha Hunt
The Seas [2004]
The Seas by Samantha Hunt came highly recommended while I was seeking out books of fairy tales / fables / magical realism earlier this year. While this wasn't necessarily my kind of book (young woman who is potentially a mermaid is desperately lovesick over a disconnected war veteran), the short chapters and excellent pacing still had me gripped from start to finish.
Jordan Windholz
The Sisters [2024]
Other Psalms [2015]
The Sisters by Jordan Windholz is a cohesive collection of prose poems written with his daughters where each title begins with "The Sisters". Here, linked fables, bedtime stories, and slipstream microfictions are thrown into a lyrical blender and transformed into dense and magical poems. I followed up this collection by reading his debut, Other Psalms, made up of faith-driven poetics and religious inquiries with some really captivating sequences.
Michael Chang
Almanac of Useless Talents [2022]
After reading Michael Chang’s collection, I found myself wanting to write Michael Chang-type poems, and I found it impossible. There’s such a uniquely singular and brutally honest voice in these poems. Cocky and lively and energized and blunt. Nothing is off limits. Everything feels so good it hurts, or rather, everything hurts so bad it feels good.
Cynan Jones
The Dig [2014]
Cynan Jones’ The Dig is a novel full of densely packed prose, despite the short page length. It’s a quiet yet violent and really well written book. Somehow, it reminded me of the Icelandic movie Lamb, which I recently watched. Reading The Dig is like if Cormac McCarthy wrote Charlotte's Web while visiting the countryside of Wales.
Joseph Young
The Thing I was Trying to Tell You [2024]
Joseph Young’s The Thing I was Trying to Tell You is a collection of 1-2 page flash fictions. Or microfictions. Or prose poems. Or whatever the hell you want to call them. Tiny stories full of life. Inventive, original, often funny, and unique as hell. I read his 2009 collection Easter Rabbit (also released with Publishing Genius) and this collection acts as a fine follow-up.
Liniers
Night Stories: Folktales from Latin America [2024]
Three folktale retellings (all of which I was previously unfamiliar with) between two siblings trying to scare the other before bed (but not too much). A fun read with lovely illustrations. As I mentioned above with Plain Jane and the Mermaid, Sabrina Orah Mark recommended this book in a New York Times article so I had to check it out.
Adam Day
Model of a City in Civil War [2015]
I learned about the poetry of Adam Day after reading through my contributor copy of The Ocean State Review. I liked what I read so I grabbed his 2015 collection with Sarabande Books. Model of a City in Civil War is a book of absurdist and captivating narrative poems full of dreamspeak and mythic logic. A great introduction into his work, and now I need to get my hands on his 2020 collection, Left-Handed Wolf.
REPEAT OFFENDERS
The list below contains authors who have appeared on my end-of-the-year lists in the past, but whose work I read and enjoyed for the first time this year. Either a new book or one I missed from their past catalog. Regardless, I felt compelled to still include.
Jack Handey
Deepest Thoughts [1994]
The goat of the micro joke. I didn't know there was a third collection of his deep thoughts series so I grabbed a use copy to complete the collection. This one's just as good as the other two.
Nate Logan
Wrong Horse [2024]
"A fog metaphor descends upon the coffeehouse."
Every sentence within Nate Logan's prose poems feels like its own poem. Does that make sense? His second collection is composed entirely of prose poems, some of my favorite prose poems, prose poems that bring to mind Lesle Lewis and James Tate and Nate Logan: a calm Midwesterner noting the peculiar moments and heartbreaking moments and lovedrunk moments of everyday life. It's meditative, it's hysterical, it's touching. It's the best book of prose poems you haven't yet read. Did I mention it's available as a free PDF on the publisher's website? Get this book! Nate read in Chicago back in March and it was a real joy. I've said it before (like five sentences ago) and I'll say it again: every Nate Logan sentence is its own poem.
"All historical excursions end in the gift shop."
Caleb Bouchard
79 Nonets [2024]
79 nonets is a collection of 9 line poems with the first line being 9 syllables and every descending line being one syllable less until the final line is one single syllable. Reading this book from Caleb Bouchard makes you want to write nonets of your own. These poems are observational, insightful, reflective, funny, and raw. I loved Bouchard's book of prose poems (The Satirist) and his book of nonets is just as fun.
Matt Bell
Refuse to be Done [2022]
This book really helped me with my novel-in-progress. Matt Bell's wonderful Substack was full of enlightening prompts, and after going through all of them this past summer, I then grabbed his book. I'm currently fine-tuning draft two (but really, draft 50) of my novel and it wouldn't be anywhere near where it is now without this helpful guide.
Mike Topp
The Frontier Index (with Raymond Pettibon) [2024]
American Air [2024]
Mike Topp had a great 2024. Releasing a collaborative book with Raymond Pettibon, The Frontier Index is a wild ride of back-and-forth mayhem and humor and meditations and twisted entries. I'm not sure I've read anything quite like this. He then went on to release American Air, the second release through X-R-A-Y (my book being the first). I was thrilled to grab this collection and nestle it next to my own on my bookshelf. American Air is full of micro vignettes acting as both short story and knock-knock joke.
Graham Foust
Terminations [2023]
Graham Foust does not miss. I’ve read all nine of his poetry collections and never does his disappoint and always does he impress. Every book is like a masterclass in attention to detail. Every poem is like a meditation. Every line is like a quiet prayer. Terminations, his latest, out now with Flood Editions, is no different.
CAConrad
Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return [2024]
Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return is a collection of chimeric, incantatory poems. Ritualistic, heartbreaking, tender, unique. CAConrad is a master. This book further enhances their growing and singular body of work.
Mathias Svalina
Thank You Terror [2024]
This is a beautiful, beautiful book. I haven't read a Mathias Svalina collection I didn't admire but this one really stands out. Thank You Terror is a collection of reflections. Heartbroken, love-stricken poems. Gratitudes and losses and quiet dreams and quiet griefs. It's perhaps his saddest, most serious book, but also the one most full of hope. "This ruined world / my only prayer: // if I can't love it for me / I will love it for you." This book feels like a beacon. I keep it close.
Barton Smock
57 [2024]
The Crow’s Book of Wrist [2024]
Naked in Dog Years [2024]
What can I say about Barton Smock that I haven’t already said? He’s one of the most prolific poets living today and one of my favorite poets living today and one who inspires me to get back to the page. He released three (maybe four?) books this year and I did my damnedest to keep up. Last year, I read his 753 page collected tome, and this year, I read his newer poems while also his (near) daily entries on social media and his website. Check out our interview if you need more.
Stuart Ross
The Sky is a Sky in the Sky [2024]
"I see a light / at the end / of the tunnel / and beyond that / a tunnel."
Stuart Ross’ The Sky is a Sky in the Sky is of my favorite collections of the year from one of my favorite poets. It is split into three sections: The Sky, Is a Sky, In the Sky. I love that.
I interviewed Ross back in 2020 and was fortunate enough to have dinner with him earlier this fall and his writing continues to impress, entertain, and inspire.
Daniel Borzutzky
The Murmuring Grief of the Americas [2024]
Every poetry collection from Borzutzky feels like part of same cinematic universe (Borzutzky Cinematic Universe, or BCU™️), where barbarians and the bourgeoisie are one and the same. Where horrors happen in the vast desert, alongside state lines, near the lake. Where battles are fought over ice and inside privatized prisons. Torture, corrupt policies, greedy economics, and immigration all swirl in Borzutzky's dystopian (yet all too modern) capitalistic hells. His past collections, and his newest, The Murmuring Grief of the Americas, all feel like an ongoing brutal sequence. Seething, screaming, foaming at the mouth.
Bob Heman
Washing the Wings of the Angels [2024]
For nearly 30 years, Bob Heman has been writing prose poems all titled 'Information'. He's amassed thousands of them. In his newest collection, Washing the Wings of the Angels, Heman has gathered 79 of these tiny and surrealist prose poems, the end result feeling like a stack of strange observations, woodland vignettes, dreamspeak postcards, absurdist snapshots. Heman's one of my very favorite prose poets and this collection further justifies that statement. Interview coming soon.
Alice Notley
Culture of One [2011]
No one writes quite like Alice Notley. Her collection, The Descent of Alette, is one of my favorite books of poetry. Ever. Her book Culture of One is similar in that it is a cohesive concept project, this time channeling Marie, an artist who lives in the American desert and collects items found at the local dump. It's a mosaic arrangement of found materials and collages, slowly forming her own lore, her own aesthetic, her own myths. As we dive deeper into the collection, we better understand the world of Marie and her surroundings. These are persona poems, yes, but they are so much more.
Kaveh Akbar
Martyr! [2024]
I have been a fan of Akbar's poetry for years, so I was excited to read his debut novel. It's ambitious, emotionally gripping, and funny, with multiple timelines and multiple POVs. Page by page, I never knew where it was going, as Akbar steadily remained one step ahead. All of it works here. Short, speedy chapters, too, despite the 350+ page length. And I don't even know what to say about the ending except that it went there, went all in, and I really respect it/him for that move.
Donna Stonecipher
The Ruins of Nostalgia [2023]
The queen of the prose poem returns with her densest and most reflective/complicated collection yet. Every piece ends with 'the ruins of nostalgia' and every piece looks back on the world, either with a magnifying glass or a thousand-yard stare. Like always, Donna Stonecipher focuses on art and architecture, culture and loss. One of my favorite living poets doing what she does best.
Hala Alyan
The Moon That Turns You Back [2024]
One of our most important poets and activists and empathetic thinkers, Hala Alyan's moving fifth collection of poems further cements her as a force in the community. It's cyclical, emotional, fragmented, experimental, and complete with erasures. It resulted in me re-reading Hijra as well as Four Cities.
Jose Hernandez Diaz
Bad Mexican, Bad American [2024]
Jose Hernandez Diaz is one of the most prolific prose poets in the game and here he returns with his sophomore full-length collection. Blending surrealism with fable and identity (and with odes along the way), it's a personal collection both magical and real. I can’t wait to read his two forthcoming collections, Portrait of the Artist as a Brown Man and The Parachutist, both of which are out in 2025.
Graham Irvin
I Have a Gun [2024]
Graham Irvin’s I Have a Gun is a deep dive into the mind of a weapon. A TED Talk on ammunition. A craft chat about bullets. What starts as an absurdist bit quickly becomes a devastating read. Like his last collection Liver Mush where every poem was about the regional food, every poem here is gun-based/gun-focused/gun-obsessed.
Bob Hicok
Water Look Away [2023]
My friend Tyler Barton compared Bob Hicok’s newest poetry collection to a novel and I really like that insight. I feel like I read this one in a single late-night breath. A nice deviation from his previous work, while still packed full of heart and horror and humor.
Kit Schluter
Cartoons [2024]
Kit Schluter’s newest is full of snapshots of absurdisms, blips of strange. My kind of short story collection. Fast-paced, hysterical, and unique as hell. Like Russell Edson spending time with Calvin and Hobbes, or Italo Calvino watching Ren & Stimpy.
Jessica Poli
Red Ocher [2023]
Jessica Poli's 2018 chapbook Canyons remains one of my favorite books to hold. It's a stunning collection of tiny poems on thick handmade paper. Her debut full-length, Red Ocher, continues this lineage of tender and touching poems. Meditative and ambient. This book is the opposite of a metropolis. Sunrise reflections with a steady supply of sleepless centos, reminding the reader that the words and poetics of others are swirling throughout this open field of an atmospheric collection.
Agota Kristof
I Don’t Care [2005 in Hungarian, 2024 in English]
Released nearly twenty years ago in Hungarian, this collection of short stories is finally out in English. Thanks to New Directions. Here we have sparse shorts. Some one paragraph, others three pages. Much like her masterful novel The Notebook (one of my favorites), Kristóf cuts to the core of the story. Here, every word matters.
Percival Everett
Dr. No [2022]
Percival Everett might be the most exciting and inventive (and prolific) American novelist living today. This funny and fast-paced novel reads like a spy screenplay. It has Hollywood written all over it. You can hear how much fun Everett is having with each and every paragraph. The Trees in 2021 and Dr. No in 2022 is one hell of a back-to-back.
Max Porter
Shy [2023]
I read this one in one sitting and didn't think it would make me cry but it made me cry. The ending got me. Yes, that means all three of Max Porter’s novels have made me cry. Shout-out to Lanny and Grief is the Thing with Feathers. Max Porter is a magician, and all three of his stunning and poetic short novels are worth your while.
RE-READS
I couldn’t resist. It’s worth including a handful of repeat reads from this calendar year. Some are long-standing favorites, some were re-reads for research, some were travel / beach reads, some are continued comfort zones, and all of them (I’m realizing now) are poetry.
Ilya Kaminsky
Deaf Republic [2019]
Dancing in Odessa [2004]
Deaf Republic is a hushed parable of heartbreak and death and protest and backlash and corruption and hurt. What a moving collection, heart-wrenching in its mixture of tragedy and puppetry, sorrow and humor, authority and theater. An immersive read from beginning to end. 100/100.
I loved re-reading Deaf Republic so much I had to re-read Dancing in Odessa, ordering a used copy online to add to my collection and being thrilled when a signed copy arrived at my door. Wondrous pages of heartbroken magic.
CAConrad
The Book of Frank [2009]
I own three versions of this book. It’s true. It might be my favorite book of poems. It might be my favorite book.
When this was recommended to me, it was described as the "weirdest character study you'll ever read" and I'm not sure anything else needs to be said. It's easy to read this book in 45 minutes, but I recommend you spend weeks/months/years with it.
Zachary Schomburg
Scary, No Scary [2009]
It’s healthy to re-read Zachary Schomburg over and over. Have a collection nearby at all times. Every year, I dig through his past collections and this year was no different. Scary, No Scary might as well welcome Spooky Season. It’s tender, haunted, and full of his signature style that mixes surrealism with sincerity.
Mikko Harvey
Unstable Neighbourhood Rabbit [2018]
This debut collection right here! Surreal fables. Dark yet tender poems. The kind of book that you finish and keep in your backpack for half a year afterwards, just because you don't want it to get too far away from your reach. Reading this book feels like meditating. I’m a Mikko Harvey fanboy.
Sometimes I bring it with me when I travel, almost like a talisman or a beacon or a guide. I read this one while relaxing in Morocco over Thanksgiving. It felt like home.
Rachel B. Glaser
Hairdo [2017]
Moods [2013]
Hairdo is a vivid and original (and often hysterical) follow-up to Moods. I really enjoy both collections and boy, do these poems sing! A great introduction into the work of Glaser. Surreal, funny, caffeinated, and wobbly. I interviewed her back in 2019 and featured her work earlier this year over on Mercurius. Get familiar if you haven’t already.
John Maradik
Surprises & Pleasures (read twice) [2023]
One of the funniest debut poetry collections, one of the best debut poetry collections, one of my favorite debut poetry collections, and one I often return to. Hilarious, surreal, goofy, playful, heartbreaking, euphoric, and unique as hell. Laugh out loud poetics. From the family of Tate and Edson and Glaser and Browning and Leidner. Ten thumbs up. I interviewed Maradik back in 2022 and featured his work earlier this year over on Mercurius. I can’t get enough.
Leonardo Alishan
Dancing Barefoot on Broken Glass [1991]
This collection deserves more attention. I found out about Alishan's work through a short story anthology and was even more impressed / moved by his sparse and intense poetry. Really powerful pieces here.
Hala Alyan
Four Cities [2015]
Hijra [2016]
Earlier this year, I went back and read Hijra by Hala Alyan, one of my favorite collections of poetry. I then went back to read one of her earlier works, Four Cities. Feeling like a fever dream travelogue, packed with empathy and confessionals, wanderlust and coming-of-age angst, this one is a ball of energy inside of a stamped passport. She does such a good job going global while also keeping it internal and personal. She has a new collection, The Moon That Turns You Back, featured above, that I can’t recommend enough.
Jacob Shores-Arguello
In the Absence of Clocks [2012]
"Masha has seen them envelop the moon. / Do not ask what the crows have done."
No one captures landscape and place quite like Jacob Shores-Argüello. With his collection Paraiso taking place in South America, his 2019 collection In the Absence of Clocks takes place in Eastern Europe. It's a lyrical odyssey, feverish and immersive and real.
Daniel Borzutzky
The Performance of Becoming Human [2016]
I re-read this one in preparation for his 2024 release. Having read this back in 2019, it was my first time reading Borzutzky and this book did not disappoint. Violent, barbaric, brutal surrealism. Like a forgotten god missing a limb. Like a prayer of hope refusing to ever take shape.
Rauan Klassnik
The Moon’s Jaw [2013]
While I (slightly) prefer Rauan Klassnik’s 2008 collection Holy Land, I re-read The Moon’s Jaw this year because I see them as connected siblings. Stapled together. Glued down the middle. Both books gives me a rush of inspiration to write my own unhinged prose poems. Mad fragments. Violent, drenched in sex. This book is a haunted candle. This book is a sacred scream.
Have you made it this far and still need more recommendations? Then be sure to check out my favorite books from past years. Thanks for sticking around.
2017: https://neonpajamas.com/blog/2017-books
2018: https://neonpajamas.com/blog/2018-books
2019: https://neonpajamas.com/blog/2019-books
2020: https://www.neonpajamas.com/blog/2020-favorite-books
2021: https://www.neonpajamas.com/blog/2021-favorite-books
