Books

by Kevin T McEneaney Empty American Letters: the Bulgarian novel by Thomas McGonigle. Spuyten Duyvil Press. 316 pages, 2022. Pub. Oct 6, 2022. There is nothing empty here in McGonigle’s sixth novel, unless it’s the empty vacuum American pop culture ...
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After Salman Rushdie's lecture on composing his his novel Quichotte (the proper period pronunciation is in the title, before the royal lisp was adopted) at Bard College Sosnoff Theater, I went backstage, chatted with him; he was open, amusing, his ...
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Towards a Credo. Brian Arkins. Little Gull Publishers. 36 pages. 2022. Reviewed by Kevin T McEneaney Brian Arkins is not only Ireland’s leading Greek and Latin scholar, he is also well-known for shedding light on Irish poetry, plays, and Anglo-Irish ...
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New and Selected Poems, 1996-2020. Donald Gardner. Grey Suit. 225 pages. Reviewed by Kevin T McEneaney One of the reasons most people don’t read poetry is that poets take themselves too seriously: serious about their craft, subjects chosen, their advanced ...
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Book cover: The Subway, painting by José Clemente Orozco (1928) This is the first installment of reviews of lesser-known books which mainstream publications are likely to overlook. The Bulgarian Psychiatrist by Thomas McGonigle. Spuyten Duyvil Press. 2022. 116 pages. $18 ...
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Book cover From Deadbeat to Dean: Underground: A Memoir. Peter McDonald. Library Juice Press, Sacramento, CA, 2022. by Tonia Shoumatoff Peter McDonald’s saga about his peregrinations from punk rock promoter to dean of a major university library system in California ...
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In 1991 I acquired the paperback edition of A Commentary on Homer’s Odyssey by Stephen Huebeck, Stephanie West, and J.B. Hainsworth, which had first appeared in hardback from Clarendon in 1988. I spent two years doing my own translation. Since ...
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Book cover Dear Old Friends: A Loving Reminder the Band won’t stop playing till you stop dancing. James B Flaherty. Amazon. Review by Kevin T McEneaney Addressing the challenges of old age with savvy and charm, Flaherty @ jamesbflaherty.com, provides ...
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By Thomas McGonigle “and the party will go on for a thousand years,” he was saying Every year in March there is a St. Patrick’s Day Party on West 11th Street. Rarely is it on the actual day, March 17th ...
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On a Dark Night with Enough Wind by Lilla Pennant. Published by Y Lolfa. 160 pages. Reviewed by Antonia Shoumatoff. Lilla Pennant grew up in an English-style manor house with forty rooms called Nantlys in North East Wales, a region ...
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