NADIA OWUSU'S AFTERSHOCKS/GLENN MOTT'S ECLOGUES IN A MUSTARD SEED GARDEN/ANDREA LEE'S RED ISLAND HOUSE

Here's three recently published books by three of my favorite writers:

This memoir by Nadia Owusu is totally captivating, enlightening, moving and unique. Her story is so singular there is none like it I have ever heard or read, and her writing embodies that singularity. Her ability to infuse a tale of pain and loss and confusion and transcendence with thoughtful lyricism and compelling narrative is, for me, totally satisfying. A great book.

[full disclosure, I consider Nadia a friend since we read together at Pace a few years ago]

Glenn Mott's new book has no genre designation on the back cover as so many books do, for good reason. Based on a poetic form, this collection could be called poetry with prose interludes, or philosophic aphorisms or much more. But it is really just one of those rare quirky books that become personal treasures because they are so indefinable.

Here's the blurb I wrote for it that appears on the back cover: "Here is a unique compendium of wit and wisdom, contradiction and confirmation. It's like a mini-library in one volume, generating insight, argument, amusement, and entertainment."

[full disclosure: I consider Glenn a friend since we met at a reading at The Saint Mark's Poetry Project several years ago]

Since the first thing I read of hers, decades ago, Andrea Lee has been a favorite writer of mine whose books I've recommended and passed on to friends ever since. Every word she has published has engaged and satisfied me and my print junkie obsession.

Her latest, RED ISLAND HOUSE, you may have read excerpts from in The New Yorker, and if so you know she's a skilled storyteller. But her writing is also always unique in its perspective (much like Owusu's and Mott's). As someone who has been devouring books since childhood over seven decades ago, I am almost always thrilled at writing that reflects realities I've never experienced the way the writing displays. It was the reason I wrote and still do, to offer an individual take on the reality I experience which, if you are anything like me, is what I want from what I read.