Staff Picks: Book Collection: Poetry, Plays, and other Fiction

Recommended by Jasmine Rizer, Cataloging

Drawn in by the title, I was unable to resist adding this collection of short stories to my towering to-read pile, and I tore through it in less than two weeks because it is just that good. (And this is coming from a slow, careful reader.)

Some of these short stories are linked by recurring characters. All of them are astonishingly good, and Oyeyemi makes it look so easy. Enchanted geese encounter the Big Bad Wolf, and magical diaries fall out of purses, and callous pop stars are tormented by Hecate, and none of this is as twee as I am probably making it sound. I found myself finishing one story in this collection, starting the next one and thinking, "I don't think this story is going to be quite as good as the one before it," and then having to eat those words in short order.

Bonus: There is tremendous diversity on many counts among Oyeyemi's characters, and this never feels like something for which she is straining, but rather like what should be the norm.

Recommended by Jasmine Rizer, Cataloging Department

These stories are as lovely and delicate as soap bubbles, and I raced through this collection at a surprising rate for a normally slow-and-steady reader, almost as if holding these stories in my head for too long might cause them to burst. This, in case you were wondering, is a compliment. Ausubel tells tales that walk right up to, and often right over, the edge of reality as we know it, with an un-self-conscious matter-of-factness that reminds me of Francesca Lia Block or Kelly Link, but with a distinctive narrative voice that is entirely her own.

Recommended by Kaitlin Dotson, Hargrett Library

This is a collection of short stories by Joe Hill, known for his other books Horns, NOS4A2, and most recently, The Fireman (all of which are owned by UGA Libraries and equally as wonderful as this one).

Some of the stories in this collection are well-known, such as "Pop Art," which examines the friendship between a human boy and his inflatable best friend, and "Abraham's Boys," which follows Abraham Van Helsing and his family to America, post-Dracula. Some of the stories will terrify you, while others are light-hearted and moving. I read 20th Century Ghosts over the summer, and I still think about some of these stories every day. It will definitely stay with you. Give it try.

Recommended by J. A. Brown, Music Cataloging

Berry is a poet, environmental activist, and political and cultural critic. He is also a farmer in Kentucky. This book collects his poems, excepting the Sabbath poems, through 2012. At his best, his poems dig deep into the soil of his home to speak of land, community, tradition, and love. He is never sentimental, however. His work is as strong as the flooding river that runs through his land and as clear-eyed as a farmers labor that must deal with the realistic demands of the work, rather than the dreamy ideas of "rustic life." In fact, sometimes his work is downright uncomfortable, but it always brings a fresh perspective to consider.

Recommended by Walter Biggins, UGA Press

Before Jim Harrison died in 2016, he published two books--a collection of novellas, and this book of poems. Despite the mountains of prose he published, Harrison considered himself first and foremost a poet. It shows, even at the end of his life. These poems are funny, blunt, and mysterious. They are haunted by looming death--hey, it's right there in the book's title--but what's remarkable is how joyful the poems are, how jaunty and sexy and full of wit. He may not have gone out laughing but at least he had a wide grin on his face.

Recommended by S.H., Hargrett Library

It's a simply brilliant, hilarious, amazingly witty play about recovery from addiction. The playwright, a close friend and collaborator of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, tackles (in one reviewer's words) "one of the great, aching paradoxes of human nature: how good souls can be motherfuckers and vice versa and everything in between and even against their own best interests at any given moment, negating themselves at each turn and rationalizing the whole mess just to keep hope alive."

Recommended by Amy Watts, Research & Instruction Department

An original format and interesting read. Highly recommend, especially if you're in the mood for something completely different.

It started as a website with interlocking stories literally linked to one another. The book is an attempt to recreate that experience in print.

There are seven carriages on a Bakerloo Line train, each with 36 seats. A train in which every passenger has a seat will carry 252 people. With the driver, that makes 253. Each character is introduced in a separate section containing 253 words. The sections give general details and describe the thoughts going through the characters' heads.

Recommended by J. R., Cataloging Department

About fifteen years ago, I was given this book to read on a long Greyhound trip. I've read a lot of J. California Cooper since then, but this remains my favorite -- one of those books that makes you think, "I can't give my copy of THAT one away. I know I'll need it again sometime."

Recommended by Amy Watts, Research & Instruction Department

Beautiful little stories that are sweet, truthful, and surprising. An absolute gem of a collection. Gorgeous language and such insight into the little bits of us that make us human.

Recommended by Elizabeth Durusau, Music Library

Out of all the Shakespeare plays that I've seen, read, and studied, "The Tempest" is my favorite. Why it's my favorite is a little something harder to define. At the beginning, it's about revenge. As it goes along, there's a love story to be told. And in the end it's really about forgiveness and end of a man's journey. Of all his plays, it's also the one that seems the most accessible to me. You understand being cheated, you understand first love, you understand being lost, you understand the drive for revenge, but hopefully, in the end, you also understand the need for forgiveness even if it means forgiving those who betrayed you. A great story for any age.

Recommended by Jason Matherly, Curriculum Materials Library

It's a novel, it's a poem. It's a book, it's an artwork. It's comedic, it's erotic. It's a cartoon, it's a love story. Flip through it in a few seconds, or take all the time you want. Start from the back, or from the front if you're feeling traditional. Read it all alone, or share it with your sweetheart.