Publishers have sent me desk copies for my fall classes over the past few months. The Knisley and Tea are for my first-year composition course, the Ballard and McGuire are for my Introduction to Literature course, and the Everett and Vidal are for my American Literature Since 1945 course.

Ballard, J.G. Crash. 1973. New York: Picador, 2017.

Everett, Percival. Erasure. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2001.

Knisley, Lucy. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen. New York: First Second, 2013.

McGuire, Seanan. Every Heart a Doorway. New York: Tor, 2016.

Tea, Michelle. How to Grow Up: A Memoir. New York: Plume, 2015.

Vidal, Gore. The City and the Pillar. 1948. New York: Vintage, 2003.

Ferris, Emil. My Favorite Thing is Monsters. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2016.

I heard about this book, Kang’s book, and Waite’s book when I was at Northeast MLA last month. They all sounded intriguing, so I decided to order them. Ferris’s book is a graphic novel that takes place in late-1960s Chicago and also includes queer characters, so I cannot wait to read it.

Hernandez, Keith. I’m Keith Hernandez: A Memoir. New York: Little, Brown, 2018.

As I’ve written here before, I am obsessed with the 1986 Mets, and will buy any book about them that I can find. I am quite excited to read this memoir by one of their key players. Of course the title comes from Hernandez’s line from the famous Seinfeld episode when Hernandez and Elaine go on a date. When he kisses her and she thinks “Who does this guy think he is?,” he thinks “I’m Keith Hernandez.” There’s also an excellent 20-minute documentary about Hernandez by the same name which is available to view for free here.

Kang, Han. The Vegetarian. 2007. Trans. Deborah Smith. London: Hogarth, 2015.

I don’t know much about this book, but apparently its translation is controversial because some people claim that the English translation is not an accurate one. It nevertheless won the Man Booker Prize, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Leitch, Vincent B. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2018.

I received a free, unasked-for exam copy of this mammoth hardcover tome in the mail today. It was a nice surprise and I look forward to perusing it. I must say, however, that it contains woefully few pieces of queer theory.

Waite, Stacey. Teaching Queer: Radical Possibilities for Writing and Knowing. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017.

I’ve read lots of queer theory, but never any that examines how to teach queerly, thus I was thrilled to find this book and will make sure to read it before I construct my syllabi for the fall.

Plett, Casey. Little Fish. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018.

I received a review copy of this novel by fellow queer Mennonite Casey Plett from the Pacific Journal, which has asked me to write a review for its Fall 2018 issue. Plett and I are friends and I had the privilege of reading several drafts of the book in manuscript. It is so cool to see it in print! Plett’s first book, A Safe Girl to Love, won a Lambda Literary Award, and Little Fish is good enough that it has an excellent chance of doing the same.

Threadgill, Elizabeth. Tangled in the Light. Georgetown, KY: Finishing Line Press, 2018.

My friend and Utica College colleague Elizabeth Threadgill just had her first chapbook of poetry published. I read it last night and enjoyed it because of its minimalist, almost haiku-esque style.

Beachy, Stephen. Leahbelle Beachy and the Beings of Light: Amish Terror Book 2. San Diego: Vapor Books, 2018.

This is the second volume of Beachy’s Amish science fiction trilogy, which just came out. I can’t wait to read it!

Cherciu, Lucia. Train Ride to Bucharest. Rhinebeck, NY: Sheep Meadow Press, 2017.

Cherciu is the winner of this year’s Nassar Poetry Prize, which is sponsored by Utica College. She gave a reading on campus this past Thursday. I was one of the judges who read her book, and I really enjoyed it, so I bought it and had her sign it at the reading.

Acheson, Katherine O. Writing Essays About Literature: A Brief Guide for University and College Students. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2011.

I attended the annual Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) conference in Pittsburgh this past weekend, and of course left with a number of books. I got Acheson’s, Barrie’s, and Dale’s books free as examination copies. I think this writing guide will be helpful the next time I teach Introduction to English Studies.

Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan. 1911. Ed. Anne Hiebert Alton. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2011.

Although I feel like I know the story because of its ubiquity in popular discourse, I have never actually read Peter Pan or seen the Disney version of it. I recently taught Sassafras Lowrey’s novel Lost Boi, a queer retelling of Barrie’s book, and then came across this edition at the conference. I decided to get it because I think reading it will help me to teach Lowrey’s book in the future.

Dale, Alan. A Marriage Below Zero. 1889. Ed. Richard A. Kaye. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press, 2018.

I had not previously heard of this book, but according to the blurb it is “the first novel in English to explicitly explore the subject of male homosexuality.” I am thus keen to read it.

Gumbs, Alexis Pauline. M Archive: After the End of the World. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018.

I am fascinated by both archives and apocalyptic literature, so when I saw an advertisement for this collection of poetry I ordered a copy from the publisher immediately.

Hearn, Ed, with Gene Frenette. Conquering Life’s Curves: Baseball, Battles & Beyond. Grand Island, NE: Cross Training Publishing, 1996.

I am obsessed with the 1986 Mets, and recently found out that Hearn, one of their more obscure members, had written a memoir. I liked Hearn as a player and was sad when the team traded him in 1987, though of course it ended up being an excellent trade for them. I bought the book from one of amazon.com’s network of independent retailers, and it turns out that it’s autographed!

Mbue, Imbolo. Behold the Dreamers. 2016. New York: Random House, 2017.

NeMLA handed out free copies of this novel because Mbue will be the featured speaker at NeMLA next year. I had not previously heard of it, but it looks fascinating.

O’Nan, Stewart. Last Night at the Lobster. 2007. New York: Penguin Books, 2008.

I won this signed copy of O’Nan’s novel for answering a trivia question (“What is the name of one of NeMLA’s journals?”) at the NeMLA closing brunch. As with Mbue’s, I’d never heard of his work before, but the book has an intriguing blurb.

Cruz, Miriam. 5 Sundays with Mim: Selected Sermons from Woodcrest Villa Worship. Lancaster, PA: N.p., 2018.

This is a book of sermons by my mother, who is a chaplain at Woodcrest Villa, which is part of Mennonite Home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She is retiring soon, and one of the residents decided to print this book as a retirement gift. I received it from my mother earlier this week in the mail.

Nordgren, Sarah Rose. Darwin’s Mother. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017.

Nordgren gave a reading of her second collection of poems at the New Hartford Barnes & Noble this past Wednesday, and it was absolutely delightful. There was no question about whether or not to buy her book.

Chen, Chen. When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities. Rochester, NY: BOA Editions, 2017.

Chen gave a poetry reading at Utica College this past week and I loved his work, so I bought a copy of his debut full-length collection.

Wiebe, Armin. Grandmother, Laughing. Winnipeg: Turnstone Press, 2017.

Wiebe is a member of the first generation of Mennonite writers whose career dates from the early 1980s. However, I’ve only read one of his books, The Salvation of Yasch Siemens. I decided that it was time to remedy this situation.

Yuknavitch, Lidia. The Chronology of Water. Portland, OR: Hawthorne Books, 2010.

A student of mine told me about this queer memoir, which looks incredibly fascinating. I purchased a copy from amazon.com’s network of independent booksellers.

Jernigan, Amanda. Years, Months, and Days: Poems. Windsor, ON: Biblioasis, 2018.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher. According to the blurb, Jernigan takes a bunch of old Mennonite hymns and makes poems out of them. According to the interview that came with the book, she is not a Mennonite, but found the hymns intriguing nonetheless. It will be interesting to see what she does with them.

Lowrey, Sassafras. Lost Boi. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2015.

I received a desk copy of this fantastic novel from the publisher because I am teaching it in a course on Sexual Outlaws next semester. I already have a copy, but it’s signed by the author so I don’t want to get it grubby by using it in the classroom.

Also, for some reason WordPress’s blogging software has not been letting me add tags to my posts lately, which is why there are none with this post. It’s not that I’ve simply grown lazy and haven’t added them 😉