one more!

We thought it was over, but happened across one more best-of list: “Best” U.S. Poetry Books, 2000 – 2020 (a list in progress) by Bill Mohr.

Advertisements

best of 2017, round three

Here’s one more collection of best-of lists for 2017 poetry books:

• The Brooklyn Rail – Best 25 POETRY Books of 2017
• Bustle – The 18 Best Poetry Collections Of 2017
• BuzzFeed – The 13 Best Poetry Books Of 2017
• Financial Times – Best books of 2017: Poetry
• Literary Hub – Our Favorite Poetry Collections of 2017
• The Times (UK) – Best poetry books of 2017
• The Washington Post – The best poetry collections of 2017
• WBUR – Lloyd Schwartz: Our 5 Favorite Poetry Books This Year

Best-of, round two

• CBC – The best Canadian poetry of 2017
• Chicago Tribune – Notable poetry of 2017
• The Irish Times – 2017: A stellar year for new poetry
• Minnesota Public Radio – Best poetry collections of 2017: Poets’ picks
• The National Council of Teachers of English each year selects notable poetry titles for children ages 3-13 – both poetry books and verse novels (links appear about halfway down the page)
• The New York Times – David Orr lists The Best Poetry of 2017
• The New Yorker – The Poetry I Was Grateful for in 2017 By Dan Chiasson
• The Poetry Foundation’s 2017 Staff Picks

and so it begins…

As you may recall from years past, we’re particularly fond of year-end best-of lists. Although it’s not easy to find out how many poetry books are published each year (one source says 10,038 books of poetry or drama were published in the United States in 2012), it’s certainly a lot, and recommendations — from friends, reviewers, instructors, etc. — can help narrow the field a bit. Here’s the first of this year’s best-of poetry:

• Chicago Review of Books – The Best Poetry Books of 2017
• Entropy – Best of 2017: Best Poetry Books & Poetry Collections
• The Guardian asks for recommendations from some favorite authors. Plenty of poetry included. Part 1, Part 2,
• The Guardian – Carol Rumens’s best poetry books of 2017
• NPR Book Concierge
• Publishers Weekly – five Best Poetry Books of 2017
• The Telegraph – The best poetry books of 2017

List Season begins

A sure sign of the season, along with sparkling lights and oversize snowflakes decorating the city center, is the profusion of lists. Part of the appeal of best-of lists is that they typically offer the perspective of an advance reader/reviewer.

One of the first to cross the screen this season is “Exciting Poetry for Fall: 14 Titles Range Widely To Bring a Fresh Reading Experience” from the Library Journal. These are all very recent titles (September, October, November 2017), each accompanied by comments and tagged with a “verdict” to assist librarians.

one more…

Here’s a slightly different take on the best-of list: Business Insider’s “The most beautiful library in every US state.”

best-of, part 3

The lists are multiplying. Here’s another round.

• Amazon lists their Best Sellers in Poetry (updated hourly)
• BuzzFeed lists The 11 Best Poetry Books Of 2016
• goodreads offers their Choice Awards for poetry
• London Review Bookshop’s Christmas Poetry Picks 2016 riffs on the popular BBC mystery series “Endeavor” to present their poetry prizes for the year
• The New Yorker’s Dan Chiasson offers his list of the best books of poetry in 2016
• The Spinoff (New Zealand) recommends five books of poetry
• The Telegraph lists The 15 best poetry books of all time
• The Walrus provides plenty of poetry among The Best Books of 2016 selected by Canadian authors

Support your local independent bookseller and read lots of poetry over the holidays.