Fall Reads From The Flyway Editors

26 Oct 2011

It’s chilly here in Iowa. If you’re looking for a book to go with your hot tea and couch blankets (Snuggies?) this Fall, here’s what we’re reading:

(If you’ve read any of these and feel like some book talk, leave comments! We’ll answer!)

John Linstrom, Nonfiction Editor

Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A modern classic on the food crises facing American consumers (and producers) today — food’s Silent Spring. If you haven’t read it, fall might be the best time, because it will make you want to take advantage of the autumnal bounties of organic food in your local co-op before winter hits.

Dean Bakopoulos, Please Don’t Come Back from the Moon: Evokes so accurately the somehow satisfying sadness of falls spent back in the hometown. It also comments tenderly and insightfully on the reality of postindustrial working-class America.

Sarah Burke, Managing Editor

Jane Hirshfield, The October Palace: Her work is beautiful year-round, but I always seem to come back to it in the fall.

Sappho / Anne Carson, If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho: This is an amazing book of translations. I love it more every time I read it.

Xavier Cavazos, Poetry Editor

David Wagoner, Who Shall Be the Sun: Narrative poems of the Pacific Northwest Coast Indians. Might as well be the BIBLE!

Michele Devlin, Mark Grey and Aaron Goldsmith, Postville U.S.A.: Nonfiction account of the historic 2009 immigration raids in Postville, Iowa. Shame on you “ICE”. Shame, shame, shame.

Yoani Sanchez, Havana Real: She’s a Cuban blogger who has been kidnapped, beaten and threatened with her life because she tells it how it is to be living under Castro’s Cuba. A must read!

Genevieve DuBois, Fiction Editor

Bill Streever, Cold: Because winter’s just around the corner! This nonfiction book explores the colder places on earth and some of the various stories, cultures, and ecosystems that have evolved in and because of them.

Brenna Dixon, Blog Editor

Wells Tower, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned: This collection of stories is a fast read full of memorable characters and moments (Blood Eagle, anyone?). It’s perfect for some couch time before bed.