The Small-Press Lover’s Shopping List: Our Tops for 2014!

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A Bintel Brief, Agostino, Alberto Moravia, Alfred A. Knopf, All of you on the Good Earth, Amanda Hickock, Amanda Hickok, Amy Victoria Blackmore, Ana Schwartz, Anna Strong, Anthony Blake, Archipelago Books, Brittani Sonnenberg, Charlotte Boulay, Coach House Books, Coffee House Press, Colleen Davis, Dark, Dennis Must, Dept. of Speculation, Diane Johnson, Diane Obomsawin, Drawn & Quarterly, Ecco Books, Ecco Press, Elena Minor, Ernest Hilbert, First Second Books, FLYOVER LIVES: A MEMOIR, Foxes on the Trampoline, Gabriel Chazon, Grand Central Publishing, Harry N. Abrams Press, Hillary Chute, Home Leave, I Called Him Necktie, I COULD SEE EVERYTHING: THE PAINTINGS OF MARGAUX WILLIAMSON, Insel, J.G. McClure, Jenny Offill, Jillian and Mariko Tamaki, Liana Finck, Linda Hogan, Matthew Girolami, Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of the Artist and his Work, Melville House, Michael Earl Craig, Michelle Fost, Milena Michiko Flašar, Mina Loy, Natalie Pendergast, Nathaniel Popkin, New Vessel Press, Noemi Press, NYRB Classics, On Loving Women, OUR LADY OF THE NILE, Outside the Box, Panic in a Suitcase, Red Hen Press, Riverhead Books, Scholastique Mukasonga, Seamus O’Malley, Sweet, Tahneer Oksman, Talkativeness, THE WORLD’S SMALLEST BIBLE, This One Summer, Titulada, University of Chicago Press, Viking, Wave Books, Yelena Akhtiorskaya

We asked Cleaver Magazine‘s review editors for their top picks of 2014 small & independent press books. Here they are, in time for your last-minute holiday chopping & thwacking!

NATHANIEL POPKIN, Reviews Editor for Fiction! Nathaniel Popkin is the author of three books, including the 2013 novel Lion and Leopard. He is co-editor of the Hidden City Daily and senior writer of “Philadelphia: The Great Experiment,” an Emmy award-winning documentary series. His work appears in Public Books, The Smart Set, the Wall Street Journal Weekend Review, Fanzine, and the Dactyl Review.

Nathaniel’s picks from his own reviews:
#1. AGOSTINO by Alberto Moravia (rev. by Nathaniel Popkin, NYRB Classics, rev. 7/14/14)
#2. INSEL by Mina Loy (rev. by Nathaniel Popkin, Melville House, rev. 5/12/14)
#3. I CALLED HIM NECKTIE by Milena Michiko Flašar (rev. by Nathaniel Popkin, New Vessel  Press, 10/1/14)
#4. OUR LADY OF THE NILE by Scholastique Mukasonga (rev. by Nathaniel Popkin, Archipelago Books, rev. 9/18/14)
#5. THE WORLD’S SMALLEST BIBLE by Dennis Must (rev. by Nathaniel Popkin, Red Hen Press, rev. 3/20/14)

Nathaniel’s picks from reviews he edited:
#1. A BINTEL BRIEF: LOVE AND LONGING IN OLD NEW YORK by Liana Finck (rev. by Ana Schwartz, Ecco Press, 6/9/14)
#2. CONVERSATIONS by César Aira (rev. by Ana Schwartz, New Directions Press, 7/21/14)
#3. ORPHANS by Hadrien Laroche (rev. by Jamie Fisher, Dalkey Archive Press, 11/9/14)
#4. DUPLEX by Kathryn Davis (rev. by Claire Rudy Foster, Graywolf Press, 10/8/14)
#5. Bolaño: A BIOGRAPHY IN CONVERSATIONS by Mónica Maristain (rev. by Ana Schwartz, Melville House, 10/24/14)

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MICHELLE FOST, Reviews Editor for Fiction & Nonfiction! Michelle Fost is a writer living in Toronto. Her fiction has appeared in The Painted Bride Quarterly and her book reviews have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Boston Phoenix Literary Section.

Michelle’s picks:
#1. DEPT. OF SPECULATION by Jenny Offill (rev. by  Michelle Fost, Knopf, 2/18/14)
#2. HOME LEAVE by Brittani Sonnenberg (rev. by  Michelle Fost, Grand Central Publishing, 7/23/14)
#3. PANIC IN A SUITCASE by Yelena Akhtiorskaya (rev. by  Michelle Fost, Riverhead Books, 10/23/14)
#4. I COULD SEE EVERYTHING: THE PAINTINGS OF MARGAUX WILLIAMSON by Margaux Williamson (rev. by Gabriel Chazon, Coach House Books, 7/14/14)
#5. FLYOVER LIVES: A MEMOIR by Diane Johnson (rev. by Colleen Davis, Viking 4/21/14)

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Matthew Girolami, Reviews Editor for Poetry! Cleaver Poetry Reviews Editor Matthew Girolami is a poet from New Jersey. His work appears in the Susquehanna Review. He is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, where he was Arts & Entertainment Editor of The College Reporter.

Matthew’s picks:
#1. Foxes on the Trampoline by Charlotte Boulay (rev by Matthew Girolami, Ecco Press, rev. 5/7/14)
#2. Dark. Sweet. by Linda Hogan (rev. by Amanda Hickok, Coffee House Press, 7/28/14)
#3. All of You on the Good Earth by Ernest Hilbert (rev. by J.G. McClure, Red Hen Press, 8/19/14)
#4. Titulada by Elena Minor (rev. by Anna Strong, Noemi Press 7/25/14)
#5. Talkativeness by Michael Earl Craig (rev. by Anthony Blake, Wave Books, 7/30/14)

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Tahneer Oksman, Reviews Editor for Graphic Narratives! Tahneer Oksman is the Graphic Narrative Reviews Editor for Cleaver Magazine. She recently completed her Ph.D. in English Literature at the Graduate Center at CUNY. Her articles on women’s visual culture have been published or are forthcoming in a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, Studies in American Jewish Literature, Studies in Comics, and several upcoming anthologies. She has taught at NYU-Gallatin, Brooklyn College, and Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Currently, she is at work on a manuscript on Jewish women’s identity in contemporary graphic memoirs. She is on faculty at Marymount Manhattan College as Assistant Professor of Writing and Director of the Writing Seminar Program.
Tahneer’s picks, “In no particular order”!):
This One Summer by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki (rev. by Natalie Pendergast, First Second Books, 8/11/14)
A Bintel Brief by Liana Finck (rev. by Ana Schwartz, Ecco Press, 6/9/14)
Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of the Artist and His Work, curated by Justin G. Schiller and Dennis M.V. David, 2013 (rev. by Tahneer Oksman, Harry N. Abrams Press, 4/7/14)
On Loving Women by Diane Obomsawin (rev. by Amy Victoria Blakemore, Drawn & Quarterly, 3/26/14)
Outside the Box by Hillary Chute (rev. by Seamus O’Malley, University of Chicago Press, 5/21/14)