Poets are burdened with a certain expectation: that they will live out their lives not merely as poets but also as The Poet—that tweed jacket-wearing, squinty-eyed creature with mouth curled into a reflective scowl, prone to tuberculosis and self-seriousness. Michael Robbins, whose first book has just been released by Penguin, does not fit this model. The Poet should not wear a black Feelies T-shirt with a white deodorant streak across the stomach. He should not name his first collection after a campy science fiction horror franchise (Alien vs. Predator). Probably, he should not be a germaphobe who carries around a small bottle of hand sanitizer that he uses compulsively after human contact. The Poet might have a tattoo of lines from Yeats on his forearm, but when asked about it, he should not say, “I don’t even remember it. There was this girl … I was 22 … I don’t want to talk about it.” Read More

Neil Young, who needs no introduction other than to say he has penned a memoir called Waging Heavy Peace that will be out in the fall of 2012, will be at the 2012 BookExpo America, the annual publishing clusterfuck at the Jacob Javits Center in June. Details are still, like Neil Young’s voice, shaky (really sorry about that one), but the event will take the form of a Q&A. It is called, appropriately, “A Conversation With Neil Young.” The interviewer will be announced at a later date. Read More

Reading for My Life: Writings, 1958-2008 by John Leonard (March 15, Viking Adult) 

John Leonard was the critic’s critic, and anyone who has ever penned a book review has in some way, whether conscious or unconscious, felt his influence. This book collects Mr. Leonard’s prolific career. In his 40 years as a critic, he contributed Read More

The day after the prerelease book party for A Sense of Direction (May 10, Riverhead Hardcover), the writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus’s memoir about pilgrimage, writing and relationships—particularly the one with his gay rabbi father—a sizable sample of young people who work in media and publishing were lying in bed, trying not to throw up. Most emails exchanged that morning began with “Ugh.” One said, “I feel like death.” Read More

“Larry is very close to being an ideal author,” said John Oakes, founder of OR Books. He was talking about his press’ latest project, The Torture Report by Larry Siems. A small crowd had gathered to celebrate its release at the apartment of Henry Finder, the New Yorker’s editorial director, and his partner Kwame Anthony Read More

There was a lot to trudge through, and a whole lot of irony, so this is by no means definitive. Some of these have been cut down, out of pity for Ms. Roiphe. Read More