on our shelf A MEANING FOR WIFE A EVERY THIRD THOUGHT N ational Book Award winner John Barth’s latest is a metafictional whirlwind, with 77-year-old George I. Newett writing and screwing and thinking about writing and screwing while on a European cruise with his delightful and equally erudite wife. The novel unfolds around a series of coincidences and a series of five flashback visions recalling and revealing Newett’s life. Every Third Thought is bawdy, idiosyncratic, and relentlessly creative, from start (“Clearing George I. Newett’s Narrative Throat”) to finish (“our story’s done”). —Anna Nair Every Third Thought by John Barth, Counterpoint Press 2011, www.counterpointpress.com. young widower travels home with his toddler son to his parents’ home and his high school reunion in poet Mark Yakich’s debut novel. The author’s use of the second person is effective here, as the narrator is at a distance from his own emotions and grief, only bumping up against them as he looks at his high school yearbook, interacts with his schizophrenic father, and awkwardly navigates the drunken whirl of his reunion. At times humorous, at times touching, A Meaning for Wife is a short book with punch. —Ben Minton A Meaning for Wife by Mark Yakich, Ig Publishing 2011, www.igpub.com. KARAOKE CULTURE I n a series of essays, Dubravka Ugresic (born in the former Yugoslavia and now living in Amsterdam) takes sharp, wry aim at the tendency of modern culture, both pop and political, to create blithe conformists. In the Internet age, “the anonymous participant derives pleasure and gets his kicks by simply getting to be ‘someone else, somewhere else,’” she asserts. David Williams, who translated the book from the Croation, describes the essays as “new postcards sent from a space both inside and outside the global village.” Karaoke Culture by Dubravka Ugresic, translated by David Williams, Open Letter 2011, www.openletterbooks.org. UNBOUND 47 previous page next page