On the Seawalla community gallery of new writing, art and commentary hosted by Ron Slate

Here are our most frequently read book reviews for 2009. Many thanks to all our friends who helped to bring attention to new writing and grow our audience.

POETRY

Salvinia Molesta, by Victoria Chang (University of Georgia Press)

Body Clock, by Eleni Sikelianos (Coffee House Press)

Twenty-four Poets Name New Favorites

Petals of One, Petals of Zero, by Andrew Zawacki (Talisman House)

NOVELS

Blame, by Michelle Huneven (Farrar Straus Giroux)

The American Painter Emma Dial, by Samantha Peale (Norton)

Glover’s Mistake, by Nick Laird (Penguin)

ESSAYS AND CRITICISM

The Winter Sun: Notes on a Vocation, by Fanny Howe (Graywolf)

On Kindness, by Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor (Farrar Straus Giroux)

City Dog, by W.S. Di Piero (Northwestern University)

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

My Happiness Bears No Relation To Happiness: A Poet’s Life in the Palestinian Century, by Adina Hoffman (Yale)

The Shameful Peace: How French Artists and Intellectuals Survived Nazi Occupation, by Frederic Spotts (Yale)

PHOTOGRAPHY

The Jazz Loft Project: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene Smith, by Sam Stephenson (Knopf)

POPULAR CULTURE

I’m Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and Hard Times in Stand-Up Comedy’s Golden Era, by William Knoedelseder (Public Affairs)