Award-Winning Books of 2017
The biggest prizes in the book world come out
in fall. Here's the best of the best for your to-read list.
By Mark Athitakis
2 of 6
Half-Light: Collected Poems 1965-2016
By Frank Bidart
16777215 pages;
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Winner of this year's
National Book Award for poetry,
Half-Light
contains more than 50 years' worth of Bidart's poetry—all defined by
the simmering intensity he's brought to themes of sexuality, love and violence.
In his recent work, he's faced aging head-on, contemplating the loss of lovers
and family members, as in "For the AIDS Dead": "The plague you
have thus far survived. They didn't. / Nothing that they did in bed that you
didn't." Bidart can rage in capital letters, imagine vivid, troubling
dreamscapes, or soberly contemplate classical poets, but he's consistently
defined by a style that gracefully navigates a tightrope between mournfulness
and beauty.
— Mark Athitakis
Published 11/17/2017