Last December I posted my “most engaging books of 2010” list with 13 books of poetry, 2 of fiction, 2 of theory and 2 collecteds … this year the field consisted of a vastly different array of “most engaging” books. This is the cream of the crop for 2011:

POETRY:

Baum, Erica. Dog Ear. Brooklyn: Ugly Duckling, 2011.

Bergvall, Caroline. Meddle English. New York: Nightboat, 2011.

Dworkin, Craig. Motes. New York: Roof Books, 2011.

Fitterman, Robert. Holocaust Museum. London: Veer, 2011.

Place, Vanessa. Tragodia 2: Statement of the Case and Tragodia 3: Argument. Los Angeles: Blanc Press, 2011.

CRITICISM / ETC

Bernstein, Charles. Attack of the Difficult Poems. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011.

Brotchie, Alastair. Alfred Jarry: A Pataphysical Life. Cambridge: MIT, 2011.

Dworkin, Craig and Kenneth Goldsmith. Against Expression: An Anthology of Conceptual Writing. Evanston: Northwestern UP, 2011.

Gammel, Irene and Suzanne Zelazo, eds. Body Sweats: The Uncensored writings of Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. Cambridge: MIT, 2011.

Goldsmith, Kenneth. Uncreative Writing. New York: Columbia UP, 2011.

Norddahl, Eirikur Orn. Booby, be Quiet! Helsinki: poesia, 2011.

RE-ISSUES (each of which are finally back in print this year)

McCaffery, Steve. Panopticon. Toronto: Bookthug, 2011.

Moure, Erin. Pillage Laud. Toronto: Bookthug, 2011.

Porter, Bern. Found Poems. New York: Nightboat, 2011.

Rinne, Cia. Zaroum. Reims: le clou dans le fer, 2011.

Robertson, Lisa. Occasional Work and Seven Walks from the Office of Soft Architecture. Toronto: Coach House, 2011.