Penny Guisinger‘s memoir in vignettes, POSTCARDS FROM HERE is the most original book I’ve read since Sandra Gail Lambert’s THE RIVER’S MEMORY. In sharp bursts of brilliant prose, Guisinger moves from one closely observed event to another. It’s the movement that makes this book so original: these self-contained micro-essays are not in chronological order, and there’s no overt plot, but the language itself pulls you along compulsively. I literally couldn’t put it down.

The bonus here is a profoundly intimate look at life in Downeast Maine, a landscape that has been romanticized almost to death. Guisinger’s deep connection with the land, the people, and the culture will resonate with anyone who has loved the Maine coastlines, towns, and forests.