Loitering: New & Collected Essays

In a year full of fantastic books of essays, one of the last ones might be the best. D'Ambrosio's language is thrillingly precise and his honesty about himself and what he sees is sometimes so open you avert your eyes. Some of these essays, written for publications from the Stranger to the New Yorker on subjects from Mary Kay Letourneau (remember her?) to his father's self-destruction, were collected ten years ago in a little book called Orphans (by the late, lamented Clear Cut Press) that's one of my more prized literary possessions. Now in this expanded edition (and with raves like the Stranger's recent four-page (!) review) they should get the wider audience they deserve. I can't wait.