Peter Orner, _Still No Word from You_

 I DO MISS The Believer, one of the country's most consistently worthwhile periodicals. It's where I first read Michelle Tea, Madelyn O'Gieblyn, and quite a few others, including Peter Orner, whose "Notes in the Margin" were a regular feature: short, punchy, personal essays on writers, sometimes famous ones but more often "writer's writers," and books, sometimes famous ones but more often relatively neglected, out-of-print ones. There would usually be four or five Orner essays scattered through an issue, usually occupying half a page or so, and they were always worthwhile.

Still No Word from You collects 107 short Orner essays, quite a few of which appeared in The Believer. Most are about particular books or writers, although a few are more traditional personal essays (e.g., a quick sketch of his father's electrician). The writers are not exactly unknowns, but do tend to be ones you hear about less often (Penelope Fitzgerald, Wright Morris, Stacy Doris).

Reading whole batches of Orner pieces at once, rather than a few sandwiched between longer pieces, makes for a different and maybe not quite as satisfying reading experience, somewhat like polishing off a box of chocolates all by yourself over the course of an hour. His own memories, often painful (estrangement from his father, a failed first marriage, career disappointments), are often hinted at in the essays, hovering in the background, but when the essays are read in one go, the painful bits drift more into the foreground, throwing longer shadows on the essays' love and appreciation of particular books. If I read the collection again, I might restrict myself to an essay a day, short as they are.

That love and appreciation still shine through, though. Orner's mindful attention to so many writers who merit attention but only occasionally get it--Larry Levis, William Bronk, Gary Lutz--and the precision and energy with which he conveys what he has found make this a book that, like the books he writes about, at least a few people are going to find and cherish.