Shelf Life

In her new book, poet Mary Oliver expresses gratitude for her dog, Percy.

Prolific and popular poet
Mary Oliver celebrates the creatures she observes on Cape Cod in "Red Bird" (Beacon), her 17th book of poetry. A longtime resident of Provincetown, Oliver, at 72, is among the nation's most popular poets.

Her readings frequently sell out concert halls. In February, an audience of 2,500 in Seattle gave her a standing ovation before she started reading. She's returning to Washington state this month, but there are no New England dates on her tour schedule.

In 2005, the Pulitzer Prize winner lost her partner, photographer Molly Cook, to lung cancer. Oliver's grief ripples through the book, as does an unwavering sense of gratitude for the moment, the memories, and her trusty dog, Percy. She writes: "How / would it be to be Percy, I wonder, not / thinking, not weighing anything, just running ahead."

O'Connell on tour
Worcester writer Jack O'Connell's novels transcend the genres of crime, science fiction, horror, and fantasy. Among his fans are fellow writers James Ellroy, Neil Gaiman, and Jonathan Carroll.

Ellroy, who has called O'Connell "the future of the dark literary suspense novel," will appear with him in Los Angeles this spring during O'Connell's 15-city tour for his fifth novel, "The Resurrectionist" (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill). A father desperate to rescue his son from a coma seeks help at the fortress-like clinic of a doctor with a reputed history of resurrecting patients.

A glimpse at Styron
The late William Styron faced difficult times in the 1940s as he wrote his first novel, the critically acclaimed "Lie Down in Darkness." He was given a $100 advance from his publisher and a modest stipend from his father. Years later, he took James Baldwin into his home in Connecticut when Baldwin was short of funds. Their late-night talks about race were immensely helpful to Styron, then in the thick of writing "The Confessions of Nat Turner."

These glimpses of Styron's writing life are from "Havanas in Camelot" (Random House), a new collection of his essays. All but one of the 14 essays in the collection were previously published. The new essay, "Walking with Aquinnah," is an eloquent tribute to Styron's dog Aquinnah, and their mutual pleasure in a routine. "Without a daily walk and the transactions it stimulates in my head," Styron writes, "I would face that first page of cold blank paper with pitiful anxiety."

Parody for the younger set
Cambridge author Lois Lowry's 34th book, "The Willoughbys" (Houghton Mifflin), is a delightful parody of classic works of children's literature. The fun begins when two wicked parents hatch a plot to rid themselves of their four children. Meanwhile, the bossy eldest child named Tim, twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and Jane are just as eager to get rid of their parents.

Coming out