5 of 5 stars

Booth is everything a literary journal should be, and I found myself loving most of the stories in this particular collection – which is often a rarity when an editor attempts to bring together multiple short-format pieces, let alone pieces that span short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, lists, interviews, craft essays and a smattering of artwork thrown in. Booth makes this feat look effortless.

A few of my highlights included Scott Williams Woods’ “New York Times Bestsellers” a fictional list of the titular publication in which James Patterson has incorporated Alex Cross into every title and force fit him into every genre. In a landscape where it’s becoming harder and harder for new voices to gain traction against established properties – a future list like this isn’t hard to imagine. I laughed out loud multiple times at several of the descriptions.

“‘Manchild’ Morrison, the Best that Almost Was” hits the opposite end of the spectrum, a tale of high school legends and the decline that seems to always befall them outside the walls of their youth. We look in on the local legend after he’s lost nearly everything, and follow him about town as Porter Shreve builds up to the old team’s reunion at homecoming.

For folks who aren’t sure about lit. journals, Booth is the perfect intro. It does a lot of different things extremely well and can help you find other publications with a more singular focus based on what you enjoyed most.