In The Company of Strangers (Talonbooks) by Mary Meigs remains one of the best, if not the very best, book(s) of the decade. If you read nothing else this year, read this one.
Review of "Traveling: On the Path of Joni Mitchell" by Ann Powers
Review of "The Age of Insecurity" by Astra Taylor
On "Snyder: Collected Poems" by Gary Snyder and "He, Leo" by Ewan Clark