Book reviews that read between the lines.
My reviews use literature as a lens to explore identity, relationships, and the ways stories shape how we see ourselves and the world around us.
I gravitate toward LGBTQ+ literature, small presses, and underrepresented voices. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, my reviews appear in The Gay & Lesbian Review, Publishers Weekly, and other outlets.
Book Reviews for The Red Hook Star-Revue
Quinn on Books
Quinn on Books
Since 2020, I’ve written Quinn on Books, a monthly column for The Red Hook Star-Revue, a Brooklyn newspaper reaching 9,000 readers in Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, the Columbia Waterfront District, and Gowanus—with many more reading online.
My column spotlights:
New York–centric titles and themes
Books and interviews featuring local authors and booksellers
Coverage of traditionally marginalized voices and small-press gems you might not find elsewhere
Check out my latest column below, then dig through back issues.
Review of Horse Crazy, by Gary Indiana
Published by The Red Hook Star-Revue (March 2025)
Book Reviews for The Gay & Lesbian Review
Published bimonthly, The Gay & Lesbian Review explores history, culture, and politics through a queer lens.
For this engaged and informed LGBTQ+ readership, I review books that reflect and reshape queer experience across genres, including art, design, drag, essays, memoir, and poetry.
I bring a critic’s eye and a storyteller’s sensibility to the page, connecting the personal and the political, the literary and the lived.
Check out my latest review below, then explore past issues.
Review of The Spring Before Obergefell, by Ben Grossberg
Published by The G&LR (March–April 2025)
Book Reviews for Literary Journals
Fiction
“Turn, Turn, Turn”: Review of Marcovaldo, by Italo Calvino (The Common)
“The River Was Deep”: Review of Lava Falls, by Lucy Jane Bledsoe (Gertrude Press)
Nonfiction
“Mending History”: Review of A Quilt for David, by Steven Reigns (Gertrude Press)
“The Spiritual Forebear of Lana Del Rey”: Review of A Voice of the Warm, by Barry Alfonso (Gertrude Press)
“Gals and Gales”: Review of Zephyrian Spools, by Dalia Neis (Gertrude Press)
“Many Voices, One Song”: Review of Transcending, edited by Kevin Manders and Elizabeth Marston (Gertrude Press)
“Master Class in American History”: Review of I Like to Watch, by Emily Nussbaum (The Adroit Journal)
Memoir
“The Girl from Josephina”: Review of Big Freedia, by Big Freedia, with Nicole Balin (Gertrude Press)
“Just Dandy”: Review of I’ve Seen the Future, and I’m Not Going, by Peter McGough (Drizzle Review)
“Time Passages”: Review of Year of the Monkey, by Patti Smith (The Adroit Journal)
“Dial-Up Access—to the Past”: Review of People I’ve Met from the Internet, by Stephen Van Dyck (Gertrude Press)
“Deathbed Revelations”: Review of All We Knew But Couldn’t Say, by Joanne Vannicola (Gertrude Press)
“Autumn Closing In”: Review of Night Moves, by Jessica Hopper (The Adroit Journal)
“It’s Her Story Now”: Review of Self-ish, by Chloe Schwenke (Gertrude Press)
Poetry
Review of Live in Suspense, by David Groff (Colorado Review)
“Into Every Life, a Little Rain Must Fall”: Review of Come Thunder, by Barbara Helfgott Hyett (Heavy Feather Review)
“I Drive, Therefore I Am”: Review of Today in the Taxi, by Sean Singer (Heavy Feather Review)
“Midlife Crisis”: Review of Ghost Hour, by Laura Cronk (The Literary Review)
“Disappeared, Disregarded, Dead”: Review of Rest of US, by Richard Hamilton (Gertrude Press)
“What the Living Do”: Review of One Illuminated Letter of Being, by Donald Platt (Green Mountains Review)
“Live Through This”: Review of Girls Like Us, by Elizabeth Hazen (The Literary Review)
“Great Plains Evenings”: Review of Prairie Architecture, by Monica Barron (Gertrude Press)
“How to Live”: Review of Flourish, by Dora Malech (The Literary Review)
“A Serious Piece of American Music”: Review of The Miracles, by Amy Lemmon (Green Mountains Review)
“Within You, Without You”: Review of Hard Some, by Hailey Higdon (Gertrude Press)
“All Mixed Up, for a Reason”: Review of For Every Girl, by Kate Gray (Gertrude Press)
Book Reviews for Publishers Weekly
“Michael’s friendly, professional, and diligent attitude makes him a pleasure to work with, and his stylish and thoughtful submissions are a pleasure both to edit and read—I always look forward to getting back [submissions] from him, knowing that their clean prose style and careful organization will make my job exceptionally easy, and also that I’ll encounter lively and original insights and turns of phrase.”
From 2018 to 2023, I had the privilege of writing non-bylined reviews for Publishers Weekly, a leading trade magazine for publishers, booksellers, librarians, literary agents, and authors. My work focused on three core areas of expertise:
Gardening
LGBTQ+ topics (including gender studies, history, and memoir)
Literary nonfiction