But Beautiful by Geoff Dyer is one of the best, most satisfying, gorgeously written books I've read in a long time. It is stunning! Here's a blurb about it from the New York Times review:
You don't have to be a jazz buff to savor this book--but you may be one when you're done. Although Mr. Dyer, an English critic and novelist, roots his portraits in some true-life episodes, such as Lester Young's courtmartial, he goes on to improvise, inventing dialogue and action as a jazzman might take a standard and embellish it, making it his own. Here is his description of Monk at the keyboard, playing as though he'd never seen a piano before: 'Came at it from all angles, using his elbows, taking chops at it, rippling through the keys like they were a deck of cards, fingers jabbing at them like they were hot to the touch or tottering around them like a woman in heels.'
Or for an amazing and hilarious collection of David Foster Wallace's Harper's essays, check out A Supposedly Fun Thing I've Never Do Again--it's brilliant and side-busting funny.
Poets to check out: Marilyn Chin, Adrienne Rich, Mary Oliver, Lucille Clifton and of course, Seamus Heaney.
Short Stories: Russell Banks has a nice collection (The Angel on the Roof, and I really like Lorrie Moore's Birds of America.