Western North Carolina's literary tradition is long and well documented (Thomas Wolfe, O. Henry, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald just to start the list), but the wordsmiths of the area are hardly relegated to a motley band of ghosts and well-thumbed volumes of antiquity. Today's writers are busier than ever crafting prose, poetry, how-to books, guides and pictorial collections. From locally-set mysteries to hikes with dogs, regional authors keep the pages turning. In an effort to give local writers (and writers with local events, and writers inspired by local themes and settings) their due, Book Report offers up at least one book review or literary event each week. Look for these reads at your favorite bookshop, and let us know what you think -- or feel free to offer your own suggestions as to what Xpress should read next.
Local photographer Tim Barnwell recently released Hands in Harmony: Traditional Crafts and Music in Appalachia (W.W. Norton, 2009). The collection of images and oral histories spans 30 years and offers a broad if not fully comprehensive look at the sonic and visual arts of the region and many of the masters of those genres.
Aside from the written introduction, Barnwell’s tome divides the photography and text into the front and back halves of the book. It’s an interesting choice —- logic
As a sophomore in high school, Travis Waters woke with a nagging pain in his leg, a sharp aching sensation that would alter the course of his life. What was thought to be a stress fracture or form of tendonitis, turned out to be a much worse and more aggressive illness. In the winter of 1998, Travis and his family were confronted with a shocking reality: The pain in Travis’ right tibia wasn’t caused by physical exertion but by a rare form of bone cancer called Metastasis Ewing’s Sarcoma. It’s
Maybe what’s most surprising about Jill McCorkle‘s new short story collection, Going Away Shoes (Algonquin, 2009) is that the author blurb on the dust jacket places the author in Hillsborough, N.C. where she lives with her husband. Not that McCorkle shouldn’t be contently domestic, but we as readers have come to suspect that, even in fiction, characters and plots are drawn from the writer’s personal experience. Shoes (apparently unlike McCorkle’s reality) reveals an array of heroines
If you ever thought the life of a private investigator was either a) only available to the likes of Magnum P.I. and Remington Steele, or b) super glamorous, Asheville resident and author Brian Lee Knopp lays both of those myths to rest in his new book, Mayhem in Mayberry: Adventures of a P.I. in Southern Appalachia (Cosmic Pigbite Press, 2009).
Knopp graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with an English degree which, upon moving to Asheville, he put to work in his turns as sheep
If you loved Curtis Sittenfeld’s Prep, Valerie Ann Leff’s Better Homes & Husbands or Elise Blackwell’s Grub, then Joanna Smith Rakoff’s debut novel, A Fortunate Age (Scribner, 2009) is your kind of book.
Inspired by Mary McCarthy‘s 1962 bestseller, The Group (about eight young friends from Vassar), Fortunate follows four Oberlin grads (Beth, Emily, Lil and Sadie) as they begin lives, careers, marriages and families in New York City.
While Rakoff is hardly breaking ground with the girlfriends
Author Denise Giardina grew up in rural West Virginia and has, in the past, been labeled an Appalachian writer. Previous novels Storming Heaven and The Unquiet Earth were both set in West Virginia. Giardina’s latest work, however, not only journeys out of the East coast mountains but crosses the pond to the moors of Victorian Yorkshire, England.
The book, Emily’s Ghost: A Novel of The Brontë Sisters (W.W.Norton & Co., 2009) is a fictionalized account of poet and novelist Emily Brontë and her
The word “hopeful” pops up often in press for Alabama-based author Gin Phillips’ The Well and The Mine (Riverhead Books, 2009). However, this is no document of the recent presidential race, nor is it a rosy-tinted self-help guide. In fact, Well is a debut novel set in the coal mining town of Carbon Hill, circa 1931. The Great Depression has set in, though the Moore family barely notices:
“‘Course in ‘29, banks wobbled and shook, businesses shut down all along Main Street. Went broke,” says
Writers looking for an opportunity to hone their craft can do do so—under the tutelage of some of the area’s best wordsmiths—at the North Carolina Writers’ Network‘s 2009 Squire Summer Writing Residency.
The program, held on the campus of Warren Wilson College, takes place from Friday, July 24 through Sunday, July 26. (Those interested should register soon as only 50 writers will be accepted to the program. A $250 deposit is required with registration; the balance is due July 9.) The Squire
Local author Gary Allen Duke recently published his short novel, Bobo County through Author House. In just over 100 pages, Duke relates the tale of Bobby, a young boy growing up in Bobo County, New Mexico. As the dust cover notes, “Even though the book is short… the story will captivate you you and invite you to go to Bobo County in your mind.”
Duke reveals himself as a storyteller. His tone, from Bobo‘s opening chapter, is casual and conversational. In ambling prose he introduces the reader
Of the 25 short stories in his book, A Camouflaged Fragrance of Decency (Inkwater Press, 2007), author Tim Josephs jokes, 19 are “actually pretty good.” (Worth noting: locally-based Josephs is the brother of Asheville’s Radix of the band The South French Broads.)
In fact, the entire read is a platform for Josephs’ offbeat and sometimes dark humor. His writing style isn’t quite slapstick, but the avant-garde punch lines come on fast and furious. Stories should not be plumbed for depth or
The Four Corners of the Sky (Sourcebooks Landmark, 2009) by Hillsborough, N.C.-based author Michael Malone verges on epic. For starters, the book is 544 pages (good for long vacations, plane rides, rainy weekends; not so good for bathroom entertainment or deadlines). Secondly, it’s dense with back story and convolution (that’s convolution, not convulsion: Malone’s writing is thorough to the point of obsessive, but spastic the author is not). But neither the book’s length nor it’s meticulous
Bound South (Touchstone, 2009) is the debut novel of Atlanta-based author Susan Rebecca White. There’s the saying, “Write what you know.” Chances are, White did just that with her often wickedly funny work of fiction.
Narrated from the perspectives of three very different Southern women (proper, middle-aged housewife Louise; Louise’s rebellious teen daughter Caroline; and Missy, the ultra-Christian tween-aged daughter of Louise’s cleaning lady), South covers a decade and sees its characters
Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found (Simon & Schuster, 2009) by Allegra Huston has so far racked up nine five-star customer reviews on Amazon.com. And it is a good book. Eloquent at points, impeccably written, full of enough famous names and juicy bits of gossip to keep the whole thing running along more or less smoothly.
That said, Huston’s memoir falls short of five stars. Its main problem is that the narrative voice (Huston’s own character) isn’t wholly likable. Yes, she’s the
There are weeks when books cross my desk at an almost alarming rate. I stack them first by the local reading dates of their authors, and then by size and shape so they ascend ceiling-ward in paperback pyramids. There’s part of me—the type-A taskmaster—that wants to complete each one. But of course I can’t. Still, I believe our local authors deserve a good read and there’s no shortage (the potential avalanche on my desk attests to this) of material. Here are few worthy options:
• Chains by
Homunculus by local author Jerry Stubblefield is a bad dream in book form. It’s an acid trip gone horridly wrong, an art house horror flick disguised as dark comedy—a cruel joke. But for all of the book’s cringe-making and queasy confession, it is a well-written novel—one sure to win a small contingency of fans.
A homunculus is, according to Dictionary.com, “A fully formed, miniature human body believed, according to some medical theories of the 16th and 17th centuries, to be contained in
Though I’ve never met novelist Charlotte Hughes, I suspect that she’s energetic to the point of perky mania—that she’s one of those women who hits the ground running each morning, gets more done by noon than most of us accomplish in a week, and talks at super-speed while still managing to fit in snappy one-liners. I imagine her as the Kelly Rippa of the literary world.
Of course, all of this speculation is based on Hughes’ voice in her latest novel, Nutcase (Jove, 2009) only on bookstore
Book Report: Ruins (and other literary events)
If Akashic Books once seemed an imprint for punk-crafted literature, Achy Obejas’ latest book, Ruins (published by Akashic this month) proves otherwise.
Ruins is a rare work of true literary fiction. Slight but weighty, dreamy yet emotive and as much poetry as it is a story, the book deserves comparison to early works by Michael Ondaatje.
“The man dies alone (regardless of what that woman from Indiana had said), Usnavy noted, his moment in
Kathryn Stockett’s debut novel, The Help (Amy Einhorn Books, 2009), is ambitious. It’s historical fiction. It deals with race relations. It’s 444 pages long.
But, despite this daunting setup, Stockett’s book reads like a stroll in the park rather than a Matterhorn ascent. The author paces herself. She crafts her characters, taking her time to let them tell their stories. Help reveals itself, its purpose, slowly—but the narrative is immediately engaging and quickly addictive. Those 444 pages?
Supposedly March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb… whatever that means. While the weather in Asheville is pretty unpredictable, what’s for certain is the lion’s share of literary events on the horizon. Take your pick: A reading by a renowned poet, a selection of book clubs, new releases and an Akashic Books author coming to Asheville:
• Poet and Rumi translator Coleman Barks (pictured) stops by Malaprop’s on Friday, Mar. 6, in support of his latest book of poetry, Winter Sky: New
“There was a time when the average American woman was more likely to die from childbirth than from any other condition except tuberculosis,” reads the intro to The Frontier Nursing Service: America’s First Rural Nurse-Midwife Service and School (McFarland & Co., 2008) by Hendersonville-based writer Marie Bartlett. The story that follows is an account—culled from reports, surveys, newspaper clippings, magazine articles and oral histories—of Mary Breckinridge, the intrepid health care provider
Rare Birds: Conversations with Legends of Jazz and Classical Music (University Press of Mississippi, 2008) by Thomas Rain Crowe with Nan Watkins is a rare collection: Six interviews featuring musicians Philip Glass (minimalist composer), Eugene Friesen (cellist, composer), Charles Lloyd (jazz saxophonist, composer), Abdullah Ibrahim (pianist, composer), Sathima Bea Benjamin (vocalist, composer) and Steve Reich (pioneer minimalist composer).
Birds is at turns precise and expansive, impressive
Asheville-based spiritual teacher Michael Mamas leads classes on meditation, personal growth, healing, and a number of related topics. He is also the founder of The Center of Rational Spirituality, “dedicated to assisting the evolution of human consciousness.” Mamas has authored several books including a children’s book, one on psychotherapy, a home study course, a fictional account based on his own spiritual journey and, most recently, The Relationship Sutras (Somagni, 2008).
Sutras is a
“All birding is global, given the borderless world birds live in, but it is also, like politics, always local,” writes bestselling author Jonathan Rosen in The Life of the Skies: Birding at the End of Nature (Picador, 2008). “And some of its greatest philosophers—yes, birdwatching has philosophers—hardly left home at all.”
Though this line doesn’t encapsulate Rosen’s book (it’s a dense read packed with content and meaning, as well as non fiction book should be) but it offers many clues into
Though Around Biltmore Village (2008) by Bill Alexander has the initial look and feel of a history book—in the vein of fellow Arcadia Publishing release Asheville’s River Arts District—there’s more to the book than meets the eye. Or, perhaps more aptly, there is exactly that which meets the eye.
I’m referring to the book’s lovely cover image. In sepia tint, the always fashionable Edith Vanderbilt, ornate shawl clutched about her shoulders and cloche obscuring her eyes, smiles broadly as she
Two new places to read; one great cause in need of your old CDs and DVDs.
• Montford Books & More (31 Montford Ave., Asheville, 280-1303) is set to open its doors this Friday, Jan.16. Owner Kay Manley, who took over the space formerly occupied by The Reader’s Corner, says this business is “something I’ve always been interested in. It seemed like a good opportunity.”
Manley says the new store will be similar to its predecessor “as far as selection and quality” with a focus on used books,
This week’s Book Report is all about American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Preserving Your Assets (Simon & Schuster, 2009) by Jill Conner Browne. This latest installment from the infamous Sweet Potato Queen is a return to form. (Browne dabbled in fiction with 2006’s The Sweet Potato Queens’ First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn’t Actually Do, but Could Have, and May Yet, she returned to embelished non-fiction with 2008’s The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Raising Children for Fun and
I had every intention of starting off the New Year with a round up of readings, books releases and other literary-type activities. Two different events foiled that plan: First, local readings and releases, this time of year, are few and far between (go to Malaprop’s for some likely bets). Secondly, a not-to-be-passed-up book landed on my desk.
See You In A Hundred Years (Delta) by Logan Ward—out in paperback this month—is the perfect read for long winter days and dark, chilly evenings. It’s
Mark R. Leaman’s The Adventures of Runnel, The Ice Bear is a Christmas-y (though not exclusively) read for kids. Older kids, preferably, with expanded vocabularies and the ability to get through pages without the aid of illustrations.
Which is not to say that Runnel makes due without pictures. Artist Genevieve Selene Leaman Strickland contributed five pencil drawings (which, oddly, run vertical rather than horizontal) to the book. Runnel’s adventures, told in five parts, take readers to the
While the holiday season tends to be so packed with things to do (shopping, cooking, eating, partying, visiting) that reading a Christmas-themed book sounds next to impossible, Christmas Presence (Catawba, 2008) may have that problem solved.
The collection of 50 stories and poems from 45 Western N.C.-based women writers holds plenty of inspirational reads that clock in at under ten minutes per prose-piece. Need a quick pick-me-up mid-family dinner? Flip to Glenis Redmond‘s sensory-rich poem,
“To this day, Russ and I are best friends. We continue to get together to relive our time in St. Hedwig Orphanage,” writes local author Mike Krecioch in his memoir, Orphan’s Asylum (Xlibris, 2008). “Between us, we did not come up with a whole lot of negative experiences. We firmly believe that our time spent at St. Hedwig helped us to cope with a not-always-predictable existence in the real world. It made us what we are today.”
Krecioch’s book recounts the eight years he spent—1948 to 1956—at
Local author Joan Medlicott is both a prolific writer and promoter (through her fiction) of Western N.C. Her latest book, Promises of Change (due to be released in January, 2009) is no exception. The newest installment in Medlicott’s Covington Chronicles returns readers to the fold of Grace Singleton, Hannah Parrish and Amelia Declose—three friends of a certain age who share a farm house near Weaverville, N.C.
Change is part romance, partly about life in a small town, and part the
Update: The Amy Bloom reading scheduled for Malaprop’s has been cancelled. On the book store’s Web site, Malaprop’s explains, “We are very sorry to say that Amy Bloom has cancelled the second half of her tour and will not be able to appear at Malaprop’s.”
New York Times bestseller Away (Random House) by author Amy Bloom was first published last year and is already in its 10th printing — a bit of a feat considering readers are buying fewer books these days and the publishing industry is in a
“Although none of this world history is mentioned in the Bible, no historian alive today would deny the following: Before Moses was born and before the story of Adam and Eve was written, southeast Asians were boating to nearby Pacific islands; Indo-European charioteers were invading India; China, under the Shang Dynasty, entered the Bronze Age; indigenous people occupied most of the Western Hemisphere; and the Egyptian empires age of pyramid building had come and gone.” So writes author and
Get Rufus! (Land of the Sky Books, 2008) by Bob Terrell boasts on it’s cover that it’s “a novel by the dean of mountain writers.” I don’t actually know what that means. Local author Terrell has long contributed to the Asheville Citizen-Times and also penned the book Grandpa’s Town, about Asheville at the turn of last century. Keeping in line with his regional and historic inclinations, Terrell set Rufus in Sylva in 1917.
Published this year on frequent Xpress commenter Ralph Robert’s imprint,
Though you’d be hard-pressed to swing a Stratocaster without hitting a guitar-player, that instrument still carries a certain exclusivity. It takes more than skill to be a guitarist: it takes attitude.
The banjo, on the other hand, might be a little bit corny, a little folksy and rough around the edges (it doesn’t know how to use its indoor voice), but it’s an equal opportunity instrument. So much so that banjo players are actively recruiting new members into the club.
“I think it would be
Steve Almond, author (most recently) of (Not that You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions (Random House, 2007) comes to Malaprop’s this Friday (Sept. 26, 7 p.m.) as part of his book tour. Depending on who you ask, it’s his swing-state tour or his (Not That You Invited Me) tour. Ask his publisher and they’ll probably point out that this is what authors do to drum up interest in their books, and Asked just came out in paperback.
If you read Anne Fitten Glenn’s interview with Almond in this
Autumn is almost here (four more days to be exact)—the perfect time to break out pithy novels, lengthy biographies and meandering memoirs. Something about cooler days and longer evenings makes reading that much more attractive. Looking for a good book? The next several weeks bring a wealth of literary events sure to inspire readers (and writers, too).
• With Halloween in the fairly near future, it seems a good time to talk about Conton, N.C.-based author Eric S. Brown. Brown was selected as
Author Joshua Henkin seems obsessed with character-building. The first paragraph of the bio on his Web site doesn’t detail his life, but the lives of his parents. He then tells two short stories – one of his father, a Jewish soldier during WWII, convincing German troops that they were about the lose the war; one of himself at age four asking his nursery school class who the heck Santa Claus was, anyway.
“These are what I like to call ‘pleasing contradictions,’ and they are, it seems to me,
Radical Passions
Radical Passions: A Memoir of Revolution and Healing (iUniverse, 2008), by local massage therapist Kendall Hale, is part essay, part personal reflection, part revolutionary travelogue.
“Dear Mom and Dad,” she writes in a 1970 letter, “The only solution is revolution. Armed revolution. Unfortunately, since you are members of the middle class and the silent majority, our People’s Army will have to fight anyone who stands in our way. This means I could be face to face with you
Under the Sun: poems (Main Street Rag, 2008) by Glenis Redmond is the third full-length collection by this Asheville-based writer.
Redmond, an Xpress “Best of WNC” Hall-of-Fame winner, is a prolific poet and has recorded several CDs of her fiery work. But there’s something about the quiet introspection of the print page – poetry read in silence (instead of heard or watched) is an intimate experience solely between the reader and the book. With Sun, Redmond moves from the realm of performance
This week’s roundup includes a reading, but also a book group in the making, a couple of local awards, a film and a yoga workshop. Wondering what all of these have to do with literature? Read on:
• Author Nelma Jean Bryson will be at City Lights Bookstore to read from her latest book, Mama Dal (Booklocker, 2008), Friday, Aug. 22, at 7 p.m. The story is of an Appalachian woman who leaves home to join the Women’s Army Air Corps during World War II. Info: 586-9499
• The Kabbalah Handbook, by
