Book review: "The Patron Saint of Dreams" is flat out good writing
The collection of narrative essays, "The Patron Saint of Dreams," by Philip Gerard, leaves me with a lot to be grateful for. I'm grateful to encounter a writer who is honest, clear-eyed, curious, skilled at his craft, and apparently not interested in going after the Really Big Stories, but willing to talk about the small things that matter to him. I'm also grateful that publishers still exist that recognize the value of such a writer and are willing to risk money on his work.
Book review: Start your 2012 beach reading with 'Summer Rental'
When you've been reading Southern novels as long as I have, you'll find that they fall into a number of predictable categories. There is the coming of age novel, in which a young boy or girl learns some unexpected truths and begins the often uncomfortable process of growing up. There are novels of life in the pre- and post-Civil War South. Novels in which naive girls are drawn into mysteries that force them into frightening situations they never dreamed of. And then there are the life-is-a-mess-but-nothing-that-a-month-at-the-beach (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia) won't clear up. This is one of the latter.
Book review: 'Night Train' offers glimpse of changing South
Clyde Edgerton has been called a Southern treasure. Through books such as "Raney," "Walking Across Egypt" and "The Bible Salesman," he has perfectly captured the voices and essential nature of the people -- both black and white -- who live here. "The Night Train" is not one of his major novels, but you'll be introduced to a rich assortment of characters you'll recognize -- and won't soon forget.
'The Girl Who Fell from the Sky' a remarkable, telling novel
America always has been referred to as a melting pot, with Irish marrying Italians and Poles marrying Greeks, but in recent years the mixture has changed. Increasingly, and this is borne out by studies of both the North and South, white people and black people are getting married. Less than 50 years ago, intermarriage was illegal in much of the country, but a New York Times front page story a few months back reported that the U.S. Census Bureau was seeing a national trend toward mixed marriages. And the state with the greatest increase was Mississippi.
Status of women true focus of book
One of the most unusual graduates in the Harvard class of 1665 was a Wampanoag Indian by the name of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk. A native of a small island off the coast of Massachusetts, later called Martha's Vineyard, he was the first American Indian to graduate from that college. Not until this year did another of his tribe earn that cherished degree.
Hart's 'Iron House' a mesmerizing crime thriller
John Hart's latest story, "Iron House," opens on a young boy running for his life through snow-filled woods. He is covered with blood, and he carries a knife, but he cannot stop for help because he knows that whatever is after him wants him dead.
Baldacci's 'Summer' mostly a bummer
In "One Summer" by David Baldacci, Jack Armstrong is told by his doctors that his death from cancer is only a short time away. Jack begins a series of letters to his beloved wife, Lizzie. To be read after he is gone, they pour out his love for her. He has been placed under hospice care when Lizzie, racing on snowy streets to get his medicine from the pharmacy, is killed.
Latest Bay Tanner mystery meanders
It was more than 10 years ago I picked up a self-published novel by a recent arrival on Hilton Head Island and was both surprised and delighted to find this retired accountant had a real gift for mystery writing.
'Mercy Trees' a tough read to follow
Martin Owenby had left his home in the small town of Solace Fork, N.C., 30 years before, leaving behind his mother, brothers, sisters and his abusive father, but most of all leaving Liza, a girl who loved him too much.
Grisham digs into politics of death penalty
We start out in the great state of Texas -- which leads the nation in executions -- with a young, black high school athlete named Donte Drumm.
In Bill Bryson's ‘Home,' rooms have quite a history
One of Bill Bryson's 15 books is called "A Short History of Nearly Everything," and deals with the origins of the universe, the beginnings of life and the rise of civilization. His latest, "At Home," seems more modest, but don't let that fool you. In taking you through his home, room by room, he tells the story behind everything you see, from the origins of windows and doorknobs to the history of the salt shaker, the evolution of the fork and the invention of cement.
'War' enters minds of US soldiers
From Homer to Hemingway, writers have reported on men at war, but I don't think anyone has done it better than the author of this remarkable book. Whatever you feel about the war in Afghanistan, or just war in general, you'll never read a more authentic account of what combat is really like.
Holidays bring heartwarming books
It's that time of year when publishers bring out warm, squishy love stories that make perfect gifts and might even have enough heft to last for more than one season. "The Perfect Love Song" by Patti Callahan Henry ("Where the River Runs," "Driftwood Summer") would seem to be one of those. More than one love story, it has two, but they're similar. The men are brothers, Jack and Jimmy Sullivan, and they both are members of a band called the Unknown Souls. The women are Kara, their next-door neighbor when they were kids, and her best friend, Charlotte.
rss
mobile
