Book Reviews

A Captured Mind

In his new novel, David Madden explores the psychological consequences of witnessing a terrible crime

by Susannah Felts

July 28, 2010 Based on plot summary alone, Abducted by Circumstance, a new novel by acclaimed Knoxville-born author David Madden, sounds like a poolside page-turner. Yet this quiet and finely crafted novel is less a psychological thriller than an engrossing, complex exploration of a troubled woman’s identity. It is also a daring narrative experiment in point of view.

Published Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Pornography for Oenophiles

Matthew Gavin Frank's account of the six months he spent picking grapes in Barolo is ripe reading for lovers of wine, food, and Italy

by Liz Garrigan

July 27, 2010 After making over-medium eggs in Juneau for an ex-goldpanner, Matthew Gavin Frank decided to take the advice of the patron who'd just spit out his food: "In a world full of idiots, you have to go to the place with the fewest idiots." Barolo is Frank's account of the six months he spent living and working—the back-breaking labor of grape harvesting—in Barolo, Italy (pop. 646), in the country's northern Piedmont region. He will read from his book at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on July 27 at 6 p.m. and at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville on July 28 at 7 p.m.

Published Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Evolution of an American Poet

The poetry of Robert Hass is surveyed in a new collection

by Maria Browning

July 22, 2010 Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass has been lauded for his work for more than three decades. The Apple Trees at Olema brings together selected poems from each of his five award-winning collections, as well as new work, and gives readers a glimpse into the evolution of one of our greatest living poets. Robert Hass will give a public reading at the Sewanee Writers' Conference on July 23 at 11 a.m.

Published Thursday, 22 July 2010

Back Where We Come From

Steve Yarbrough explores the mystery of memory and the complexity of the past

by Ed Tarkington

July 21, 2010 Cast against the dark history of the 1962 Ole Miss Riot, Steve Yarbrough's Safe from the Neighbors is both an engrossing mystery novel and a quietly incisive exploration of how even the seemingly remote aspects of our lives are shaped by the tides of history. Steve Yarbrough will give a free public reading at the Sewanee Writers' Conference on July 21 at 8:15 p.m.

Published Wednesday, 21 July 2010

No Wonder It's Made for TV

Suspense heavyweight Tess Gerritsen delivers again with a Rizzoli & Isles potboiler impossible to linger over

by Liz Garrigan

July 20, 2010 A physician who has written both medical and crime thrillers (Publisher's Weekly has characterized her as the "medical suspense queen"), Tess Gerritsen consistently garners reader loyalty and critical acclaim. Her latest book Ice Cold—the eighth featuring characters Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, the detective and medical examiner who are the basis for TNT's new drama series Rizzoli & Isles—offers white-hot suspense of the sort Stephen King has publicly admired. Gerritsen will discuss the novel at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on July 20 at 6 p.m.

Published Tuesday, 20 July 2010

A Legal Lynching

Journalist Alex Heard investigates the confounding historical case of Willie McGee

by Clay Risen

July 19, 2010 Did a poor black man named Willie McGee rape a white housewife named Willette Hawkins in Laurel, Mississippi, in 1945? Was she even raped, or did she just dream it? Or were the two—as Bella Abzug alleged in McGee’s third trial—lovers? As journalist Alex Heard finds in The Eyes of Willie McGee, the truth is disturbingly gray. The book is part history and part detective story, with Heard intersplicing McGee’s story with the tale of his own hunt for the facts. Heard discusses the book at the downtown branch of Nashville Public Library on July 21 at 5 p.m., and at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on July 22 at 6 p.m.

Published Monday, 19 July 2010

Humanity's Final Exam

Forget nuclear suicide. Forget terrorism. Gwynne Dyer's Climate Wars makes a case for the truly global issue we should be addressing now

by Ralph Bowden

July 16, 2010 Most of the scientific information predicting global warming that Gwynne Dyer outlines in his new book, Climate Wars, has been in the news for years. Many people have ignored it, however, and even those who are both informed and concerned may not have thought through the logical consequences of what scientists predict: famine and war—and human extinction. Dyer will discuss Climate Wars at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville on July 20 at 7 p.m.

Published Friday, 16 July 2010

Inquisitive

Padgett Powell returns with a novel written entirely in questions

by Sean Kinch

July 15, 2010 Padgett Powell is a genius of American letters, a brilliant but eccentric writer who looms on the margins of the mainstream. After his first novel, Edisto (1984), won critical praise and an enthusiastic readership, his writing drifted into "surreal lines," as he describes it, eschewing conventional plot and sympathetic characters for experiments in voice and form. After nine years of silence, Powell has returned with The Interrogative Mood, and readers may once again enjoy his trippy world play and skewed world view. He will give a free public reading at the Sewanee Writers' Conference on July 18 at 8:15 p.m.

Published Thursday, 15 July 2010

The Power of the Press?

Sharyn McCrumb returns to her ballad series in this tale of murder—and journalists run amok

by Faye Jones

July 12, 2010 With The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, the story of a beautiful young woman accused of killing her father, Sharyn McCrumb returns to the mountains of her Ballad series. Set in rural Virginia in 1935, this is as much an allegory of the contemporary media as the tale of a murder, however. The national press has descended on tiny Wise, Virginia, and the journalists are much more concerned with making the facts fit their own stories than with getting the details straight. McCrumb will discuss the book in four appearances across the state this week; find details in Events.

Published Monday, 12 July 2010

Giving It Her Best Shot

Rocker Pat Benatar writes a memoir

by Anne Delana Reeves

July 8, 2010 Pat Benatar ruled the radio airwaves during the 1980s, and for good reason. Her talent for writing and choosing clever, anthemic, and arena-ready songs earned her four Grammy Awards, produced nineteen top-forty singles, and sold more than 22 million records worldwide. Now she's written a memoir, Between A Heart And A Rock Place, which she'll discuss at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on July 9 at 12:30 p.m.

Published Thursday, 8 July 2010

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