Reviewed by Philip K. Jason This review originally appeared in Florida Weekly. It is reprinted here with the permission of Florida Weekly. This sequel to Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society (2012) should satisfy those who filled the many book club appearances through which the earlier title was effectively marketed. It inches […]
“Miss Dreamsville and the Lost Heiress of Collier County,” by Amy Hill Hearth
October 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
“Journey to the Wilderness: War, Memory, and a Southern Family’s Civil War Letters,” by Frye Gaillard
October 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Rod Davis A beautifully written personal and moral quest in search of insufferable truths, Frye Gaillard’s Journey to the Wilderness brings as much clarity to the lingering darkness in the Southern soul in a few emotionally honest pages as I have seen in volumes of hagiography, professional Southernism and clichéd pensives that plague […]
“Untying the Moon,” by Ellen Malphrus
October 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl It’s been four decades since Harold Bloom published The Anxiety of Influence. Bloom’s theory is that creative writers are hindered in their work because they maintain ambiguous relationships with precursor writers. He’s enlarged his theory these days by referencing precursor writers as “daemons.” I mention this because in his foreword […]
“The Splendor of Ordinary Days,” by Jeff High
October 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith With the third novel in the Watervalley series, Jeff High’s talent has matured as he captures the rich tapestry of small-town life – as few contemporary authors have – in The Splendor of Ordinary Days. The author plumbs the depths of the most important bonds of our lives in this heart-warming […]
October Read of the Month: “Reading Life,” by Michael Pearson
October 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Elisabeth Aiken In Reading Life, Michael Pearson paraphrases a famous writer’s definition of an essayist as “a self-liberated man with the childish belief that everything he thinks about, every one of his experiences, will be fascinating to others.” While that definition is not wholly flattering, it is applicable to Pearson as the author […]
“Cutting Loose in Paradise,” by Mary Jane Ryals
September 25, 2015 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro Cutting Loose in Paradise (Pineapple Press, 2015) by Mary Jane Ryals is a charming, quirky Florida environmental mystery full of local color, intriguing and unique characters, poetry-quality language, lushly evoked landscapes, a twisty-turny plot, and just the right touch of wry humor. Though Ryals is the author of several books […]