Reviewed by William Walsh There is a reason I do not own a Kindle, a Fire HDX, an iPad Air, an HP Omni, or any of the many e-book readers, and it’s not because I’m against modern technology or I’m some hermit-like curmudgeon living in a 1950s cave who thinks the old way of […]
“Heads On Fire: Essays on Southern Fiction,” edited by Jan Nordby Gretlund
January 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
“Farming, Friends, and Fried Bologna Sandwiches,” by Renea Winchester
January 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Lynn Braxton It’s not often you pick up a book on farming and cooking for entertainment. Not so with Farming, Friends, and Fried Bologna Sandwiches, Renea Winchester’s latest, a work of homespun advice and useable content, including mouth-watering recipes, 82 of them to be exact, mostly hand-me-downs from family and friends both past […]
January Read of the Month: “Sweetwater Blues,” by Raymond L. Atkins
January 6, 2015 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Cameron Williams When Palmer Cray is found guilty of vehicular manslaughter, he’s sentenced to fifteen years in Sweetwater State Correctional Facility. On his eighteenth birthday, his first day in the joint, Palmer is issued his “Sweetwater Blues,” the denim shirt and trousers that will be his uniform for the extent of his incarceration. […]
“The Son,” by Philipp Meyer
December 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Miles Smith IV Texans, and Americans at large, sense that there was, at some time, a dark, bloody land that destroyed and created cultures, people, places, and even ideas. Texans know this land as their Lone Star State. But to many Texans and many southerners this brutal place depicted so viscerally in Philip […]
“Ruth’s Journey,” by Donald McCaig
December 23, 2014 by 2 Comments
Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro What was Donald McCaig thinking when he undertook writing Ruth’s Journey (Atria Books 2014), the so-called prequel to Gone with the Wind? First, it’s a bold idea to tackle any prequel, let alone one designed to set the stage for the second most popular book ever sold in America. But […]
“The Walmart Republic,” by Quraysh Ali Lansana and Christopher H. Stewart
December 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by MW Rishell Intertwined strands of DNA have become a popular metaphor, one that comes to mind while reading The Walmart Republic, a co-authored collection of poetry by Quraysh Ali Lansana and Christopher H. Stewart. The poems are gathered into five sections, with the first featuring the work of Stewart and the second the […]