Reviewed by Miles Smith IV When Gustavo Pérez Firmat told a fellow Cubano he planned to write a work on The Andy Griffith Show, his friend lamented that this was an americanada project, meaning that it was typically Anglo-American and beneath a cultured Cubano scholar. Firmat’s project became more than a simple exploration of mid-twentieth […]
March Read of the Month: “A Cuban in Mayberry,” by Gustavo Pérez Firmat
March 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment
February Read of the Month: “In The Night Orchard: New and Selected Poems,” by R. T. Smith
February 12, 2015 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Brendan Galvin If a reader’s first demand for poetry is that it consist of language other than journalese, then this new and selected volume made up of seventy-three poems taken from eleven previous collections should provide a substantial view of R. T. Smith’s achievement. In Smith’s work there are none of the usual […]
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. […]
December Read of the Month: “Return to Tradd Street,” by Karen White
December 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Lynn Braxton When Charleston Realtor Melanie Middleton inherits an historic house from a benefactor she met only once, Charlestonians wonder what coercion she employed to gain the property, not realizing that Melanie has a pronounced dislike for old houses, branding the crumbling ruins as money pits. To make matters worse, and 55 Tradd […]
November Read of the Month: “The White Bird,” by William Bernhardt
November 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Amy Susan Wilson Entering William Bernhardt’s debut poetry collection, The White Bird, is entering into the heart of human community. Always rich, often humorous, and at times poignant, these poems, which are diverse in style, guide us through the maze of parenting, longing, loss, working, traveling, and, among other things, falling in and […]
October Read of the Month: “Memories of Holly Woode,” by Richard Wickliffe
October 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Anastasia Wickham “If at the end of our lives we’re nothing more than a collection of our memories, then I know John has had a very good life.” Richard Wickliffe’s 2013 novel is 265 pages of nostalgic summer enjoyment. Memories of Holly Woode is an easy read with short chapters rife with scenes […]