2024 Book of the Year Finalists & Book Lovers Gift Guide

  Book of the Year to be announced Sunday, December 15.  Which one will win? Any of these titles make fine holiday gifts. (Finalists listed alphabetically by title.) Birdhouse Jesus by Terri Chastain Using a combination of charm and horror and finally transcendence, Chastain creates a protagonist who comes to terms with childhood abuse by […]

Read of the Month: “Lunchladies Bought My Prom Dress” by Heather Ream

Heather Ream’s debut publication, Lunchladies Bought My Prom Dress, is an unflinching account of her childhood and teenage years in Knoxville, TN. She manages to take some of her often tragic circumstances about growing up in poverty and make them flat out hilarious. Photographs, interspersed throughout the memoir, give the reader a clear visual insight […]

Mary Ellen Thompson interviews Heather Ream, author of “Lunchladies Bought My Prom Dress”

Heather Ream’s memoir, Lunchladies Bought My Prom Dress, is an amazing story of her early life in Knoxville, Tennessee. When I initially received a copy of the book from Heather, she included a lovely handwritten note thanking me for agreeing to review it.  When we chatted on the phone after I finished reading her book, […]