Book Reviews

David Madden’s The Voice of James M. Cain tells the story of his mentor’s development as writer, from young journalist to hard-boiled icon who believed in giving readers what they want.

Camel’s Bastard Son, the new novel from Memphis author Corey Mesler, is equal parts bizarre, hilarious, and sexually explicit.

In There I Am: The Journey from Helplessness to Healing, Ruthie Lindsey survives a car wreck, addiction, and the unraveling of the life and faith she was promised only to find that the capacity to heal lies within herself.

In Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco, Alia Volz crafts a loving portrait of Sticky Fingers Brownies, the empire of pot-laced edibles that her mother built amid the tumultuous events that rocked San Francisco during 1970s and 80s.

Rhodes College professor Scott Newstok analyzes the ills of contemporary education and looks to the past for a cure.

Samantha Irby’s new collection of essays, Wow, No Thank You, is a spicy cocktail that will intoxicate readers — a few fingers of Dorothy Parker and a splash of comedian Wanda Sykes, as bracing and delicious as a Cosmopolitan.