Book Reviews

August 21, 2012 Daniel Woodrell, the acclaimed author of Winter’s Bone, Tomato Red, and The Death of Sweet Mister, has published a slim volume of short stories every bit as gritty and searing as his longer work. Woodrell will read from and discuss The Outlaw Album at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

August 20, 2012 If your picture of Edwardian novelist Edith Wharton tends to feature veiled conversations in drawing rooms, you may well be shocked at the passionate and vulnerable woman who comes to life in The Age of Desire by Nashvillian Jennie Fields. This novel is set during the year when the married Wharton embarked on an affair with a younger man. Fields will read from The Age of Desire on August 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Parnassus Books in Nashville, on September 20 at 6:15 p.m. at the Nashville Public Library as part of the Salon@615 series, and at the Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.

August 15, 2012In The Roots of the Olive Tree, Memphis novelist Courtney Miller Santo chronicles the complicated relationships between five generations of mothers and daughters in a California family with a special propensity for long lifespans. Divided into five sections, this debut novel focuses on each of the women in turn—beginning with the feisty Keller family matriarch, 112-year-old Anna—and explores the stories of their lives, the ways in which they both need and resent one another, the memories they carry, and the secrets they hide—even from themselves. Santo will discuss The Roots of the Olive Tree at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on August 21 at 6 p.m. , at Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 22 at 6:30 p.m., and at the twenty-fourth annual Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza in Nashville. All events are free and open to the public.