Book Reviews

November 13, 2012 The difficulty of finding work during the Depression drew poet and novelist James Still to Knott County, Kentucky, but it was the wild beauty of the place that kept him there. As he got to know the fiercely independent inhabitants of a harsh landscape, he began to write about their lives. In The Hills Remember, editor Ted Olson, professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, has put together a collection of Still’s short pieces spanning more than forty years. In them Still’s own voice emerges, as clear and as pure as a dipperful of cold mountain water.

November 8, 2012 David Madden’s prodigious research—and his boundless imagination and curiosity—are evident everywhere in London Bridge in Plague and Fire. For readers interested in historical fiction, this novel stands out for its multi-dimensional plot, dynamic wordplay, and richly nuanced characters. The book is a treasure trove of entertainment and suspense. David Madden will read from London Bridge in Plague and Fire on November 12 at 7 p.m. in the Hodges Library Auditorium on the Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee. This free public event, part of the “Writers in the Library” series, is co-sponsored by the UT Creative Writing Program.

October 22, 2012 When Lady Emily Hargreaves heads to Italy, it’s a fair bet that she isn’t on vacation. In fact, Emily—the heroine of Death in the Floating City, Tasha Alexander’s seventh Victorian mystery—arrives in Venice to solve a murder. To find the killer, she must investigate not only those around her but also the lives of star-crossed lovers who lived centuries before. Fans of Alexander, a former Franklin resident, know Emily will manage it all with charm, intelligence, and ladylike decorum. Tasha Alexander will discuss Death in the Floating City at Parnassus Books on October 24 at 6:30 p.m.

October 17, 2012 Dennis Lehane built his literary reputation on postmodern thrillers that explore the lives of damaged South Boston cops, criminals, and private detectives. His masterpiece, Mystic River, marked him as a genre-bending literary artist who had achieved a rare alchemy of popular and critical appeal. Lehane’s reputation (and audience) has since grown exponentially, thanks to award-winning film adaptations of his work—Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River, Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, and Ben Affleck’s Gone, Baby, Gone—and his teleplay work for HBO’s The Wire. In his new novel, Live by Night, Lehane offers all the tropes of noir: morally dubious anti-heroes; femmes fatales; cars, guns, and sharp suits; doomed love; and, above all, violence. Lehane will read from Live by Night at the Nashville Public Library on October 23 at 6:15 p.m. as part of the Salon@615 series. The event is free and open to the public.