Book Reviews | Chapter 16

Ecstasy in the Knowing

Mycophilia, Eugenia Bone’s exploration of the funky world of fungi, reveals the beauty and interconnectedness of all life

By Tina LoTufo | March 5, 2012

March 5, 2012 Eugenia Bone’s Mycophilia is the perfect “did-you-know” book. For instance, did you know that the largest single living organism on the planet is a fungus? Located in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, this particular specimen of the wood-decaying fungus Armillaria gallica is the size of 1,666 football fields and is more than two thousand years old. It’s been nicknamed “the humongous fungus.” Bone’s delightful book is full of such fascinating facts, as well as vivid portraits of the unique mycophiles (or “fungus-lovers”) who inhabit the tremendously diverse and often surprising world of mushrooms and their fungal relatives. Readers will enjoy the science but stay for the story of the author’s growing awareness of and appreciation for the world around her—and us. Bone will discuss the book at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on March 7 at 6 p.m.

Artist, Activist, Icon

In his memoir, The Last Holiday, musician/poet Gil Scott-Heron traces his path from budding artist to pop culture prophet

By Maria Browning | February 27, 2012

February 27, 2012 Musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron, who died in 2011, became a pop culture icon thanks to his classic spoken-word recording “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” and he is widely regarded as the father of rap and hip-hop. His posthumously published book, The Last Holiday: A Memoir, traces his life as an artist and activist.

Tragic Songs

In a memoir finished just before his death, Charlie Louvin remembers the demons that broke up the Louvin Brothers—and cost Ira Louvin his life

By Anne Delana Reeves | February 22, 2012

February 22, 2012 A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee and a Grand Ole Opry member from 1955 until his death last year at age 83, Charlie Louvin worked as a musician for six decades; Ira, the elder of the duo known as the Louvin Brothers, died in an automobile accident in 1965. The great bulk of Satan Is Real, Charlie Louvin’s posthumously published autobiography, tells the story of their lives and legendary career together. Wistful at times, the book is not without humor, a heavy shake of salty language, and fascinating anecdotes from life on the road.

The Royal Navy Confronts the Privateer Problem

In Dewey Lambdin’s latest installment of the Alan Lewrie series, it’s 1805, and Captain Lewrie prowls the coastline of the American Southeast in search of French and Spanish privateers

By Ralph Bowden | February 13, 2012

February 13, 2012 In Reefs and Shoals, Dewey Lambdin’s eighteenth Alan Lewrie adventure, Great Britain is at war again with France and Spain. With privateers attacking British shipping in the Caribbean and Florida Straits, the Admiralty orders Captain Lewrie to take his frigate southwest, via Bermuda, to the Bahamas. Once there he is to assemble a squadron and put a stop to the depredations, whatever it takes. In telling his tale, Lambdin recreates the context, the technology, and the swashbucklers of that time and place.

Our Own True Selves

In a novel for middle-grade readers, Silas House and Neela Vaswani invent a pair of pen pals whose letters bridge their cultural divide

By Tina LoTufo | February 9, 2012

February 9, 2012 Same Sun Here, a new middle-grade novel by Silas House and Neela Vaswani, examines what happens when people find a way to overcome social barriers and make a real connection to another person—no matter how “other” the other may seem. In the process, the authors suggest, they might find that the things which unite them—love for family, dreams for the future, and a belief in the necessity of justice and compassion for all—are greater than the circumstances which separate them.

The River Rose

In Once Upon a River, Bonnie Jo Campbell introduces a fearless young heroine whose escape on the water brings her close to both danger and desperation, but also to courage

By Susannah Felts | February 8, 2012

February 8, 2012 At age fourteen, Margo Crane, a quiet and beautiful girl, learns to shoot a rifle. A natural with the weapon, she feels “the guidance of the gun itself,” writes Bonnie Jo Campbell in Once Upon a River. “It held her steady, and then sadness perfected her aim.” Absorbing, exotic, and relentlessly heartbreaking, this second novel from the National Book Award finalist is a transcendent example of a journey narrative, centered on a singular, complex protagonist who refuses to be contained or forgotten. Campbell will read from her work February 9 at 7 p.m. in Buttrick Hall, Room 101, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The event is free and open to the public.

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher