May 31, 2011 James Still’s final manuscript, penned over the last fifteen years of his life and with him in the hospital room when he died a decade ago, has finally been published. Edited by Silas House, Chinaberry is a moving, gorgeously written coming-of-age novel and a fine capstone to the career of one of Appalachia’s most influential writers.
May 26, 2011 In Chinaberry Sidewalks, a memoir of his impoverished, violent childhood, acclaimed Nashville songwriter Rodney Crowell shows how love can flourish in the most unlikely circumstances. Crowell will discuss the book at a taping of “A Guitar and a Pen Old Time Radio hour with Robert Hicks” on May 26 at 6 p.m. The taping takes place at Puckett’s Grocery and Restaurant in Franklin.
May 24, 2011 For Marina Lucero, as for Sartre, hell is other people. Try as she might, Marina, heroine of Lorraine López’s new novel, The Realm of Hungry Spirits, can’t seem to wrench free of the gravitational pull of her family and friends. While she feels a kinship with the teachings of the Dalai Lama and Gandhi, her loved ones constantly challenge her efforts at greater compassion—sometimes with comic results.
May 23, 2011 It may appear that Ashley Judd has led a charmed life. The daughter/sister of famed country duo Naomi and Wynonna Judd, she seemed to appear out of nowhere during the mid-90s, her pixie-like presence lighting up films such as Smoke, Kiss The Girls, and 2004’s De-Lovely. But there’s a dark side to her fame—and to the seemingly wholesome Judd empire itself. In All That Is Bitter & Sweet, Judd documents her lifelong battle with depression and dysfunction, and the discovery of her true calling: social activism. By recognizing herself in the lost children of Africa and Asia, Judd has emerged as one of the most recognizable faces in the international fight for both HIV prevention and gender equality.
May 19, 2011 Because atheists deny the notion of a supreme spiritual authority, they are often derided as amoral, libertine, or, in perhaps the biggest slight of all, moral relativists. In Reasonable Atheism, Vanderbilt philosophy professors Scott F. Aikin and Robert B. Talisse argue just the opposite. Though they clearly believe religion is wrong-headed, even dangerous, the authors’ goal is not to decry religious faith but to show that godlessness deserves the same respect afforded mainstream belief systems.
May 18, 2011 It’s the rare novel that can detail horrific evil and still illuminate the best of the human spirit, turning a reader thoughtful, inward, almost spiritual. That’s what Chattanooga native Jane Bradley has managed to do with her new book You Believers, a heartbreaking narrative with a capacity for finding deliverance in the wake of a life devastated by evil. Bradley will sign copies of the book at 7 p.m. on May 19 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood.
