News & Notes | Chapter 16

"A Refreshingly Honest Story"

Buzz is building for a new children’s book by Silas House and Neela Vaswani

By Margaret Renkl | January 5, 2012

January 5, 2012 Former Harrogate poet and novelist Silas House tends to be published by small literary presses without a huge budget for marketing, but his books always seem to find their way into the national spotlight anyway. Consider what Publisher’s Weekly has to say–in a starred review, no less–about Same Sun Here, the new middle-grade novel by House and his coauthor, Neela Vaswani:

The "Laws" of Nature and Other Theories

Alan Lightman explains why what we understand to be true about the universe may not be true in other universes

By Margaret Renkl | December 21, 2011

December 20, 2011 There are laws, not made by humans but discovered by them, that explain the workings of the universe in perfectly clear, precise terms, notes Memphis native Alan Lightman in a new essay for Harper’s:

Nationally Noted

Tennessee writers are popping up on best-of lists all over the media

By Serenity Gerbman | December 19, 2011

December 19, 2011 A year ago, the future looked grim for Tennessee bookstore patrons. Beloved stores Carpe Librum in Knoxville and Davis-Kidd in Nashville were closing, and Davis-Kidd in Memphis faced an uncertain future. The Borders chain teetered toward failure, and the e-reader reached its tipping point, becoming one of the most popular holiday gift items. One year later, it’s clear that the physical bookstore is not only alive but possibly even experiencing something of a resurgence—just as Tennessee authors were bringing out some of the biggest books of the year.

Annus Mirabilis

With the launch of both a bestselling novel and the most widely-hailed new bookstore in the country, Ann Patchett has had a year of wonders indeed

By Margaret Renkl | December 16, 2011

December 16, 2011 Last June Ann Patchett and Karen Hayes were only in the earliest planning stages of their new bookstore—which didn’t yet have a location, a staff, or even a name—when Patchett left on a book tour to promote her new novel, State of Wonder. Clearly the store, more a hope and a dream than anything resembling a place of business, was in no way ready to be the subject of a national media blitz, but the timing couldn’t be helped: free publicity is something no independent bookstore is in a position to turn down. According to Patchett’s account in an interview with Chapter 16, she asked Hayes, “Do you want me to talk about this on book tour? I’m going to be doing this media-heavy moment.” Truer words were never spoken.

“A Biography Its Subject Deserved”

Critics loved Michael Sims’s new biography of E.B. White

By Margaret Renkl | December 15, 2011

December 15, 2011 Despite the appearance this year of The Penguin Book of Victorian Women in Crime, and the imminent arrival of The Dead Witness, his two most recent forays as an editor, for Michael Sims 2011 was unarguably the year of The Story of Charlotte’s Web. This slim volume—a biography not so much of E.B. White as of the book for which he is best remembered—has found its way onto best-of-the-year lists all over the media, and inspired rhapsodic reviews. Today Chapter 16 surveys the praise:

The Busy Memphian

Author and bookseller Corey Mesler had a very full year

By Maria Browning | December 14, 2011

December 14, 2011 With four new books published in 2011, including two short-story collections (Notes Toward the Story and Other Stories and I’ll Give You Something to Cry About), a novel (Gardner Remembers) and a volume of poetry (Before the Great Troubling), Memphis author and bookseller Corey Mesler has had a very busy year. Chapter 16 surveys the wealth of his words.

I Gotta Sing!

By Alice Faye Duncan
WaterBrook
40 pages
$14.99

“A whole barnyard makes noise ‘in the Spirit of joy’ throughout this raucous picture book, a sweetly heartwarming sing-along by Duncan. Kellam conveys comfort and happiness as the loved ones reflect sunny enthusiasm in this gladdening rendition of the Black American religious folk song ‘I’m Goin’a Sing When the Spirit Says Sing.’”

~Publishers Weekly