March 18, 2014 In The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience, Stephen Wade unearths the stories behind classic Library of Congress folk recordings. In thirteen involving narratives, he demonstrates how cultural forces and personal experiences combined in a few brief moments behind a microphone to create powerful musical legacies.
March 17, 2013“> According to rocker Graham Nash, the harmony that gave the world songs like “Carry On,” “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” and “Teach Your Children”––songs that defined an era––emerged fully formed. In Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life, Nash documents his time with Crosby, Stills, Nash, and sometimes Young, and describes the rise of his earlier band, The Hollies. In an event cosponsored by Parnassus Books and the Nashville Public Library, Nash will appear on March 21, 2014, at the downtown library for a brief talk and book signing. The talk is free, but book purchase is required to enter the signing line.
February 11, 2014 Set against the rich and tragic backdrop of World War I, Anita Shreve’s newest novel, Stella Bain, traces her protagonists’s attempt to piece together her true life and the events leading up to the desperate, shell-shocked state in which wakes. Anita Shreve will discuss Stella Bain at Parnassus Books on February 13, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.
January 29, 2014 In Still Life with Bread Crumbs, the new novel by Pulitzer Prizewinner Anna Quindlen, Rebecca Winter is famous for a single photograph she took years earlier. But fame doesn’t pay the bills indefinitely, and Rebecca sets out to find new inspiration in some unlikely places. Quindlen will discuss the book on February 5, 2014, at 6:15 p.m. in Ingram Hall at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The event, part of the Salon@615 series, is free and open to the public.
January 21, 2014 In Prosperous Friends, her third novel, Christine Schutt surveys the marriage of Ned and Isabel, a deeply unhappy pair. Through a succession of exquisitely wrought scenes, she conveys the yearning sadness of a love that never quite happens. Schutt—a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize—recently answered questions from Chapter 16 via email. She will give a free public reading at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on January 23, 2014, at 7 p.m. in Buttrick Hall Room 102.
January 13, 2014 It’s not easy to find a silver lining in the decline of local literary coverage across the country, but if there must be only a handful of full-time book critics working today, it’s good news, at least, that one of them is Dwight Garner, who writes for the daily New York Times. Prior to his appearance at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on January 16, 2014, at 7 p.m. in Buttrick Hall, Room 101, Garner answered questions from Chapter 16. The event is free and open to the public.
