Knoxville native David Madden examines the complex legacy of the Civil War
October 19, 2015 In The Tangled Web of the Civil War and Reconstruction: Readings and Writings from a Novelist’s Perspective, David Madden illustrates the difficulty inherent in unraveling the various narratives and ongoing effects of America’s defining conflict. He will discuss the book at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville on November 10, 2015, at noon.
Meddling is philosopher John Lachs’s plea for the freedom that comes from leaving others alone
October 15, 2015 With Meddling: On the Virtues of Leaving Others Alone, John Lachs offers a defense of libertarian values that is full of workaday examples in a very readable form. Lachs will give a reading at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 22, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.
Joy Williams’s stories skewer the absurdity of our wretched world
October 13, 2015 Joy Williams is regarded by much of the literary world as the most dangerously gifted American short-story writer alive. With The Visiting Privilege, Williams delivers both a fine brace of new tales and a hefty career retrospective. Williams will discuss and sign The Visiting Privilege at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 20, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.
Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last ponders just how much security is worth
October 12, 2015 Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last takes the very real ills and absurdities of the early twenty-first century—economic recession, for-profit prisons, gated communities, loss of privacy, technology-fueled narcissism, etc.—and gives them the signature Atwood tweak into the realm of speculative fiction. The issues it takes on are serious, but the story itself is a sexy, bitterly comic romp. Atwood will discuss The Heart Goes Last at the Nashville Public Library on October 19, 2015, at 6:15 p.m.
Rafia Zakaria’s memoir, The Upstairs Wife, sets the story of a sad marriage against the torturous history of Pakistan
October 8, 2015 In The Upstairs Wife, Rafia Zakaria nestles the story of her aunt’s difficult marriage within a broadly-sketched account of Pakistan’s torturous past, humanizing the country’s suffering and making its complex political situation more understandable, if no less troubling. Zakaria will discuss the book on October 9, 2015, at 3:30 p.m. in Conference Room 1A-B of the Nashville Public Library. The event, part of the Southern Festival of Books, is free and open to the public.
Cynthia Lord’s new middle-grade novel is almost a parable of empathy
October 7, 2015 In Cynthia Lord’s latest middle-grade novel, A Handful of Stars, the blueberry barrens of coastal Maine present a rich backdrop for a story of two new friends, Lily and Salma, whose families’ livelihoods are dependent on the local agricultural economy. Lord will appear on October 10, 2015, at 1 p.m. in the Commons Room of the Nashville Public Library. The event, part of the Southern Festival of Books, is free and open to the public.
