Book Reviews | Chapter 16

Smart, Sad, Funny

Poet Mary Jo Salter’s new collection, Nothing by Design, is heavy and light by turns

By Maria Browning | September 11, 2013

September 11, 2013 The poems in Mary Jo Salter’s Nothing by Design display her characteristic wit, erudition, and formal grace, along with real depth of feeling. They are entertaining in the truest sense, speaking to the reader’s mind and heart with equal urgency, and they have a bit of silliness thrown in for good measure. Salter will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Walking to Justice

In a moving work of graphic nonfiction, Congressman John Lewis recalls his path from Nashville lunch counters to the National Mall during the American civil-rights movement

By Michael Ray Taylor | September 9, 2013

September 9, 2013 Like the acclaimed graphic novels Maus and Persepolis, the new graphic memoir March is a coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of violent, historical confrontation. A collaboration between Representative John Lewis, Democratic congressman from Georgia, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell, the book tells the story of Lewis’s involvement in the American civil-rights movement. Congressman Lewis and his collaborators will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

The Nature of the Harm

In Tara Conklin’s The House Girl, lives interconnect across time to unravel a mystery of art and legacy

By Emily Choate | September 6, 2013

September 6, 2013 Tara Conklin’s debut novel, The House Girl, revolves around the legacy of Josephine Bell, a long-dead artist who lived as a house slave on a Virginia tobacco farm. By interweaving Josephine’s story with the path of the researcher trying to uncover that buried history, the novel confronts the question of whether it’s ever truly possible to restore what’s been ruptured by time and injustice. Conklin will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Flickering Images of Truth and Lies

The ambiguous nature of cinema lies at the dark heart of Marisha Pessl’s second novel

By Chris Scott | September 5, 2013

September 5, 2013 In Night Film, Marisha Pessl convincingly imagines the duplicitous world of a movie director named Stanislas Cordova, whose infamous films terrorize viewers. In this novel loaded with deception, misperception, and outright terror, the mysterious death of Cordova’s daughter propels a journalist into the dark corners of movies and the human mind. Pessl will appear at the Nashville Public Library at 6:15 p.m. on September 12, 2013, as part of the Salon@615 series.

A Town Defined By Violence

In Daniel Woodrell’s The Maid’s Version, the Ozarks are beset by mayhem

By Sean Kinch | September 3, 2013

September 3, 2013 Daniel Woodrell’s characters live in a dangerous world. In Woodrell’s new novel, The Maid’s Version, scenes of casual cruelty follow passages of sexual abuse and bloody bar fights. Woodrell will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13, 2013. All festival events are free and open to the public.

A Daughter’s Dreams

Novelist Pamela Schoenewaldt explores the difficulties and promises for a young girl and her troubled mother in a new country

By Faye Jones | August 30, 2013

August 30, 2013 Just when the American dream seems within reach for fourteen-year-old Lucia, her mother’s old demons threaten their new life. Knoxvillian Pamela Schoenewaldt will discuss the immigrant experience and her latest novel, Swimming in the Moon, at the Laurel Theater in Knoxville on September 5, 2013, and at the 25th annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13.

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