Book Reviews

In On Barbecue, John Shelton Reed considers the history of barbecue, regional differences in recipes, and the importance of traditional cooking methods, with a sharp sense of humor and a strong belief in the sanctity of this delicious American institution. Most of all, it’s a love song to his favorite food. Reed will appear at the SouthWord Literary Festival, hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on November 5-6.

Cigar-smoking Sheriff Quinn Colson tracks Tibbehah County teens wanted for murder through Memphis, Hot Springs, and New Orleans in The Heathens, the 11th novel in the Mississippi crime series by Ace Atkins.

The essays in As We Were Saying: Sewanee Writers on Writing illustrate a multigenerational love for the art of storytelling. Editors Wyatt Prunty, Megan Roberts, and Adam Latham gather a diverse group of Sewanee Writers’ Conference speakers and workshop leaders to share their wisdom on the power of language.

In Jeff Zentner’s In the Wild Light, best friends face a dilemma: Will they stay in their hometown forever, hanging on to the semblance of stability they’ve found? Or will they risk it all for a different life? Zentner will discuss In the Wild Light at Parnassus Books in Nashville on August 10.

In Paradise, WV, Nashville writer and musician Rob Rufus skillfully combines stories of lives derailed by the opioid epidemic with a tale of three teens on the trail of a serial killer.

John Milward’s Americanaland: Where Country & Western Met Rock ‘n’ Roll connects the musical notes, from Jimmie Rodgers to John Prine and far beyond.