Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Love Is Not Enough

In Joan Silber’s Improvement, women cope with the aftermath of self-made catastrophes

Joan Silber’s Improvement follows a dozen characters over four decades on three continents, but all the stories revolve around a single question: how to keep living after your plans have crumbled to dust. Silber will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 30 at 6:30 p.m.

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Honey and a Ham Sandwich

Remembering the comforts of a grandmother’s love

If I’m ever in the unfortunate position of having to choose my last meal, I will choose a ham sandwich on lightly-toasted Pepperidge Farm bread and a cup of tea with milk and sugar. This is what I ate for lunch with my grandmother most afternoons when I was in grammar school.

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The Mind Is Its Own Place

Lee Conell’s debut story collection, Subcortical, explores the brain’s strange connections

In her debut story collection, Subcortical, Lee Conell depicts smart characters who are mysteries to themselves. The book’s title provides an accurate index for the wit and sophistication to be found in this volume. Conell will appear on November 29 at Barnes & Noble at Vanderbilt at 6 p.m.

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Lifting the Long Black Veil

Michael Bishop’s A Murder in Music City tells a tale of murder, corruption, and a search for justice

Nashvillian Michael Bishop spins a web of murder, corruption, unforgiven sins, and a search for the truth in his debut true-crime book, A Murder in Music City.

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Archaeology of the Imagination

David Madden’s Marble Goddesses and Mortal Flesh, a collection of novellas, explores a writer’s journey

David Madden’s new collection of novellas, Marble Goddesses and Mortal Flesh, traces the arc of an artist’s journey and testifies to the power of a veteran writer who continues to find innovative ways to entertain and instruct readers.

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Real Bones, Real Person, Not a Myth, Not a Story

In Bryn Chancellor’s Sycamore, a small town reckons with the eruption of a long-buried mystery

For the characters of Bryn Chancellor’s accomplished debut novel, Sycamore, the image of a vanished girl has come to embody the instability marking their lives. Once a new arrival discovers human remains outside town, their pasts suddenly press into the present.

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