Chapter 16 - Part 280

The Dysfunctional Village

In Perfect Little World, Kevin Wilson depicts an experiment in communal parenting

By Maria Browning | January 19, 2017

In Kevin Wilson’s Perfect Little World, a child psychologist’s Infinite Family Project brings ten newborns and their parents to a compound outside Nashville, where they will live and grow together, their every need met. Wilson will discuss his second novel at Bounty on Broad in Memphis on January 24 at 6 p.m., and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 26 at 6:30 p.m.

Clear-Eyed Mystic

Joy Harjo’s poems celebrate transcendence and confront fear

By Maria Browning | January 18, 2017

Acclaimed poet Joy Harjo’s most recent collection, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, delivers the exquisite mix of beauty, transcendence, and pain her work is known for. Harjo joined the creative-writing faculty at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville this year and will give a free public reading at UT’s Hodges Library on January 23 at 7 p.m.

“This Story is Not Yet Over”

Liquidation is under way at Memphis’s largest indie bookstore, but investors may rally to replace it

By Peggy Burch | January 17, 2017

The Booksellers at Laurelwood is set to close in February, but the Memphis store’s landlord and other supporters say news of its death may be exaggerated.

A Dauntless Voyage

Veronica Roth moves her YA universe to deep space

By Sarah Carter | January 13, 2017

In Carve the Mark, bestselling YA author Veronica Roth builds a universe around two teenagers who must confront their own identities. Roth will appear at the Nashville Children’s Theatre on January 20 at 6:15 p.m. Tickets are $27.50 and include a signed copy of Carve the Mark.

Fate of a Friendship

Zadie Smith’s Swing Time looks at female love and cruelty

By Maria Browning | January 12, 2017

Zadie Smith’s Swing Time tells the story of a childhood friendship and grapples with themes of race, class, and gender. It transcends the personal without ever losing sight of human passion, embodied in the intense feelings between two little girls. Smith will appear at Belmont University in Nashville on January 19 at 6:30 p.m.

Cold Comfort

Tim Gautreaux’s new story collection draws tentative hope out of modern malaise

By Ed Tarkington | January 11, 2017

Tim Gautreaux’s wide-ranging new collection, Signals, expertly examines a variety of broken lives, speaking plainly of suffering but also offering glimpses of hope and redemption. He will discuss Signals at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on January 19, and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 1.

I Gotta Sing!

By Alice Faye Duncan
WaterBrook
40 pages
$14.99

“A whole barnyard makes noise ‘in the Spirit of joy’ throughout this raucous picture book, a sweetly heartwarming sing-along by Duncan. Kellam conveys comfort and happiness as the loved ones reflect sunny enthusiasm in this gladdening rendition of the Black American religious folk song ‘I’m Goin’a Sing When the Spirit Says Sing.’”

~Publishers Weekly