Chapter 16 - Part 333

When Brotherhood Isn’t

Barry Moser’s memoir about growing up in Chattanooga tackles hard questions of race and family

By Clay Risen | October 21, 2015

October 21, 2015 On the first page of his new memoir about growing up with his brother in postwar Chattanooga, the artist Barry Moser makes it clear that this won’t be the usual story of a Southern boyhood, full of swimming holes and fishing poles: “Without opportunity to be otherwise,” he writes, “Tommy and I were racists.” Moser will discuss We Were Brothers at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 26, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.

Life in Full Color

In Raymond Barfield’s new novel, a young woman accepts her simple life and flawed neighbors as they are, and the result is an unusual love story

By Kathryn Justice Leache | October 20, 2015

October 20, 2015 When Yslea, the narrator of Raymond Barfield’s debut novel, The Book of Colors, wanders past three row houses along the railroad tracks in North Memphis and asks for a glass of water, she begins a difficult but ultimately life-affirming series of relationships.

Touching Past, Present, and Future

Knoxville native David Madden examines the complex legacy of the Civil War

By Chris Scott | October 19, 2015

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.

“Ghost Writes a Postcard to His Wife”

By Gaylord Brewer | October 16, 2015

October 16, 2015 Gaylord Brewer is a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, where he founded and for more than twenty years edited the journal Poems & Plays. His most recent books are a ninth collection of poetry, Country of Ghost, and the cookbook-memoir The Poet’s Guide to Food, Drink, & Desire, both published in 2015. At noon on October 23, 2015, Brewer will give a free public reading at University Center on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga.

Hands Off

Meddling is philosopher John Lachs’s plea for the freedom that comes from leaving others alone

By Peter Kuryla | October 15, 2015

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.

Addressing the Impossible

Joy Williams’s stories skewer the absurdity of our wretched world

By Ed Tarkington | October 13, 2015

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.

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