Chapter 16 - Part 553

Book Excerpt: Madison Smartt Bell’s The Color of Night

In the aftermath of 9/11, not everyone is weeping

By Madison Smartt Bell | February 21, 2011

February 21, 2011 In his new novel, The Color of Night, Madison Smartt Bell takes readers into the mind of Mae, a woman who has channeled the incestuous abuse of her childhood into a mystical, eroticized obsession with violence and death. Televised images of the 9/11 attacks thrill her, spurring memories of a sojourn with a Manson-like cult and of a woman, Laurel, who was her lover and ally there. What follows is an excerpt from the book, which hits shelves April 5.

R.A., the Other Dickey

Make room, James Dickey; there will soon be a new book on the shelf

By Margaret Renkl | February 21, 2011

February 21, 2011 When they hear the name “Dickey,” literary types in Tennessee automatically think of the brilliant poet James Dickey (though he’s perhaps more famous as the author of the novel Deliverance than as the author of many oft-anthologized poems like “The Heaven of Animals,” “The Lifeguard,” and “Falling”), who was a student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Mountain Man

To protest mountain-top removal mining, Silas House leads a sit-in at the Kentucky governor’s office

By Margaret Renkl | February 21, 2011

February 21, 2011 When former Harrogate, Tennessee, novelist Silas House joined legendary Kentucky poet and essayist Wendell Berry and twelve other protesters outside Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s office, he didn’t pack pajamas, but he came to stay the night. The protesters hoped the sit-in would call media attention to the environmental and human devastation caused by mountaintop-removal mining, a practice which House has long worked to see ended.

A Matter of Black and White?

Daniel J. Sharfstein argues that America’s color line isn’t as straight as we might think

By Paul V. Griffith | February 17, 2011

February 17, 2011 For years racial identity in America was enforced by strict laws and social mores. Such dicta told people whom they could marry, how they could do business, and, for the first century of the nation’s existence, who owned whom. But no matter how rigid things looked on paper, on the ground it was a different story. In The Invisible Line, Daniel Sharfstein follows three families from the Civil War to the Civil Rights era, showing how each managed to manipulate racial restrictions and live and thrive in the very communities that might have shut them out. No mere recounting of events, The Invisible Line’s taut narratives show that race in America is a far more complex affair than many history books would have us believe. Daniel Sharfstein will discuss The Invisible Line at 7 p.m. on February 22 at Borders Books in Nashville.

Tackling Life

In a new memoir, NFL star Michael Oher writes about life before The Blind Side

By Michael Ray Taylor | February 15, 2011

February 15, 2011 In the middle of Michael Oher’s rookie season as an offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens, a big-budget Hollywood movie based on his life premiered to rave reviews, but he was too busy with football to watch it. It wasn’t until a couple of months later, after the season, that he managed to buy a ticket to The Blind Side, which starred Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, and Quinton Aaron. Oher sat down in the darkened theatre with a couple of his teammates to watch the movie, based on a 2006 book by Michael Lewis. As Oher describes the experience in his own new book, I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness to The Blind Side and Beyond, co-written with sports writer Don Yeager, he reacted to the film with both bewilderment and “wounded pride.” Oher spoke with Chapter 16 prior to his signing at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on February 16 at 6 p.m.

Emotional Truths And Gonzo Premises

Kevin Wilson talks with Chapter 16 about what’s real—and what’s weird—in his short stories

By Susannah Felts | February 14, 2011

February 14, 2011 The characters in Kevin Wilson’s debut story collection, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, experience emotions that almost any reader would find both soothingly and troublingly familiar, though the stories in which they appear often depict realities far from any we know. With his first novel slated for publication this summer, Wilson, who directs the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, answered questions via email about his work—and the state of things for young literary writers today—for Chapter 16. Wilson will read from his work at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on February 14 at 7 p.m.

Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us

By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, illustrated by Josie Del Castillo
Seal Press
304 pages
$30

“Within these pages, I found my abuela, my tías and my primas — laughing, crying, and nodding alongside me. This book is a gift of understanding, and loving one’s family, even when our families are complicated and painful. It’s a beautiful reminder of the power of storytelling and the profound connection of kinship.”

~ Paola Mendoza, author, organizer and filmmaker