Chapter 16 - Part 565

The Season's the Reason … for Delicious Southern Cooking

Tammy Algood emphasizes seasonality and freshness in The Complete Southern Cookbook, an ambitious collection of the South’s best recipes

By Paul V. Griffith | November 22, 2010

November 22, 2010 At a time when bookstore shelves are sagging with glossy, Food Network-style cookbooks, Tammy Algood’s The Complete Southern Cookbook is an anomaly. It contains no stylish pictures or fancy ingredients, no delectable yet impossible-to-pull-off meal plans or fancifully-coiffed celebrity chefs. But what Algood’s book lacks in glitz it makes up for in practicality — which is, after all, what most home chefs really need. In crisp, no-nonsense recipes, Algood takes readers on a virtual tour of the Southern kitchen.

"Studies in Modern Mycology"

The Washington Post publishes a rare short story by Ann Patchett

By Margaret Renkl | November 22, 2010

November 22, 2010 Ann Patchett is the author of five novels—not counting the forthcoming State of Wonder, which is due in June—and two books of nonfiction. Though her first published work was a short story which appeared in The Paris Review, and though she is the editor of the 2006 edition of Best American Short Stories, she is not especially well known for her own short fiction. Fortunately, the Holiday Fiction Issue of The Washington Post offers a rare example of Patchett’s mastery of the short-story form:

Counting the Ways

Nashville-area artists create a picture book that simultaneously celebrates the city and raises funds for flood relief

By Margaret Renkl | November 19, 2010

November 19, 2010 Artists Vadis Turner and Matthew Parker were living in New York and watching helplessly as the flood waters rose around their hometown last May. Their idea for helping from afar is finally coming to fruition: a children’s picture book, Nashville Counts!, celebrates the highlights of life in Music City and simultaneously showcases the work of some of its finest artists. Turner answered questions from Chapter 16 prior to the opening reception for Nashville Counts!, which will be held at the Rymer Gallery in Nashville (235 5th Avenue North) on November 27 at 6:30 p.m. Proceeds from both book sales and a silent auction of the original art will aid in flood relief through Hands On Nashville.

The End of Serendipity

Nashville novelist Adam Ross mourns the death of Davis-Kidd Booksellers

By Margaret Renkl | November 18, 2010

November 18, 2010 A “dazzle of possibilities is perhaps what we stand to lose most when one more bookstore closes,” Nashville novelist Adam Ross writes in a valediction for Davis-Kidd Booksellers in today’s issue of the Nashville Scene. “It’s a step closer to the end of serendipity.

The Book Lady of Sevier County

Dolly Parton talks with Chapter 16 about why she gives books to hundreds of thousands of children

By Susannah Felts | November 18, 2010

November 18, 2010 Dolly Parton is almost universally adored, not just for her songs but for her sunny, shiny, sweeter-than-sweet-tea persona, her gusto, and her wit. It’s virtually impossible to name another member of Music City royalty who can claim a following of such diversity. But even Parton’s biggest fans may be unaware of her less flashy role as “The Book Lady.” To children, she’s a nearly magical figure who leaves books in the mailboxes of boys and girls everywhere. In more realistic terms, she’s the founder of the Imagination Library, a rapidly growing program which sends free books to kids. She recently spoke with Chapter 16 about the program and about the childhood that inspired it.

The Italian Job

In Steve Hendricks’s new book, terrorism and spycraft make for nonfiction that reads like a le Carré novel

By Michael Ray Taylor | November 17, 2010

November 17, 2010 “A spy prefers to share only that which is to his benefit, no more, and much of what he shares will not be true,” cautions the journalist Steve Hendricks in an early chapter of A Kidnapping in Milan: The CIA on Trial. “This presents a conundrum for all who would understand espionage: Trust spies not at all, and one learns nothing. Trust them too much, and one might as well have learned nothing.” In researching his new nonfiction thriller, Hendricks, a freelance reporter living in Knoxville, appears to have trusted spies just the right amount, interviewing them on three continents over the course of two years. He clearly learned a great deal—not only about spies, but also about the terrorists they seek to catch by any means they deem necessary.

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