Chapter 16 - Part 567

Digging Montana

Homer Hickam’s first mystery uncovers murder—and dinosaurs—in Big Sky Country

By Chris Scott | November 8, 2010

November 8, 2010 Homer Hickam, of Rocket Boys fame, has changed literary course. In his new novel, The Dinosaur Hunter, he presents a mystery set in remote east-central Montana, a land full of cattle, cowboys, ranchers, and paleontologists. It’s a mix sure to cause trouble. On the Square C Ranch, a season of bone digging, romantic entanglements, and dreams of fame and fortune is followed closely by murder and mayhem, putting an ex-cop turned cowboy back into the business of gunfights and catching bad guys. Homer Hickam signs The Dinosaur Hunter at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville November 11 at 7 p.m.

Riffing on the River

In Lee Sandlin’s eclectic new history, it’s a treat to beat your feet in the Mississippi mud

By Michael Ray Taylor | November 5, 2010

November 5, 2010 Lee Sandlin’s Wicked River is a wickedly funny new history of the great Mississippi, whose violent, profane, drunken, calamitous, hypocritical character is perhaps an archetype of the American character itself. Sandlin will discuss Wicked River at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on November 9 at 6 p.m.

Ode to the Oyster

Roy Blount Jr. explains why “eating a raw oyster is like exchanging a soul kiss with the sea.”

By Margaret Renkl | November 5, 2010

November 5, 2010 In a long essay for The Huffington Post, Roy Blount Jr. considers this humble mollusk, a delectable morsel that is, for Blount, what madeleines were to Proust. “They make me think of my photographer friend, Slick Lawson, who lived in Nashville but hailed from Louisiana and loved New Orleans–maybe even more than I do, because he could stay up longer,” Blount writes.

Still Proud to Be a Coal Miner's Daughter

Loretta Lynn talks with Chapter 16 about the reissue of her bestselling memoir fifty years after her first single hit the charts

By Margaret Renkl | November 4, 2010

November 4, 2010 Loretta Lynn was born in a coal-mining community so far from the rhinestones of Nashville there wasn’t so much as a dirt road for getting down the mountain. People entered Butcher Holler, Kentucky, by way of a footpath, and they almost never left. Loretta did, of course, and fifty years after cutting her first single, she has piled up an Appalachian mountain’s worth of milestones and honors. She recently spoke with Chapter 16 about the re-release of her bestselling memoir, Coal Miner’s Daughter, and about a new tribute CD due to hit stores next week.

A Last Hurrah

Carpe Librum to close after the holidays

By Serenity Gerbman | November 3, 2010

November 4, 2010 Sad news from Knoxville today, as Carpe Librum Booksellers in the Bearden neighborhood announced it will close after this holiday season.

Beyond Halloween

With The Immortals J.T. Ellison takes her detective on a thrill ride into the world of teenage witchcraft

By Lyda Phillips | November 3, 2010

November 3, 2010 J.T. Ellison delivers her trademark blend of police procedural doused in the macabre with The Immortals, the fifth in her Nashville-based Taylor Jackson series. When the ritualistic murder of eight teenagers on Halloween shocks an upper-middle-class neighborhood that prides itself on its normality, homicide lieutenant Jackson and her team are plunged into a dark world of teenage Goths and black magic. Ellison will discuss The Immortals at Sherlock’s Books in Nashville on November 6 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