Chapter 16 - Part 8

Picture Perfect

Vivian Swift creates a captivating and funny travel memoir that is quite literally a work of art

By Liz Garrigan | July 12, 2012

July 12, 2012 Vivian Swift, the author of When Wanderers Cease to Roam (2008), abandoned her garden trowel and Adirondack chair, packed her bags, and doodled enough during her honeymoon in France to write a book about the experience. Swift’s ode to travel—and to France, too, though chiefly to travel—includes hundreds of her own watercolor illustrations, notes, and captions, which make the book feel more like an intimate collection of remembrances and a kind of quirky catalog of travel recipes than a straight memoir. “Travel is a lot like sex,” writes Swift. “It’s very personal, prone to fads, and competitive; and we’re all secretly curious how other people do it.” Swift will discuss and sign Le Road Trip at 2 p.m. July 14 at Parnassus Books in Nashville.

One for the Record Books

With XO, international bestselling author Jeffery Deaver has written another thriller—and a country album to accompany it

By Liz Garrigan | June 8, 2012

June 8, 2012 In his twenty-ninth thriller, bestselling novelist Jeffery Deaver gives readers triple or quadruple their money: XO includes more twists, turns, and doglegs than an East Tennessee back road, and Deaver pairs the book with an album of country songs, as well. Just when you think you’ve finally hit the mystery’s straightaway, there’s another series of hairpins in your path. On June 12 at 6:30 p.m., Deaver will discuss XO at Parnassus Books in Nashville. On June 13 at 7 p.m., he will answer questions and sign copies of the book at Barnes & Noble in Knoxville.

Whodunit, Geriatric Style

In a dazzling debut mystery, Daniel Friedman creates an original and unlikely hero in a gruff but lovable octogenarian

By Liz Garrigan | May 31, 2012

May 31, 2012 Debut novelist Daniel Friedman’s Don’t Ever Get Old received starred reviews from all four of the pre-publication literary tastemakers (Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist), which happens about as often as newspapers announce they’re expanding their book coverage. Friedman’s hilarious protagonist is eighty-seven-year-old “Buck” Schatz, a legendary Memphis ex-cop who spends his days on the couch, watching Fox News and anticipating his next bowel movement, until he’s inconveniently distracted from it all and must hunt down an escaped Nazi war criminal who nearly killed him. On June 7 at 6 p.m., Friedman will discuss Don’t Ever Get Old at the Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis.

“A Nazi, a Treasure, a Murder, a Car Chase, and Two Fistfights”

Daniel Friedman talks with Chapter 16 about his Memphis family—and which of his grandfathers inspired the octogenarian ex-cop who’s the hero of his new mystery

By Liz Garrigan | May 31, 2012

May 31, 2012 In his new mystery, Don’t Ever Get Old, Daniel Friedman spins an engrossing tale of intrigue, but that’s only one element of what makes this acclaimed debut so notable. He also manages to write page after page of hilarious—and sometimes poignant—commentary by an octogenarian ex-cop named Buck Schatz, a Jewish guy from Memphis who finds himself on the hunt for the Nazi war criminal who nearly killed him during World War II. On June 7 at 6 p.m., Friedman will discuss Don’t Ever Get Old at the Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis.

The Agricultural Agent’s Daughter

In a new memoir, Sissy Spacek idealizes her small-town, Southern roots and love of simple pleasures

By Liz Garrigan | May 8, 2012

May 8, 2012 Sissy Spacek may be a Hollywood legend—she’s best known for her Academy Award-winning portrayal of Loretta Lynn in the 1980 film Coal Miner’s Daughter—but her stories are refreshingly devoid of unwanted pregnancies, drug and alcohol addiction, marital abuse, family dysfunction, or devastating divorce. Spacek’s new memoir contains no shocking bombshells, no reprisals, not even the faintest hint of relationship retaliation. The book is quite simply the account of a charmed and happy life, of family love and loyalty, of cherished children and pets, of gardens watered in pajamas. On May 13, as part of the Salon@615 series, Spacek will discuss My Extraordinary Ordinary Life at the Nashville Public Library at 3 p.m.

It's Not Me, It's You

A Chapter 16 writer makes a public break with Amazon

By Liz Garrigan | September 22, 2011

September 22, 2011 Amazon, my relationship with you feels like an illicit love affair because, I suppose, it sort of is. I want you, but I hate myself for it. I hide our relationship from my friends. You understand my needs—and happily meet them—and you anticipate my desires, teasing me with what else you can offer. But it’s time to confront the inconvenient truth: I’m cheating with a cheater.