Book Reviews | Chapter 16

An Idea No One Considered Making an Argument Against

Kevin Powers, author of the acclaimed Iraq War novel The Yellow Birds, returns with A Shout in the Ruins

By Ed Tarkington | October 11, 2018

“The truth has a funny way of making its way in the world,” writes Kevin Powers in his new novel, A Shout in the Ruins, which explores painful truths about the human impulse toward violence and empire. Powers will appear at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14. Festival events are free and open to the public.

Black in Appalachia

Karida Brown explores the way ideas of home have shaped an oft-overlooked population

By Peter Kuryla | October 10, 2018

In Gone Home: Race and Roots through Appalachia, Karida L. Brown recovers the remarkable story of how black Appalachians defined themselves and their home in the coal-mining towns of Kentucky during the broad middle of the twentieth century. Brown will appear at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14.

Something More than Noir

The assassination of JFK launches Lou Berney’s new thriller

By Hamilton Cain | October 9, 2018

Against the backdrop of November 1963, crime novelist Lou Berney spins a gripping tale of two lovers on the lam from very different threats. Berney will discuss November Road at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held October 12-14 at Legislative Plaza and the Nashville Public Library. Festival events are free and open to the public.

Mastering the Arts

B.A. Shapiro’s The Collector’s Apprentice pays homage to both modern painting and the ancient craft of the hustle

By Sean Kinch | October 8, 2018

The young heroine of B.A. Shapiro’s latest novel, The Collector’s Apprentice , loves Post-Impressionism, but to achieve the life of her dreams she has to learn the lower arts of deception and subterfuge. Shapiro will appear at the 2018 Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14.

This New Kind of Survival

The outcasts in Charles Dodd White’s In The House of Wilderness search for refuge in the East Tennessee mountains

By Emily Choate | October 5, 2018

Charles Dodd White’s mesmerizing new novel, In The House of Wilderness, follows a small group of outcasts seeking refuge but finding danger. White will appear at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on October 7 and at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 12-14.

In North Korea with the “Chosin Few”

Hampton Sides’s fast-action nonfiction book resurrects heroes of the Korean War

By Peggy Burch | October 3, 2018

Memphis native Hampton Sides, author of Hellhound on His Trail and In the Kingdom of Ice, will talk about On Desperate Ground, his account of the U.S. Marines at Chosin Reservoir, when he appears at Novel in Memphis on October 8 at 6 p.m.