With In Praise of Wasting Time, Memphis native Alan Lightman delivers an eloquent argument for the necessity of idleness.
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Idler’s Manifesto
Alan Lightman makes the case for slow living with In Praise of Wasting Time
Book Reviews
The Power of Belief
Teens confront the issue of sexual abuse in Ashley Herring Blake’s latest YA novel
In her new YA novel, Girl Made of Stars, Ashley Herring Blake addresses complex cultural issues in the context of the everyday drama of high school. Blake will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 18 in conversation with novelist Lily Anderson.
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The Wrong Side of History
In Varina, Charles Frazier portrays the first lady of the Confederacy as a reluctant witness
Charles Frazier’s Varina returns to the era of Cold Mountain but focuses on the Southern elite who bear the historical burden of instigating the Civil War. Frazier will discuss Varina, in conversation with novelists Paula McLain and Ann Patchett, at the Nashville Public Library on May 14.
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Unanticipated Consequences
Sarah E. Igo’s The Known Citizen considers the case for privacy
In her sweeping, meticulously researched new book, The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America, Sarah E. Igo charts the evolution of privacy as a peculiarly American principle. Igo will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 12.
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Trauma, Suffering, and Joy
Karen Spears Zacharias winds up her Appalachian trilogy
Karen Spears Zacharias’s Christian Bend is the final novel in a trilogy set in the small East Tennessee community of the same name. It adds new characters and plot twists to the major issues set up in the first two novels, Mother of Rain and Burdy.
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The Mystic Chords of Memory
Jon Meacham sees a hopeful future in America’s past
In The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, Jon Meacham examines this country’s history of division and finds optimism in the way Americans have responded to trying times. Meacham will appear in conversation with Governor Bill Haslam at Montgomery Bell Academy on May 12.
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