Ripe for Excitement
With City of Girls, Elizabeth Gilbert delivers a perfect by-the-pool book, full of spectacle, glitz, and bygone glamour. Gilbert will appear at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville on June 17.
Fiction
My One and Only Now and Forever
With Biloxi, Mary Miller delivers a whimsical Southern tragicomedy that evokes both Eudora Welty and Joy Williams. Miller will appear at Novel in Memphis on May 29
Melding Voices
In a starred review, Booklist called The Tilted World, a historical novel by poet Beth Ann Fennelly and novelist Tom Franklin, a “full-bodied shot of bluesy Americana.” Fennelly and Franklin will discuss The Tilted World at Chattanooga State Community College April 8-9. Fennelly will also discuss her most recent essay collection, Heating & Cooling, at Star Line Books in Chattanooga on April 10.
The Shocking Fulfillment of Beauty
Don’t be fooled by the title or the sunny yellow cover of Erin McGraw’s new collection, Joy: And 52 Other Very Short Stories. In these snapshots of lives under extreme pressure, each narrator claims the spotlight to tell a powerful, often dark story. McGraw, who lives in Sewanee, will appear at Star Line Books in Chattanooga on March 6.
Armed and Dangerous
Court Gentry, the hero of Mark Greaney’s Mission Critical, pursues bad guys all over the world in a bare-knuckled, uniquely American style. Greaney will discuss Mission Critical at Novel in Memphis on February 23, and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 28.
Strikes and Gutters
Elizabeth McCracken’s Bowlaway is an epic tale of love, grief, and candlepin bowling. McCracken will discuss her third novel with Ann Patchett at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 22.
