A writer remembers Nashville’s BookMan/BookWoman, which will close its doors at the end of the year
Shelves groaned from overpopulation. But it was this gaudy Shakespearean excess, the Mumbai crowds of jostling books, that made it such a heady experience to visit BookMan/BookWoman. It was the archaic opulence of it all, as if you might come home smelling of myrrh.
Read more
Today we’re celebrating Parnassus Books as the store celebrates its fifth anniversary
In 2011, Karen Hayes and Ann Patchett opened Parnassus Books, which celebrates its fifth anniversary today. During that time, the Nashville store has doubled its space, bought a bookmobile, and brought authors, hundreds of them, to town. And they’re just getting started. Drop by the store today for special anniversary discounts, giveaways, prizes—and birthday cake.
Read more
The third volume of John Lewis’s memoir of the civil-rights movement may be the best yet
On November 18 and 19, Congressman John Lewis will be in Nashville to receive the Nashville Public Library Literary Award. The new graphic memoir, March: Book Three, chronicles Lewis’s role in the civil-rights movement. Lewis will give a free public lecture about March: Book Three at Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School in Nashville on November 19 at 10 a.m. The event is free and open to the public.
For Trae Crowder and his co-authors, “liberal redneck” isn’t an oxymoron
In The Liberal Redneck Manifesto, Trae Crowder, Corey Ryan Forrester, and Drew Morgan tackle the stereotypes of poor white Southerners, mostly “fellers,” from drunk-as-skunk-on-Saturday-night to singing-hymns-at-church-on-Sunday-morning, all delivered in a hick accent. The trio will perform at Zanies Comedy Night Club in Nashville on November 13.
James McGrath Morris recovers the life of Ethel Payne, a forgotten crusader in the struggle for black freedom
As a reporter and advocate for racial justice, Ethel Payne shaped American society. James McGrath Morris’s biography of her, Eye on the Struggle, is the winner of the 2015 National Book Award from the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change. Morris will speak about the book at 6 p.m. on November 15 at the University of Memphis.
Doug the Pug extends his social-media empire to print
Doug the Pug and his “momager,” Leslie Mosier, will be signing their new book, Doug the Pug: The King of Pop Culture, at Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 12 at 2 p.m. Prior to the event, Mosier answered a few questions from Chapter 16 about the dog at the center of a social-media empire.
