Nonfiction

June 29, 2015 Picking up just a short time after the end of his first memoir, 1988’s Willie: An Autobiography, It’s A Long Story is Willie Nelson’s examination of his own lifelong persistence and tenacity, as well as a rumination on the value of family, friends, and self-fulfillment through music.

June 26, 2015 With a subtitle—a “A Cookbook-Memoir, of Sorts”—Gaylord Brewer acknowledges that The Poet’s Guide to Food, Drink, & Desire resists easy categorization. And the “of sorts” quality is exactly what makes this collection of essays and recipes a must-read for home cooks who sometimes fancy themselves chefs who happen to have been spared the nuisance of a restaurant.

June 23, 2015 Robert Blagojevich was indicted and tried, along with his brother Rod Blagojevich, former governor of Illinois, for attempting to sell Barack Obama’s former Senate seat. In Fundraiser A: My Fight for Freedom and Justice, Blagojevich describes a journey through the looking-glass world of investigators, prosecutors, judges, juries, and media that left him bitter but emboldened. He will discuss his memoir at Parnassus Books in Nashville on June 27, 2015, at 2 p.m.

June 22, 2015 A Nashville teacher, writer, and anti-death-penalty activist, Joseph B. Ingle has sat at the side of too many condemned men to count. His new book, Slouching Toward Tyranny, indicts not only the death penalty but also the systemic racism behind it.

June 11, 2015 In a new memoir, Harrison Scott Key recalls his father’s rage against his boss, and books, and the Boy Scouts, and any sign of civilization that he stumbled across. Key will discuss The World’s Largest Man at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on June 15, 2015, at 6:30 p.m.