October 16, 2014 The first publication from Nashville’s Third Man Books, Language Lessons: Volume One, is a diverse collection of poetry, prose, art, and music. Editors Chet Weise and Ben Swank present material in a unique format that demonstrates the excitement of human language beyond the simple printed page.
October 15, 2014 Rumbling out of the South at the beginning of the 1970s, Southern rock was a mix of back-to-basics rock and roll, blues, country, and soul—wrapped in a new vision of the American Southland. Scott B. Bomar chronicles the history of this uniquely American music and its legacy in Southbound: An Illustrated History of Southern Rock. Bomar will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on October 20, 2014, at 6:30 p.m.
October 13, 2014 Dinner-party mavens and newbie entertainers alike will find bright ideas in Martina McBride’s debut cookbook, Around the Table, which offers four seasons’ worth of themed gatherings. With recipes, decorating ideas, shortcuts, and even music playlists, each chapter guides the host through all the paces of pulling off a terrific, memorable party. McBride will discuss the book at the Harpeth Hall School in Nashville on October 13, 2014, and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on October 14, 2014.
October 10, 2014 The Southern Festival of Books is big, varied, and one of the most inclusive cultural events around. Chapter 16’s Maria Browning considers the special pleasure of the festival’s collective spirit. The twenty-sixth annual Southern Festival of Books will take place in Nashville October 10-12, 2014, at Legislative Plaza and the Nashville Public Library. All festival events are free and open to the public.
October 7, 2014 In Under Magnolia, Frances Mayes recalls her childhood in South Georgia, trying to survive in the overwrought atmosphere created by her high-strung, alcoholic parents. It is a moving account of the coming-of-age of a young woman destined to be a poet, teacher, and bestselling memoirist. Mayes will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12, 2014.
October 3, 2014 On January 25, 1892, on a busy Memphis sidewalk, Alice Mitchell slit the throat of Freda Ward, a crime that made national headlines because Alice’s motive—jealousy in a homosexual relationship—was inconceivable to a nineteenth-century audience. Alexis Coe’s new book about the case, Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis, is a window into how gender, class, and race shaped society of that day. Coe will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on October 9, 2014, and again at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 10-12.
