Small Town, Big Mystery
Critics have hailed Tom Franklin's latest novel, "Crooked Letter Crooked Letter" (William Morrow, 2010, $24), as his best and most accessible work to date.
One Man's Journey
Bruce Machart's debut novel "The Wake of Forgiveness" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010, $26) is a journey down a path of loss and pain, into the emergence of hope and peace.
Rivaling Slavery
Most dystopian novels are cautionary tales. Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" (The New Press, 2010, $27.95) reads like a dystopian novel, but …
The Art of Reading
Despite oil spills, crazy politicians, unemployment and a host of other bad news, this year has been a good one for books on one of my favorite subjects: art. In …
Fletcher Cox Negotiates with Nature
Fletcher Cox is finishing a pair of doors when I visit his shop on a rainy Wednesday. They're the last in a set of 13 pairs that he's been commissioned …
Coast Snapshots
The end of August marks the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Coast residents have built new houses and rebuilt businesses and other structures, and, though Mississippi's Gulf Coast looks different …
Selective Memory
I did not find out until college that my country interned Japanese Americans in concentration camps after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Even then, I did not know the …
Bloody Good Time
The fictional world of Sookie Stackhouse is a chaotic, bizarre, and dangerous place filled with vampires, werewolves and fairies. Sookie, the protagonist in the Southern Vampire Series and the Emmy …
Childhood Classics That Changed Us
When I think back to books of my youth, "Dear Mr. Henshaw" by Beverly Cleary stands out. I could relate to the main character, Leigh Botts, because at times I …
‘We Were Brothers'
In the opening paragraphs of Matthew Aaron Goodman's debut novel "Hold Love Strong" (Simon and Schuster, 2010, $24.99), Abraham, the novel's protagonist, tells the story of his birth. His mother, …
Minimalist Musings
Though a lover of words, Wyatt Hillyer is not very good with them. The main character in "What is Left the Daughter" by Howard Norman, Hillyer writes to his daughter: …
Christmas Every Day
On a cold November morning, you see a teenager walking in nothing but shorts and a T-shirt––no coat. He is visibly cold and doesn't "belong" in your neighborhood.
Grappling with Inertia
When most people think of symmetry, perfection often comes to mind. But Audrey Niffenegger confounds this definition, as the title suggests, in her latest novel, "Her Fearful Symmetry".
Scorching Beauty
Blues melodies are gritty and rich with life's sorrows, just like the soil of the Delta; they haunt the listener long afterward. So does "Delta Blues," edited by Carolyn Haines …
Greenwood Black Magic
Carolyn Haines' newest book, "Bone Appétit" (St. Martin's Minotaur, June 2010, $24.99), is reminiscent of the classic Nancy Drew mysteries, but with a whole lot of southern sass and kick-ass …
