Give thanks to Burroughs for telling us ‘how’
This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More, For Young and…
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A story of Jackson County’s Hooper-Watson feud
Since I happen to love folklore and storytelling, I have always felt blessed to be a resident of Jackson County.…
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Book examines alcohol and the writer’s life
Let’s begin by noting the continuing biographical interest in writers and drinking. In my own collection are Tom Dardis’s The…
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A lost soul finds a home
On a spring night in 1929, Mary Seneca Steele escapes from her home in Charleston, taking only her two children…
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Old West comes alive in Enger novel
If you love epic tales that celebrate the American West; if you treasure novels like Trail of the Lonesome Dove,…
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Trio of quality books explore facets of faith
Back in the day when the “culture wars” focused more on literature, music and movies — Tipper Gore, for example,…
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Dark story explores love, retribution
I have always been drawn to authors who can seize your attention in the first paragraph and like a pit…
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A frank look at monogamy through the ages
In our tell-all age of talk shows and reality television, of Facebook and Twitter, the idea that restraint and repression…
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Social media gone awry in this compelling novel
In recent years, I have developed a growing discomfort with the Internet. Services like Facebook, Amazon, Linked-in have become increasingly…
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The excitement in a bag full of books
Recently I returned from a trip to the library with a bagful of books. When handling these books in the…
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The Jane Goodall of sea turtles
As I write this, I am wondering if I should disqualify myself from writing a review about a book written…
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A story in which nothing is as it seems
Early in this novel, an old retired teacher with Alzheimer’s, mistaking a visitor for his son, gives the young man…
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Curmudgeon offers words of wisdom
May is fast approaching, and with May comes the season of graduations. Daughters and sons, nephews and nieces, young people…
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Bleak story has far-reaching implications
Russell Banks knows how to hook the reader’s interest. In the opening pages of Lost Memory of Skin, the book’s…
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A well-written, lively look through history
In the first half of the fifteenth century, decades before Columbus set sail, the great Chinese admiral Zheng He commanded…
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Disappearances, nightmares and a sense of terror
Some 30 years ago, a science-fiction writer named Whitney Striber wrote a novel called Wolfen, and it frightened me badly. The…
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Finding elusive love in the modern world of dating
“Chick-lit” is, of course, the slang expression for those books appealing especially to women. Though not politically correct, most men…
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Wading into a few of my favorite ‘dipper’ books
Some books — novels, certain histories and biographies — deserve full immersion. We dive into them, plummet into their depths,…
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Distilling the life of blues legend Robert Johnson
I have always been fascinated by the folklore attending the too-short life of Robert Johnson, “King of the Delta Blues…
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A poetic description of a savage time
It took me almost a year to read this book. I kept losing it, leaving it in restaurants and other…
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Of rhyme and reason, for better or worse
Poetry. Po-e-tree. A word with a lovely sound, but with bleak connotations.
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Mailer — a man of his time and shaper of it
In the Prologue to Norman Mailer: A Double Life (978-1-4391-5019-1, 2013, $40), biographer J. Michael Lennon writes that “Mailer’s desire…
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‘Night Film’ is a tiring yet mesmerizing read
I did not like this book. My first response on finishing it was that I would not review it, but there…
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Raising youth in the digital age
Four years ago in November, a schoolteacher in Knoxville asked her English class to write a composition on family dinner…
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Slave narratives an insightful collection
This remarkable collection of interviews with African-Americans in North Carolina who were once slaves is a fascinating discovery. Conducted by the…
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O’Brien’s fiction uniquely relevant to our current issues
In Voyage To Alpha Centauri (Ignatius Press, ISBN 978-1-58617-832-1), Michael O’Brien, Canadian writer and painter, gives us a grand tale…
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The remaking of a learned writer
The new year is a time when many people, dissatisfied with some condition of their lives, resolve to make changes.…
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Koch novel a hearty serving of words, plot
Back in 1981, a provocative film called “My Dinner With Andre” created quite a stir by reducing drama to the…
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Conroy’s memoir reveals much about his troubled upbringing
The times in which we live may someday be celebrated for our advancements in medicine, technology and education, but surely…
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Santa and reindeer and drones… Oh my!
I was never a fan of drone missiles. Until now, I had always regarded drones as killing machines or mechanical spies.…
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‘Green’ text more relevant today than ever
Although this book was published over a decade ago, A Fierce Green Fire has grown steadily in popularity and is…
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Can you believe the gall of this grafter Jeff Minick?
By Joe Ecclesia My name is Joe Ecclesia, and I have a bone the size of an elephant’s thigh to…
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Tarrt delivers once again — a decade later
I first encountered a Donna Tartt novel some 20 years ago when a friend reverently placed a copy of The…
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Hays’ new book succeeds on several levels
In What I Came To Tell You (Egmont Publishers, ISBN 9781606844335, $16.99), local author Tommy Hayes brings us the story…
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Vintage King is a frightening prospect
It has been more than 30 years since Stephen King published The Shining, but I still remember that little kid,…
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To those teachers who exacted excellence
Book reviews shouldn’t begin with dedications. But with Strings Attached (ISBN 978-1-4013-2466-7, $24.99) being the book under review, I feel…
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A ‘writer’s writer’ delves into 1929 explosion
I am convinced that author Daniel Woodrell is what is frequently referred to as “a writer’s writer.” In other words,…
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Some old-fashioned lessons for living
Google books on parenting, and you will find thousands — tens of thousands — of titles. There are books on…
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A warts and all biography of a WNC original
I first encountered Robert Henry’s name some 30 years ago in Lyman Draper’s account of the Battle of Kings Mountain…
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Jim Harrison keeps churning out quality writing
Jim Harrison is an American phenomenon. Not only has he written more than 30 books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction…
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Another AT book, but a new set of lessons
An online visit reveals hundreds of books written on hiking the Appalachian Trail. These range from Bill Bryson’s A Walk…
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New Burke novel is not to be
In Light of the World (ISBN 978-1-4767-1076-1, $27.99), James Lee Burke once again gives readers writing cut and polished like…
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The lost West in all its violent glory
I have always had a fondness for great, sprawling epics, especially if they chronicle the downfall of a family/dynasty that acquired…
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A realistic, refreshing look at teaching
For most students, parents, and teachers, autumn rather than spring is the season of budding growth, new life, and hope.
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Carden’s new book depicts Appalachian bestiary
By Newton Smith • Contributor Gary Carden, local bard, playwright, host of the Liars Bench and reviewer for The Smoky Mountain…
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Miracles and the miraculous in everyday life
Every once in a while, we encounter a situation so strange and so far removed from the natural order of…
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Tragic realism makes for a riveting read
Let me begin by saying that this is a remarkable novel, and I suspect that it will be around for…
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Prickly but also extremely insightful
On June 24, 1993, David Gelernter, then an associate professor of computer science at Yale University, opened a package in…
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Novel covers death, love, and all points in between
Priscille Sibley’s The Promise of Stardust (ISBN 978-0-06-219417-6, 399 pages, $15.99) is a fine first novel by a woman who…
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Dad is Fat, and comical truths about child rearing
Thirty some years ago, my wife and I announced to my mother that we were expecting our first child. After…
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