A book of peace in hard times

Given the harrowing natural disasters in the South, I thought a good book to review this month would be one that might serve as a source of solace and peace to those who are currently struggling with these catastrophes.

The forgotten victims of violent death

Approximately 20,000 murders occurred in the United States in 2023. These killings ranged in scope from gang battles to domestic violence. 

A proclamation about women as artists

As I peruse the shelves in the Jackson County Library’s “new releases” section, it is evident to me that there are more new titles written by women than by men. And while this may be true in literary circles in much the same way it is in politics these days, many of the storylines in these books being written by women have to do with a feminine renaissance that is going on world-wide.

A thoughtful farewell to summer

The change of season, especially to autumn, is always a welcome and refreshing time for me. Traveling diminishes, darkness encroaches sunlight and you hunker down into the coziness of cool mornings and hot drinks.

Teaching manners and other life skills

Recently I had the opportunity to speak by phone with writer and podcaster Jennifer L. Scott. The author of the Madame Chic books — “Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris” was the first — Scott is as delightful a conversationalist as we might expect, witty, thoughtful and easily given to laughter.

A new take on an old issue

Glass half-full or glass half-empty?

For the past 20 years, we’ve heard from academics, some politicians and various commentators that America is a deeply racist society. In response, some colleges, the federal government and certain corporations require employees and students take instruction in DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion.

Living off the grid for 40 years

In a book written in a first-person, vulnerable and intimately entertaining narrative oral storytelling voice, Ken Smith takes us through his entire life — of youthful globe-trotting adventure and hardship, to an eventual life of self-sufficiency and spiritual awareness in Scotland.

In this book, old-time means good time

Over 30 years ago, I read Helen Hooven Santmyer’s “And Ladies of the Club,” a doorstopper of a book chronicling life in a small Ohio town from the post-Civil War era to the early 1930s.

A scary, page-turner of a story

Sometimes life seems too short to read every novel and author on your list. Oftentimes, I tend towards classics and literature. After all, you only live once so why would I not go straight to the greats?

‘An Imaginative Proclivity’: Gary Carden and “Stories I Lived to Tell”

In “Stories I Lived to Tell: An Appalachian Memoir” (The University of North Carolina Press, 2024, 152 pages), 89-year-old storyteller and writer Gary Carden spends much of his time revisiting his youth and childhood.

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