“Some historians would say that ‘thinkers’ are behind the ideas and mythologies people live by. I think it also goes back to maize, reindeer, squash, sweet potatoes, and rice.”
— Gary Snyder

If you ever wanted to know what it would be like to live a self-sufficient lifestyle and largely off-the-grid, then “Lambs in Winter” (Bright Leaf Press, 2024, 215 pages) by Alexis Lathem might be the book for you, especially if you are a woman.  

“On the day Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, Ronald Truluck drove the long way to work so he could smoke a celebratory joint.”

So begins Ralph Ellis’s comic novel “The Accident Report” (Black Rose Writing, 2025, 223 pages). A recent graduate of Chapel Hill, Ronald Truluck is a reporter for “The Eagle,” a local paper which only reports the news of the fictional Millerton, North Carolina.

Thomas Schlesser’s “Mona’s Eyes” is a slow motion read that will baffle readers looking for a conventional pathway to storytelling. 

Ten-year-old Mona lives with her parents, Camille and Paul, in Paris. One day, she inexplicably goes blind. Her worried parents rush her off to the doctor, but on their arrival Mona regains her vision. The doctor and staff of the hospital are baffled; the parents and Mona are terrified.

Since 1999, hundreds of my reviews have appeared in The Smoky Mountain News. Of those, I would guess that less than 25 were negative. The cause of this disparity is simple enough. My good editor at the SMN lets me choose the books I review, and so I generally pick ones I expect to enjoy. 

“Tell me where you’re from and I’ll tell you who you are.”
— Wallace Stegner

I have just finished reading a book that was like taking a class by an enlightened professor. In this case the “professor” is award-winning author Janisse Ray and her book is titled “Journey In Place: A Field Guide to Belonging” (Amazon, 2025, 231pgs).

In my younger years, I read Herman Wouk’s “The Caine Mutiny” and “Marjorie Morningstar,” but somehow neglected two other bestsellers, his World War II saga “The Winds of War” and its sequel, “War and Remembrance.”

Inspired after reading David McCullough’s tribute to Wouk in “History Matters,” I recently picked up a paperback copy of “The Winds of War” from the public library and am three-quarters of the way through its 836 pages of small print.  

Recently, my mother gifted me “A Christmas Carol and Other Holiday Treasures” (Canterbury Classics, 2013, 540 pages). While I’ve read “A Christmas Carol” many times, I was pleasantly surprised to find Dickens had written plenty more festive tales just like it. 

In a review written in 2013 of John Williamson’s “Stoner,” Tim Kreider snagged the attention of  The New Yorker readers with this title: “The Greatest American Novel You’ve Never Heard of.”

This year, when my friend Anne introduced me to “Stoner,” I still belonged to the ignorant crowd. I’d never heard of the man or his book. Given the title and its publication in 1965, I immediately assumed “Stoner” featured hippies and potheads.

As author Thomas Rain Crowe discovered during his own long journey from Western North Carolina to California to Europe (and with due respect to another Western North Carolinian, Thomas Wolfe), you can go home again. Crowe did.

The Christmas season, dreaded by some, beloved by others, especially children. Already you’ll find houses festooned with lights and yards dotted with inflatable Santas, “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night” on the radio and grocery store shelves stuffed with cards, chocolates and holiday cookies.