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Jan 19, 2022
Review of Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics by Dolly Parton
Parton shares the background and context for 175 of her songs, frankly discussing her inspiration, life, and the formerly untouchable...
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Oct 1, 2021
Review of The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash
ICYMI: Wiley Cash's The Last Ballad explores race relations and the fight for dignity in a 1929 North Carolina mill camp community....
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Sep 29, 2021
Review of When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash
I loved Cash's Eastern North Carolina setting, the character of Sherriff Winston Barnes, and the pulsing racial, class-based, and family...
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Sep 15, 2021
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 9/15/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Wiley Cash's upcoming Southern mystery, When Ghosts Come Home; A Thousand Ships, Natalie Haynes's...
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Aug 12, 2021
Review of The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
The Invention of Wings is historical fiction that tracks the characters of (the real-life) Sarah Grimke and her enslaved maid Handful...
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Aug 11, 2021
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/11/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Paper & Blood, Kevin Hearne's second and final book in his quirky Ink & Sigil fantasy duology; The...
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Aug 4, 2021
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 8/4/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry's newest light fiction novel about best friends and polar...
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May 14, 2021
Six Great Historical Fiction Stories about the Civil War
The Civil War Books This painful, terrible time in our nation's history makes for some poignant, brutal, often beautiful storytelling....
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May 13, 2021
Review of The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Coates took his time building the story, and I felt as though he deliberately kept us in a plodding pace to emphasize the unwavering,...
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Mar 5, 2021
Six Illuminating Memoirs to Dive Into
Do you love memoirs like I do? I love digging into the story of someone's life--notable because of chance, circumstance, or choice--and...
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Feb 9, 2021
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 2/9/21 Edition
01 Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton Eli Bell is a young man in a tough spot. His father's gone, his mother's in jail, and his best...
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Feb 8, 2021
Review of The Unwilling by John Hart
Hart reliably offers character-driven mysteries with heartbreaking interpersonal complications. The twists and turns here are excellent,...
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Jan 28, 2021
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 1/28/21 Edition
01 The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met, never even spoken to--someone...
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Jan 4, 2021
Review of The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
The characters aren't deeply developed, but twists and turns make The Wife Upstairs a magnetic, fast read to add to your mystery reading...
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Jan 1, 2021
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 1/1/21 Edition
01 Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon It's the last day of high school, and nemeses Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have battled...
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Oct 15, 2020
Review of Blood: A Memoir by Allison Moorer
Blood reads like an unflinchingly honest journal; Moorer sifts through memories, photos, joyful moments; she feels rage, sadness, and loss.
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Sep 17, 2020
Review of Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles
I love Jiles's richly imagined historical fiction, and I'm in for her other books.
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Aug 3, 2020
Review of Shiner by Amy Jo Burns
The women's lifelong friendship felt like the heart of the story and was a fantastic element.
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Jul 23, 2020
Review of When These Mountains Burn by David Joy
Joy offers an often dark work of Southern literary fiction in which bubbles of hope emerge.
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Jul 18, 2020
Review of Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
Bug is forced to consider what loyalty means, and he must face a potentially dark path ahead.