A little late to Poetry Month but this is lovely. Elegiac poems about death, the fraught relationship between a gay son and his Baptist father, and the natural world of the rural Arkansas Delta. Fans of Silas House will love these (yes, that‘s a waterfall in the background)

Few people have heard of Barbara Loden, but she won a Tony and was the second wife of Elias Kazan. While she had small parts in several movies, she‘s best known for directing and starring in Wanda (1970), now an art-house classic. My interest? Loden grew up in the same poor Appalachian small NC town that my mother did. I wouldn‘t read this unless you‘ve seen the movie, but it‘s a thoughtful meditation on the film, life, and art.

Maybe I was still in withdrawal from the Murdaugh murder trial of 2023 when I bought this, but it looked enticing. Alas, it mostly disappoints. The jacket copy misleadingly promises an insider's look at "bro culture" and the "gilded bubble" of contemporary Greek life, and how the "old boy" system is still alive and functioning in the South. But the narrative meanders and the crime story mostly felt humdrum. Juicy but ultimately insubstantial.

My white dog Pooh Bear is getting older. I am, too. Maybe that‘s why I finally picked up Terry Kay‘s book about a widowed Southerner facing mortality and read it. Though first published in 1990, it‘s still pure poetry to read and a beautiful testament to small towns, the South, and family, and the realities of loss and mortality. And it features a dog who may be a ghost, or a real one. Kay keeps you guessing. Highly recommended!

I don‘t read much crime fiction. I picked this for my book club, based on glowing reviews. While I found the friendship between Ike and Buddy Lee slightly implausible and the hard-core violence was over-the-top, this ultimately won me over, even though I saw where it was headed early. I guess I‘m a sucker for any work with a message of unity, or calling out hypocrisy whenever you see it. And yes, Sam Elliott should play Buddy Lee in the movie.

I‘ve read all of her collections, and this is probably one of her darkest, and best. A bonafide Southern-fried Winesburg, Ohio, for the 21st century. It‘s certainly my favorite book cover of all her works.

“We‘ve been here 200 years. The first Chinese came in 1815…Why doesn‘t this face register as American? Is it because we make the story too complicated? Because we haven‘t figured out how yet. Whether it‘s a tragedy or a comedy or something in between. If we haven‘t cracked the code of what it‘s like to be inside this face, then how can we explain it to anyone else?”
Happy Chinese New Year! Loved this book. Thanks again, @alexus_sb !

Embarrassed to say this is my first Frazier since Cold Mountain. But really, how can you ever follow up such a phenomenal debut without some disappointment? This is no Cold Mountain, but I still found it mostly entertaining. If you‘re a fan of Raymond Chandler, the American West, or 1930s noir, you‘ll enjoy this little romp. There are shades of Gatsby, a Lady Eve, just don‘t take this mashup too seriously.

“The German writer Goethe said that the tone of mind produced by architecture approaches the effect of music – that to look upon a thing is to hear it. Music is liquid architecture, he wrote, and architecture is frozen music.”

My book club chose this. While I think it will probably provoke a good discussion, I felt like the author pushed an agenda at the expense of any substantial character development. I think I‘ll stick with Atwood and Orwell for speculative fiction.

First read of 2024 completed. Not for the lighthearted. “Memories lie slumbering within us for months and years, quietly proliferating, until they are woken by some trifle and in some strange way blind us to life.”

Fred Chappell died last week. I have a signed lithograph of this, one of my favorite poems. I hope he‘s resting in peace with the cool ground‘s mild children.

Last read of 2023, and while there were parts which were definitely cringeworthy and haven‘t aged well, there was also this:
“That‘s what kids are, Jerry—all heart. Big round blueberry hearts. The trouble is—the older you get, the more you grow away from your heart. Like a tree. It gets deeper and deeper inside you, more and more hidden.”
Here‘s to finding your heart again in 2024! Happy New Year!

Happy #JolabokaflodSwap23 and many thanks to @alexus_sb ! How did she know I‘ve been on an Asian-American reading binge lately? Happy Holidays and wishing everyone peace and joy 🕊️🕊️

John Nichols died yesterday. Years ago, I devoured his fiction when I lived in the Southwest. RIP.

Finally finished this yesterday. The film adaption of this was my favorite movie of 2023 and I‘m glad to say Cognetti‘s writing was equally elegiac and haunting. One reviewer has called this a male version of Ferrante‘s My Brilliant Friend and I don‘t think it‘s an unfair comparison. It‘s a shame more male authors don‘t write about the complexity of male friendships.

Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid's Tale, turns 84 today.

"Canadians are fond of a good disaster, especially if it has ice, water, or snow in it. You thought the national flag was about a leaf, didn't you? Look harder. It's where someone got axed in the snow."

I started this book 2 weeks ago and snapped this pic while hiking the Black Mountains. Alas, I lost the trail on descent and ended up bushwhacking through laurel hells to a location 4 miles from my original starting point. Let‘s just say my NOLS training came in handy, and I have a new appreciation for reading these early exploration accounts 🥹😳😬

Who Wore It Best? This year‘s Halloween work group theme was “hotel”. “You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. Indeed, that‘s what we provide in our own modest, humble, insignificant … Oh, f*%k it…” —Monsieur Gustave

While I enjoyed Ted Conover‘s Coyotes and Sonia Nazario‘s Enrique‘s Journey, this first-person memoir takes the experience of migrant children to a whole other level. Beautiful, heart-breaking, and a testament to humanity. Unfortunately it was unable to be nominated for a Pulitzer, as rules still require all authors to be American-born.

I love coming across obscure old books in antique stores that are well written and a pleasure to read. This is a family doctor‘s account of caring for the people in Balsam Grove, a remote pocket of Appalachia in the 1950s. When he founded the local clinic and hospital, the only thing he charged the patients was to bring two river rocks to help build the walls.

Science can show us the workings of the universe in ways we could never once have imagined, and it can change our perspective on that universe radically by doing so. But it can‘t tell us what matters in our human lives, and why, and neither can it tell us why we see what we see, and feel what we feel, and what we should do about any of that. Science might be able to tell us how to resurrect a mammoth, but it can never tell us whether we should.

Sadly, the backlog in my TBR pile is at least 5 years old, but glad I got to this one (I‘d even forgot he signed it!). I haven‘t read his latest, but this one‘s my favorite, so far.

The book cover was more interesting than the content. I think it‘s probably an homage to The White Album by Joan Didion. I had to read this after finishing The Shards and listening to the podcast about Ellis and Donna Tartt at Bennington College.

The Japanese have a word for it 😬😬

This got 4.25 on Goodreads, and it‘s a breezy read, but I didn‘t learn much I didn‘t already know, and I wish Hari had spent more time on neuroscience. He tries to tackle too much, and ultimately (and ironically) I‘d say this lacked focus 😂

The Rivers of America series started in 1937 and 65 volumes were eventually published, usually authored by literary figures, rather than historians. This is an excellent one containing a lot of great stories from early Western NC and Eastern TN history. Dykeman was a regional writer but a pioneer, considering she was a woman and wrote a lot about ecological concerns, long before the 1970s.

The Rivers of America series started in 1937 and 65 volumes were eventually published, usually authored by literary figures, rather than historians. This is an excellent one containing a lot of great stories from early Western NC and Eastern TN history. Dykeman was primarily a regional writer but also somewhat of a pioneer, considering she was a woman and wrote a lot about ecological concerns, long before 1970s.

Someone picked this for my book club. I‘m glad this book exists in the world, but I didn‘t enjoy it.

It seems inconceivable that poets were once guests on the Tonight Show and on the cover of Life. But they were, and James Dickey was larger than life. Today, however, he‘d be the poster child for toxic masculinity. I usually avoid memoirs, but Dickey‘s son was also a terrific writer, and there are quite a few details in this on the filming and inspiration for Deliverance. I didn‘t realize how exploitative the movie was until reading this.

It‘s meta, it‘s mash-up, it‘s Less Than Zero, Gatsby, American Psycho—dare I say there‘s even a dash of SNL‘s “The Californians”—I‘m still trying to decide if it‘s intentional (“I took Mulholland to the 405…until I reached the 10). You‘ll love it or hate it, and yes, it‘s violent. But here‘s the thing: Ellis‘s nostalgia for the Eighties is also surprisingly tender. Long and drawn out, but I relished this, right down to the last Quaalude.

I was looking for the perfect summer read. This was it. Not only does Wilson explore coming of age here, it's done in a way that's both wistfully nostalgic, yet lingers with the pain of adolescence like the best ice cream headache. If you grew up in a small town and always felt like an outsider, you‘ll love this. I enjoyed this one more than Nothing To See Here, which I didn‘t think was possible.

RIP Julian Sands. Heaven may not be a golden Italian countryside, but it comes pretty close.

The most beautiful description of dusk I‘ve read in a while…Fred Chappell was a poet, first and foremost.

My pick this month for Pride was an interesting if unconventional (and somewhat academically dry) bio of a minor character in gay history. The wide open American West appealed to many young men and “confirmed bachelors” who eschewed settling down and getting married. An interesting look at gay life, pre-“gay”.

“Needless to say, technology design is not value-neutral, and military contractors and weapons developers do not want these kinds of questions raised, never mind built into their controllers.” Wow. I‘m a decade late to this, but so far it‘s the best novel I‘ve read this year, and remains timely, considering the AI debate. Sadness and beauty, quantum mechanics, Proust, Japanese history, and meta. Truly everything, everywhere, all at once. 5 stars.

Spending the weekend in the failed utopia that Thomas Hughes attempted to create in rural Rugby, Tennessee. This is the original library. In 1880, Hughes was the most popular writer, after Dickens.

I absolutely love Atwood, but I was almost ready to bail halfway through this one. I wouldn‘t recommend unless you‘ve read Oryx and Crake. For me, it didn‘t achieve true momentum until I started to figure out how the stories fit together.

On the plus side, my book club forces me to read things I normally wouldn‘t. On the negative side: this. Ugh. I guess I‘ll never appreciate pop lit. I love old Hollywood and gay history, but I think I hated this as much as I did The Help. I know I‘m probably in a small minority…

Don‘t hate on Bambi but…deer dominate plant life in sections of the Blue Ridge. “Deer think of orchids as ice cream,” says rare plant specialist Janet Rock. “They always seem to like the rarest of plants.” She calls them locusts with hooves.

Poetry Month was a total bust this year. I had such good intentions but only managed this one, which was so-so, more memoir than haiku.

We‘re renovating the den/library which has forced me to confront my TBR and long-standing addiction. This little charmer came out in the Eighties as a satire of My First Readers and Yuppies, but I think it‘s aged pretty well!

Eudora Welty was born on this day in 1909.

"Edna Earle...never did get to be what you'd call a heavy thinker. Edna Earle could sit and ponder all day on how the little tail of the 'C' got through the 'L' in a Coca-Cola sign."

Disappointing follow-up. I can‘t think of many sequels, though, which surpass the originals.

Joan Is Okay and I mostly am, too, after a refreshing springtime weekend on the farm. I was a little reluctant to read this (pandemic lit) but I loved it. Lots of dry wit.

Desmond is visiting our local bookstore tomorrow, which prompted me to pull this from my TBR pile and finally read it. It‘s unflinching and powerful. I‘m curious to see what his latest will offer.

This was my third Alameddine and I loved it. I feel like one of the biggest challenges for the 21st century is going to be the increasing number of refugees, especially as the climate crisis worsens. This novel offers no solutions but was a powerful hands-on portrayal of the Syrian crisis in Greece and humanity at its worst and best, and also with occasional humor.

“Potato salad in the South is nothing less than the principal smuggler of cholesterol into the festive, careless heart. It is pure poison beneath the facade of bland puritan prosperity.”

Everyone remembers Kent State. No one remembers the Orangeburg Massacre, which took place several years before. I grew up in SC but this was never taught in public school. This was an excellent biography of Cleveland Sellers and the civil rights struggles of the 60‘s and 70‘s.