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I have also recently enjoyed:
Among the Believers, poetry
by Ron
Rash. Good, good stuff.
Buffalo Dance: The Journey of
York. Poet Frank X. Walker chronicles the Lewis and Clark
expedition from the viewpoint of Clark's slave York. Very powerful.
Some Days There's Pie by
Catherine Landis. Cathy taught at the AWA conference and I really
enjoyed what she had to say. It' s clear that she works hard at her
writing.
When the Finch Rises by
Jack Riggs. A debut novel from a Southern voice so honest and
comfortable that he feels like family.
I've also recently read Callings:
Finding and Following an Authentic Life by Gregg Levoy. Here is
a short excerpt that really spoke to me:
Passion is power. On the color
spectrum from faint interest to rabid obsession, it is toward the red
end of the continuum. Passion is accompanied by the sound of primal
yahoos, castanets in the heart, the beating of wings. It is the natural
exudation of love, any kind of love, and spills from us like heat from a
fire. Passion is the smelling salts of the soul. Passion's message is
the same one that love brings: follow.
[Passion] is what we'd do if we
weren't worried about consequences, about money, about making anybody
happy but ourselves.
Levoy quotes a lot of writers and
writes about the call to write:
It's appropriate that the word
writers use to describe the act of sending their work out into the world
is submission. It is, indeed, a kind of surrender.
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Kory
says:
This
list is certainly not complete, but here are a few of my old and new
favorites:
Fiction
-
Anything
by Lee Smith, especially Saving
Grace.
-
Pamela
Duncan's Moon Women and Plant
Life. Pam captures voice so well in both of these books.
-
A Parchment of Leaves by
Silas
House. The author of Clay's
Quilt has outdone himself with this book, which is told from
the point of view of a Cherokee woman in the early 20th century. The
language is beautiful, the voice is strong, and House once again
shows us that he has a special talent for description of place and
music, elements important to both of his books. His latest book Coal
Tattoo, completes the trilogy and is another great read.
-
Raney
by Clyde Edgerton.
-
The
Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
-
One
Foot in Eden by Ron Rash. Ron is a masterful poet who has crossed the line just enough
to roll out some unforgettable prose in a story that explores the depths
of love and the inevitable costs of deception. Sentences like these keep
you reading: "Cicadas sang in the trees, making it harder to
crosshair my mind."
-
Books
by Lois Battle. Although I have to admit that her latest, The
Florabama Ladies' Auxiliary and Sewing Circle, is not my
favorite, it was still an enjoyable read. I think she does a very
good job of intersecting the lives of multiple characters in her
plots and of implementing different points of view, especially in Storyville
and Bed and Breakfast.
-
Where
the Heart Is by Billie Letts.
-
Final
Vinyl Days and Other Stories by Jill McCorkle. My favorite
is "Your Husband Is Cheating on Us"
-
And
speaking of stories, I am very intrigued by sudden fiction. My
favorite piece of sudden fiction ever is "Missy" by
Richard Bausch. It was published in the 1999 New Stories from
the South from Shannon Ravenel/Algonquin. I think it is
masterful.
-
Bel Canto by Ann
Patchett.
The book jacket's reference to terrorist activity in a South American
county belies the incredible beauty of this book. I truly did not want
it to end. Writers, pay attention: Patchett is a wonderful wordsmith who
implements skillful foreshadowing and seamless movement from one POV to
another. "No one was quite willing to lie, but they tugged down
the edges of the truth."
-
Time
and Again by Jack Finney. A time-travel book with a healthy
dose of history. I did not enjoy the sequel, From Time to Time,
as much.
-
Another
work of historical fiction, The Girl with the Pearl Earring,
by Tracy Chevalier. I would never have picked this out if my reading
group had not selected it, but I really enjoyed it.
-
The
Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve. I suppose everyone in America
has read this one by now, but I really did like it. I think it is
Shreve's best work.
Nonfiction
-
Cathedrals
of Kudzu: A Personal Landscape of the South by Hal Crowther.
I confess I have to read his essays with a dictionary at my side,
but he's always got something thought-provoking to say.
-
West
with the Night by Beryl Markham. Markham was the first
person to cross the Atlantic solo from east to west. Born in England
and raised in east Africa, she lived a life of extraordinary
adventure, and she writes about it beautifully.
-
On
Extended Wings: An Adventure in Flight by Diane Ackerman.
Lessons in life set around this well-known author's experience of
learning to fly.
-
Amelia
and Eleanor Go for a Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan, pictures by
Brian Selznick. This is a beautiful children's book that I love so
much I have to put it in my list. It is based on a real encounter
between Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt.
-
The
Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg. This book details
how "ordinary people" can implement spiritual disciplines
in their lives. Ortberg gives many realistic examples of how our
everyday mindset and habits can interfere with our spiritual growth
and suggests step by step methods for allowing and developing
greater spirituality.
-
If You Want to Walk on Water,
You've Got to Get Out of the Boat by John Ortberg. I love this
book! It is about taking risks (not bungee jumping, but spiritual and
emotional risks) in order to discern and follow God's calling for your
life. Ortberg
leads the reader through questions like What is my deepest dream?
and What do I want my epitaph to say?
-
Go
to Your Studio and Make Stuff: The Fred Babb Poster Book.
Fred is a great witness, in art and essay form, to the importance of
creativity in the lives of adults and children.
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