Southern Festival of Books 2010, Part One

Nashville welcomed Southern Festival of Books attendees a few weekends ago with three beautiful days of sunshine. It crept into the high 80s each day, but remained cool enough in the shadows to wear appropriately fall-ish clothing. I was fairly picky when choosing sessions to attend, ending up in only five sessions the entire weekend. For the most part, though, I chose extremely well. Each session was interesting and led to much note-taking on my part (yep, I am truly a book nerd!).

Saturday began with breakfast & coffee at the Provence inside the first floor of the Nashville Public Library. The downtown library is such a beautiful building (and Provence is so delicious) that it almost warrants a trip itself. That you get to see it during the Festival is a wonderful bonus. We always park in the library parking garage, as it's no more than $4 per day. Can't really get cheaper than that in the downtown area unless you manage to snag a free-on-weekends parking meter spot!

I must say just a tad bit more about Provence... The BEST (and the original) one is in Hillsboro Village near Vanderbilt on 21st Ave. However, if you are in the downtown area, the Provence inside the library will suffice in a pinch. They still have delicious free-trade coffee, sinful pastries and desserts, and luscious salads and such. Just not as large a selection as the Hillsboro Village location usually has. I had an amazing dark roast coffee and a ginger molasses cookie. For breakfast!

We then traveled to the Festival site and browsed through the vendor booths. Sadly, I missed Susan Gregg Gilmore's session at 10am as a result of a late start combined with that aforementioned Provence pit stop (and really, I wouldn't have been worth much without coffee, anyway).  After looking at booths for quite a while, then also browsing the Book Festival's book sales table, I remembered that I needed to go get my Speed Reader Pass from the headquarters table. Isn't it awesome that I won week one of their Twitter contest?! I think so.

By that time, it was almost time for my cousin and his wife to meet us for lunch... So we went back to Provence. What? Trust me -- try it just once and see if you don't go as many times as is humanly possible. This time I skipped the coffee & sweets but indulged in their roasted vegetable pasta salad. So good.

After lunch, we finally made it into a session: J.T. Ellison on a group panel of women who write mysteries. I love Ellison and her Taylor Jackson series set in Nashville. Her fellow panelists? Not so much. I left my mom there (she loves mysteries probably even more than I do) and ran upstairs to a session on southern literature set during the Depression.

Amy Greene was there with Mary Helen Stefaniak, speaking about her debut novel Bloodroot. This novel had been somewhat on my radar for a while, and then Greene came to Cookeville for a Friends of the Library benefit. I didn't make it, but the posters everywhere reminded me that I had never picked up her book. Listening to her read a heart-wrenching scene from the novel caused me run over to the book sales tent, grab a copy, and rush to her signing line. (Sneak peek -- I finished it several weeks ago, so a Bloodroot review will be forthcoming in the future!)

My favorite quote from Amy Greene, as she explained that she had always seen herself running away to the big city, but then she got married to her high school sweetheart at 20: "The mountains can be either a cradle or a trap. For me, they were a cradle." Mary Helen Stefaniak was also an exceptional speaker and reader. I believe her novel The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia, will make it onto my to-read list -- and possibly into my middle school classroom, eventually, as it's narrated by 11-year-old Gladys Cailiff.

After meeting the oh-so-talented Ms. Greene, I sprinted back to the House Chambers to hear the writing team of Jefferson Bass (Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson) speaking about their fictional series based on Dr. Bass's life as the originator of UT's Body Farm. Both were fascinating, sprinkling true stories from their pasts that link to plots in the books. They also shared how their partnership was born -- Jefferson was working for National Geographic as a documentary maker; he contacted Dr. Bass in order to do two one-hour documentaries on the Body Farm. And as they say, the rest is history.

Dr. Bass also shared that he has known Kathy Reichs professionally for 25 years, although he isn't a fan of the Fox show Bones. He explained that this is because he has "never seen a beautiful blonde with a small trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth as a real-life victim." However, he does credit shows like Bones and CSI, even going all the way back to Quincy, M.E., for bringing necessary attention to the field of forensics. Jefferson Bass will release The Bone Yard, a new Body Farm mystery, in March 2011, which has Dr. Brockton traveling to Florida to explore bodies found at a boys' reform school.

Later in the afternoon, I heard Lee Smith speak. That, however, will save for another day. You'll have to tune in next Monday for a write-up on her session, plus the only Sunday session I attended -- "Don't Quit Your Day Job," about jobs writers held before they became writers.

Faithful Place is a Stunning Return to Tana French's Dublin

Tana French is one of those authors I would truly love to meet. She has written three amazing novels beginning with In the Woods in 2007, The Likeness in 2008, and Faithful Place this year. She didn't tour for Faithful Place's release, which I read was because she has small children and lives across the Atlantic.

In addition to making it her home, Ireland is also the place French chooses as the setting for her novels. For her first novel In the Woods, that setting is more specifically a middle class housing estate outside Dublin. In her second book, The Likeness, French takes readers to another area of Dublin, a small town that lies in the somewhat backwards Irish countryside. Her latest release, Faithful Place, gives readers yet another view of Dublin, by transporting them to a seedy, run-down, and largely poverty-stricken area French calls the Place.

Frank Mackey first appeared in The Likeness as Cassie Maddox's undercover boss. He taught her much about police work prior to her partnering with Rob Ryan in In the Woods. With true grit, French now tells readers Mackey's story. After the discovery of an old suitcase, he is forced to return to the Place, where his family still lives in the same run-down flat. He quickly learns that despite the years that have passed, little has changed. Details of why this particular suitcase is intriguing enough to lure him home are expertly laid out at readers' feet. French never reveals too much, but rather allows readers to learn the story bit by bit as Mackey investigates.

One particular skill French has that sends her books into the limelight is her close attention to voice. Each character's voice is drawn with pitch-perfect tone, vernacular speech, and even accent, so that readers all over the world can almost hear their Irish brogues as the story unfolds. Rather than being upset, French's characters are "wrecked"; rather than being referred to as "people like you," Frank Mackey calls people who are similar a "lot." Such distinctions not only create rich, dynamic characters, but also add to French's Irish setting.

My recommendation to new readers of French's novels would be to start with In the Woods, progress to The Likeness, and end with Faithful Place. As mentioned above, French leads each novel into the next. While far from sequels, characters with seemingly little importance in earlier novels emerge into main characters in later novels. Cassie Maddox moves from co-star to main star from In the Woods to The Likeness. Rob Ryan, main character of In the Woods, is mentioned peripherally in The Likeness, then not at all in Faithful Place. Frank Mackey, mentioned (maybe without  his actual name) in In the Woods, then with a slightly bigger but still marginal role in The Likeness, graduates to main character status in Faithful Place.

All in all, French's three novels create an exciting, slightly dark picture of Ireland that is fascinating and highly entertaining.

Don't want to just take my word for it? Read what newspaper reviewers and book bloggers have said:

• NY Times review
• The Washington Post review
• Los Angeles Times review
• Guardian review
• S. Krishna's review
• Linus's Blanket review

What the Dead Know is Sufficiently Creepy for a Fall Read

Tess Monoghan, exceptionally-skilled private eye, stars in Laura Lippman's bestselling mystery series set in Baltimore. In addition to her success with Tess, Lippman has branched out from that series in the past several years to write several well-written standalone novels that rival her own series. I have recently become obsessed with reading everything Lippman has ever written (I read her Tess Monoghan series years ago, so I've already devoured it); I started with this one, and have quickly moved to the others. Currently, I'm reading To the Power of Three, but my first Lippman standalone was What the Dead Know.

In 2007's What the Dead Know, a woman flees the scene of a automobile accident on a highway in Baltimore. After she is picked up walking along the side of the highway, she claims to be one of a pair of long-lost sisters -- the Bethany girls, missing since 1975. Sunny and Heather Bethany went to the local mall one Saturday all those years ago and never returned home. Their disappearance rocked the Baltimore public and literally wrecked their family; their parents divorced in the years after they were gone, and their father committed suicide rather than deal with his own guilt. Now it seems that at long last, the city may find out what happened on that fateful day.

Social worker Kay Sullivan and police officers Kevin Infante and Nancy Porter work around the clock to find out whether or not the hospitalized woman is actually Heather Bethany. Along the way, readers meet the girls' mother, now living in Mexico. Additionally, Lippman takes readers back in time through flashbacks both of the girls themselves and of the initial investigation after their disappearance. In examining the mystery at hand, new things come to light about the 1975 crime that will shock even the most well-read mystery lover.

Lippman has a way of telling a story that is unique; rather than writing simple whodunits, she creates a larger story that gives details unnecessary to the mystery at hand, but that reflects both the good and bad sides of human nature. Her characters are never static, but instead are dynamic individuals with positive and negative characteristics. It is possible for readers to be both appalled by and empathetic to Lippman's characters and their behavior. As in real life, little is ever black and white; Lippman seems to revel in that fact and exploit it in her writing. The gray areas are her specialty, and What the Dead Know is a perfect example of her exceptional story-weaving skills.

The Reversal Stands Strong in the Michael Connelly Collection

Getting Michael Connelly's newest novel The Reversal in one of those publisher-sent envelopes about a month before its October 6th release date was probably one of the coolest things that's happened to me since I started writing about books on the internet. I really started writing about reading and the books I loved (or hated) because I love to read. ARCs were not in my vocabulary at that time; it never occurred to me that someone would ever send me a FREE copy of a book I was looking forward to reading anyway. However, if you follow several book blogs you learn quickly about the awesome relationship that exists between book bloggers, authors, & the publishing community. I can only say that it is an amazing thing that every once in a while will knock your socks off -- in my case, that happened when I opened The Reversal.

This newest Connelly novel once again joins hard-boiled LAPD detective Harry Bosch with his half-brother Mickey Haller. Although I love Harry, the pairing between him and Mickey always makes for the best novels that Connelly writes. Previously, the two shared written space in The Brass Verdict (and I'm pretty sure both appear briefly in the Jack McEvoy novel The Scarecrow).

In The Reversal defense lawyer Mickey jumps to the other side of the courtroom by accepting a job proposal from the district attorney's office. The DA asks him to join their team as a special contract to try one case -- that of a man who was previously tried, but who won an appeal and will be released if the state doesn't prove their case once again. Mickey agrees with two conditions: he gets to pick both his head investigator and his co-counsel. Harry wins the investigator position, and Mickey's ex-wife -- already a lawyer with the DA's office -- becomes his co-counsel.

Connelly gives fair playing time to both fictional heroes; although billed as a Mickey Haller novel, Harry is very much central to the novel's action, as well. And a funny thing happens during the novel's pages -- we see sides of both Mickey and Harry that we have only glimpsed before. While both are still tough, there is a layer inside each man that shines a bit stronger in this novel. This occurs through each  man's daughter. Harry, now caring for his daughter full-time, and Mickey, now fully sharing custody with his ex-wife, seem to see the world in a slightly different way as they share space with these girls. Rather than a "me-against-the-world" attitude, each man now seems to have a "me-against-the-world-for-you" outlook.

Connelly once again knocks it out of the park with The Reversal. He seems to be leaning slightly towards more Haller novels rather than strictly focusing in Harry as he has for so long. In my opinion, it's a good choice. Harry is an excellent, well-drawn character, but difficult to relate to (and sometimes difficult to like) in long stretches. Mickey seems to make him more human when the two are juxtaposed against one another.

Connelly is special to me for many reasons; I read all of his books between last year and this year, simply because I wanted to read them all in order. I officially decided to make A Worn Path a book blog during my Connelly reading spree, so I've written about almost all of his books during the past year. And I met him this past February at an excellent book event sponsored by a Nashville school. He's definitely a favorite, and one that I snatch up new releases from as soon as they're available.

Connelly will release another new Mickey Haller novel, The Fifth Witness, in April 2011 (and I will read it very soon after that!).

Wordle Is a Thing of Beauty

I have many book reviews and bookish posts to write, but tonight I wanted to share something fun that will have you playing with words for hours (or several minutes anyway). The website Wordle will take any text you type in and make a "word cloud" out of it. For example, my art from e.e. cummings' poem "somewhere I have never travelled":

I know it's difficult to see, but trust me -- it's awesome! (And if you click on the image, you'll be taken to the much better, larger, and even viewable version.) I must say, it's a simply marvelous blending of poetry, word play, and art, all rolled up into one. To make one of your own, go to Wordle, click on "Create," enter your own text, and then "Randomize" until you see something you like. You can also choose your font, color, size, etc., but I've had enormous amounts of fun just letting Wordle decide for me.

(Wouldn't this be a perfect Christmas gift? You could make one for Christmas, or for a specific person -- any word entered multiple times will appear bigger than other words. My creative juices are flowing! Wordle lets you print, so framing would be the next logical step in my opinion... Think of all the great possibilities.)

Countdown to Southern Festival of Books: 4 Days -- Oktoberfest & Review of Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger

The week of the Southern Festival of Books has finally arrived, and I couldn't be more excited! In addition to SFB, Oktoberfest will also be in Nashville this weekend. The annual event held in Nashville's historic Germantown neighborhood will be on Saturday from 9am until 6pm. For more information, check out their website. I'll be heading over there at some point for a break from the book talk and some delicious German food.

The Southern Festival of Books website is now full of up-to-date information, including the most recent author list and the latest schedule of sessions. The Festival will begin this Friday morning and run through Sunday afternoon.

Lee Smith is an author I have loved for so long. One of my favorite bookish memories is of driving with my mama to see Lee Smith (and other authors) at Ole Miss's annual Conference for the Book. Smith and a trio of musicians read from and performed songs based on her novel Fair and Tender Ladies. It was a magical session that transformed a book I loved into a book I was entranced by. Smith does novels well, but in my opinion her true talent lies in her short-story writing. Her Me and My Baby View the Eclipse is one of my all-time favorite short story collections, but Smith's newest collection, Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, has just become a close second.

Smith's newest story collection is very similar to her previous works, in that she introduces characters who are interesting in spite of (or perhaps because of) their everyday commonness. Smith is the ultimate character builder; she shows rather than tells her readers about the cast of characters she creates in her works of fiction. While Smith is also a masterful storyteller, her strength is in the people who populate her tales.

Fourteen stories are included in this collection, seven original stories and seven which had been published previously. Two of my picks for best in the collection are "Toastmaster" and "Tongues of Fire," both told by a child narrator. Although Smith writes eloquently as an adult narrator in many of the other stories, its her child narrators' voices that shine in Mrs. Darcy. "Toastmaster" is related by a somewhat awkward pre-teen boy who finds his voice one night at dinner. "Tongues of Fire" is also about voice, but also relates deeply-rooted family problems and the complex mix of naivete and wisdom children seem to simultaneously possess.

Several of the other stories focus on the opposite end of the life cycle, growing older. Smith draws these older characters with just as much skill and grace as her young narrators. In "Intensive Care," a man faces the death of his second life love, not long after his divorce; in the previously-published "Between the Lines," a small-town newspaper columnist reveals her own newsworthy secrets; in "The Happy Memories Club" an elderly woman joins a new writing club at her nursing home; and in the title story Mrs. Darcy loses her inhibitions as she grows older and lives for herself rather than for others.

I can't wait to hear the venerable Lee Smith read from and discuss this latest story collection at the Festival on Saturday. She will appear on Saturday morning at the Festival's Breakfast with Authors from 9:30am until 11am, then she will speak in her own session that afternoon from 4pm to 5pm.