Best of
Southern
2010
On Folly Beach
Karen White - 2010
But it's the personal battles of Folly Beach's residents that have left the most scars, and why a young widow has been beckoned there to heal her own... To most people, Folly Beach is simply the last barrier island before reaching the great Atlantic. To some, it's a sanctuary for lost souls, which is why Emmy Hamilton's mother encourages her to buy the local book store, Folly's Finds, hoping it will distract Emmy from the loss of her husband. Emmy is at first resistant. So much has already changed. But after finding love letters and an image of a beautiful bottle tree in a box of used books from Folly's Finds, she decides to take the plunge. But the seller insists on one condition: Emmy must allow Lulu, the late owner's difficult sister, to continue selling her bottle trees from its back yard. For the most part Emmy ignores Lulu as she sifts through the love letters, wanting to learn more. But the more she discovers about the letters, the more she understands Lulu. As details of a possible murder and a mysterious disappearance during WWII are revealed, the two women discover that circumstances beyond their control, sixty years apart, have brought them together, here on Folly Beach. And it is here that their war-ravaged hearts can find hope for a second chance...
Burning Bright
Ron Rash - 2010
It is rare that an author can capture the complexities of a place as though it were a person, and rarer still that one can reveal a land as dichotomous and fractious as Appalachia—a muse; a siren; a rugged, brutal landscape of exceptional beauty, promise, and suffering—with the honesty and precision of a photograph. "If you haven't heard of the Southern writer Ron Rash, it is time you should" (The Plain Dealer).In Burning Bright, the stories span the years from the Civil War to the present day, and Rash's historical and modern settings are sewn together in a hauntingly beautiful patchwork of suspense and myth, populated by raw and unforgettable characters mined from the landscape of Appalachia. In "Back of Beyond," a pawnshop owner who profits from the stolen goods of local meth addicts—including his own nephew—comes to the aid of his brother and sister-in-law when they are threatened by their son. The pregnant wife of a Lincoln sympathizer alone in Confederate territory takes revenge to protect her family in "Lincolnites." And in the title story, a woman from a small town marries an outsider; when an unknown arsonist starts fires in the Smoky Mountains, her husband becomes the key suspect.In these stories, Rash brings to light a previously unexplored territory, hidden in plain sight—first a landscape, and then the dark yet lyrical heart and the alluringly melancholy soul of his characters and their home.
Carolina Rain
Nancy B. Brewer - 2010
2013)Open the page of Carolina Rain and step on the streets of an era gone by. Carolina Rain is not just a read, but an experience. You will smell the magnolia trees, feel the sun on your face and taste the bittersweet tears of a beautiful young girl coming of age at the dawning of the Civil War. Theodosia Elizabeth Sanders, "Lizzie" was born October 6, 1842. Her open heart is filled with hope and a desire to love, but her innocence makes her a target for the less than trustworthy. Yet, underneath the layers of lace and petticoats, you will discover Lizzie to be a strong-willed and determined young woman.books in the Carolina Rain Series. Carolina Rain, Beyond Sandy Ridge, Lizzie after the War, Letters from Lizzie.See more books by this author: www.nancybbrewer.com
Dorothea Benton Frank CD Collection: Shem Creek \ Pawleys Island
Dorothea Benton Frank - 2010
The oldest, Lindsey, who always held her younger sister in check, is leaving for college. And Gracie, her Tasmanian devil, is giving her nightmares. Linda's personal life? Well, between the married men, the cold New Jersey winters, her pinched wallet and her ex-husband who marries a beautiful, successful woman ten years younger than she is—let's just say, Linda has seen enough to fill a thousand pages.As the story opens, she is barreling down Interstate 95, bound for Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, the land of her ancestors. Welcomed by the generous heart of her advice-dispensing sister, Mimi, Linda and her daughters slowly begin to find their way and discover a sweeter rhythm of life.
Pawleys Island
Meet Huey Valentine, the owner of Gallery Valentine, catering to interior decorators and, heaven save us, tourists. Huey resides on his family plantation on the shores of the Waccamaw River, where he cares for his mother, Miss Olivia, a wise and irresistible octogenarian. And meet Huey’s great friend Abigail Thurmond, retired attorney from Columbia, who has laid claim to her family’s home on Pawleys Island. Huey and Abigail are complacent in their fat and sassy lives until the stormy advent of the artist Rebecca Simms.Rebecca has been catapulted from her home, her marriage, and her children. She has escaped to Pawleys Island to hide herself from herself. But after Miss Olivia pries Rebecca’s secrets from her, Huey and especially Abigail are challenged to reenter life outside the dream state their idyllic geography evokes.
Waiting for the Evening News: Stories of the Deep South
Tim Gautreaux - 2010
In stories filled with heart and humour, Tim Gautreaux explores the stresses and strains of everyday life as his characters struggle to make amends for their mistakes and hope for different, better days to come.
Lambs of Men
Charles Dodd White - 2010
His mother has committed suicide, dredging up old resentments between Hiram and his father, Sloane. When a gruesome act of violence stuns the insular mountain community, father and son must journey together to see justice carried out while coming to terms with a deeply troubled family history.
The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook
Southern Foodways Alliance - 2010
You know—one of those old, spiral- or plastic-tooth-bound cookbooks sold to support a high school marching band, a church, or the local chapter of the Junior League. These recipe collections reflect, with unimpeachable authenticity, the dishes that define communities: chicken and dumplings, macaroni and cheese, chess pie. When the Southern Foodways Alliance began curating a cookbook, it was to these spiral-bound, sauce-splattered pages that they turned for their model. Including more than 170 tested recipes, this cookbook is a true reflection of southern foodways and the people, regardless of residence or birthplace, who claim this food as their own. Traditional and adapted, fancy and unapologetically plain, these recipes are powerful expressions of collective identity. There is something from—and something for—everyone. The recipes and the stories that accompany them came from academics, writers, catfish farmers, ham curers, attorneys, toqued chefs, and people who just like to cook—spiritual Southerners of myriad ethnicities, origins, and culinary skill levels. Edited by Sara Roahen and John T. Edge, written, collaboratively, by Sheri Castle, Timothy C. Davis, April McGreger, Angie Mosier, and Fred Sauceman, the book is divided into chapters that represent the region’s iconic foods: Gravy, Garden Goods, Roots, Greens, Rice, Grist, Yardbird, Pig, The Hook, The Hunt, Put Up, and Cane. Therein you’ll find recipes for pimento cheese, country ham with redeye gravy, tomato pie, oyster stew, gumbo z’herbes, and apple stack cake. You’ll learn traditional ways of preserving green beans, and you’ll come to love refried black-eyed peas. Are you hungry yet?Published in association with the Southern Foodways Alliance at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. A Friends Fund Publication.
Last Bus Out
Beck McDowell - 2010
While government officials posed for cameras, a boy from the projects with no driver's license stepped up and showed what "drive" is all about. LAST BUS OUT tells how Courtney Miles stole a bus, charged past a police roadblock, and argued with a National Guardsman who threatened to lock him in the makeshift jail at the Greyhound Bus Station. Sick with worry about his missing grandmother, he drove his passengers to safety, then went back into the city at midnight to help others. His adventure would ultimately lead to starting his life over on the opposite end of the country, far away from the three women he loves - the mother who abused him, the grandmother who taught him to survive, and the girlfriend who would betray him. LAST BUT OUT chronicles Courtney's life alone while his mother was repeatedly jailed for selling drugs. At seven he woke up on Christmas Eve with a gun in his face. At thirteen he witnessed the murder of a man three feet in front of him. As a high school junior he lived alone in an empty house without electricity or water. Courted by gangs who knew he was hungry, "Streets", as he was nicknamed for his solitary life on the streets, lived apart and kept his record clean - until the day he risked his freedom to save his neighbors. Courtney's passengers describe hacking their way through attics, fighting rats and snakes for dry roof space, wading past bloated dead bodies in toxic waters, and searching for missing family members while grieving for loved ones lost. See LastBusOut.com for more information.
Horse and Rider: Poems
Melissa Range - 2010
Her mixture of free and formal verse is populated with warriors, weapons, animals, and figures from the Bible and mythology. In a galloping triptych of ancient and apocalyptic visions, these vigorous poems probe the recurring image of the horse and its sometimes troubled, sometimes loving relationship with its rider.
Time Done Been Won't Be No More
William Gay - 2010
William Gay is well known for his fiction but he is also widely published with his essays, mostly dealing with music, and his memoirs. This is the first collection that includes his nonfiction prose. The elegant use of language that his readers have come to expect is as evident in his collected prose as it is in his novels.
Orfan
Corie Skolnick - 2010
While ORFAN has a fantastical side that allows us to reach in and enjoy the story of JD, it also illustrates the searing pain of aloneness and how important it is that our communities support all our "orfans" to have stable, permanent lifelong families. As we see with ORFAN, families can appear in all shapes and colors and from the most unlikely places. ORFAN is an old-fashioned page-turner with real heart and an insight into love and how people authentically come together as family."ORFAN is an insightful look at adoption that is so often ignored. From the beginning of the story the reader is pulled into the authenticity of each life that is touched by adoption. I recommend this book to anyone who is part of the adoption triad, the birthparents, adoptive parents and adoptee. You will not be disappointed."-Karen L. Vedder, MSW, Former president of Concerned United Birthparents, Inc., Carlsbad, CA"A wondrous, unique story about the power of imagination and movie stars to lift us out of tough circumstances."-Paige Gold, Entertainment and Media attorney"ORFAN is a novel that shows us the world from the fragile perspective of an amazing young boy who has lost what so many take for granted. Corie Skolnick has created a raft of vivid characters who turn the idea of "family" on its head, while telling a mesmerizing story that reminds us of how we are all linked together by our need for connection."- Donna Accardo, Chair, English Department, Pierce College, Los Angeles, CA
1,001 Ways to Cook Southern: The Ultimate Treasury of Southern Classics (Southern Living)
Susan Hernandez Ray - 2010
This treasury of Southern cooking showcases recipes with entertaining commentary spotlighting the colorful cultural influences, Southernisms, fiery food debates, and the lighthearted side of Southern cooking. You'll also find helpful tips, menus for strictly Southern occasions, quick inspirations, and Taste of the South features highlighting just what gives a recipe its Southern accent. Discover what the Food staff considers to be their quintessential Southern ingredients, techniques, and equipment. Browse through these pages and find:Over 1,000 tried-and-true favorite Southern recipes More than 150 full-color mouthwatering images Valuable cooking pointers throughout that make preparing Southern classics and updated favorites foolproof Recipe banners to help quickly identify types of recipes like family favorite, make ahead, for kids, and more Food Finds featuring some of the finest eateries the South has to offer, all of them recognized by the magazine's Food and Travel editors
Sweet Music on Moonlight Ridge (Book 1)
Ramey Channell - 2010
Here you'll meet a pair of intrepid eight-year-old cousins, Lily Claire and Willie T., and their multi-ethnic family in the backwoods of Alabama.This is a story about family and community ties, loyalty and faith, and a very unusual map used by two flamboyant children to solve a mystery "out on the mountain." This is a Southern story filled with humor, mystery, surprises, and a touch of the supernatural, in the 1950s backwoods of Alabama. First published in 2010 by Chalet Publishers LLC, now published as Book One of The Moonlight Ridge Series.
The Rhythm of Secrets
Patti Lacy - 2010
Now a conservative pastor's wife in Chicago, she is skilled at hiding secrets--a talent birthed during childhood romps through the music-filled streets of New Orleans. But when the son she bore at the age of eighteen comes back looking for answers and desperate for help, her greatest secret--and greatest regret--is revealed. Eager to right past wrongs, Sheila's heart floods with memories of lyrical jazz music and a worn-out Bible. But when her husband learns of her shady history, Sheila is suddenly faced with an impossible decision: embrace the dream--and son--she abandoned against her will or give in to the demands of her safe but stifled life. As she struggles to reclaim both her son and her identity, Sheila soon realizes that God's grace spans both seas and secrets and that He is all she really needs.With dynamic writing that makes the reader feel the heartache of a teenage mother, struggle with the disillusionment of an abandoned boy, and revel in the idea of grace despite flaws, rising star Patti Lacy takes her fans on a journey they won't want to end--and won't soon forget.The 'secret' is out--Patti Lacy is easily one of the most gifted authors in Christian fiction today, and her stunning new novel, The Rhythm of Secrets is absolute proof. From the delicious jazz-filled streets of New Orleans to the seedy underworld of Bangkok, Thailand, embark on a journey that transcends the mere pages of a book to become a riveting life experience. No longer a 'well-kept secret, ' Patty Lacy is a master storyteller who speaks to the soul with a powerful and unique rhythm all her own, weaving a tale so rich with emotion that story and reader become one.--Julie Lessman, author of The Daughters of Boston series and A Hope UndauntedPatti Lacy weaves together another beautifully written and haunting story in The Rhythm of Secrets. I couldn't put it down!--Melanie Dobson, award-winning author of The Black CloisterPatti Lacy has written yet another absorbing novel with words as dazzling and rhythmic as the musical world that her characters live in. The Rhythm of Secrets is a stirring story of faith and endurance that will keep readers turning the page until every last secret has been revealed.--Tina Ann Forkner, author of Ruby Among Us and Rose HousePatti Lacy is known for riveting tales that span continents, decades, and lives. The Rhythm of Secrets is another great Patti Lacy story, this time of a woman whose past secret lives have caught up with her. Captivating, heart-rending and heart-expanding, The Rhythm of Secrets is a vibrant journey across time in search of the greatest truth of all: grace.--Tosca Lee, author of Havah: The Story of Eve and Demon: A Memoir
God and Football: Faith and Fanaticism in the SEC
Chad Gibbs - 2010
They spent thousands on season tickets, donated millions to athletic departments, and for three months a year ordered their entire lives around the schedule of their favorite team. As a Christian, Gibbs knows he cannot serve two masters, but at times his faith is overwhelmed by his fanaticism. He is not alone.Gibbs and his six million friends do not live in a spiritually void land where such borderline idol worship would normally be accepted. They live in the American South, where according to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, 84 percent identify themselves as Christians. This apparent contradiction that Gibbs sees in his own life, and in millions of others’, has led him to journey to each of the twelve schools to spend time with rabid Christian fans of various ages and denominations. Through his journey, he learns how others are able to balance their passion for their team with their devotion to God.
The Road to Mercy
Melissa McGovern Taylor - 2010
Yet, behind the well-kept streets and smiling faces, Mercy bears a burden of pain from the past. Karen Denwood knows this all too well - she created the burden. After nine years in prison, Karen clings to the hope that the residents of Mercy will allow the "murderer" of Frank Aldridge to reenter the town limits unscathed. To Karen's dismay, the town residents shun her one by one. With only her aunt's acceptance, Karen loses hope for a fresh start in her hometown...until she finds forgiveness in the most unlikely person. Joseph Aldridge returns to Mercy planning to reopen his grandfather's old store as a veterinary clinic. After joining a prison Bible study, he never expects to come face-to-face with Karen Denwood, the woman responsible for his grandfather's death. Just when Joe thinks he can't let go of the past, God plants a seed of forgiveness in his heart for Karen. In the midst of Karen's struggle for acceptance in Mercy, Joe draws closer to her side. Will forgiveness blossom into something more or will their tragic history continue to tear them apart?
Miss Budge In Love
Daphne Simpkins - 2010
A retired public school teacher, Miss Budge embarks on a series of slice-of-life adventures that take readers into the intriguing and authentic lives of Southern church women. "What our readers love about Miss Budge is that they all know her personally. In fact, they all are her in one way or another. Daphne's stories are instantly recognizable to those in a church community, and that's where the real humour and real pathos comes from. Daphne is a keen observer of the strange and wonderful subculture of 'the church lady.'" Brett Alan Dewing The Christian Courier (Canada) "Mildred Budge is a forthright, almost larger than life, woman who challenges every reader's faith walk by being transparent about her own. She reminds us that Jesus loves us the way we are but He loves us too much to leave us as we are." Julie Innes Evangel
Creating a Confederate Kentucky: The Lost Cause and Civil War Memory in a Border State
Anne E. Marshall - 2010
Marshall traces the development of a Confederate identity in Kentucky between 1865 and 1925, belying the fact that Kentucky never left the Union. After the Civil War, the people of Kentucky appeared to forget their Union loyalties and embraced the Democratic politics, racial violence, and Jim Crow laws associated with former Confederate states. Marshall looks beyond postwar political and economic factors to the longer-term commemorations of the Civil War by which Kentuckians fixed the state's remembrance of the conflict for the following sixty years.
The Complete Southern Cookbook: More Than 800 of the Most Delicious, Down-Home Recipes
Tammy Algood - 2010
This has led to so many longstanding food traditions: strawberry jam in spring, apple cobbler in fall, fried green tomatoes in summer, pickled beets in winter, and the list goes on. With more than 800 delicious Southern recipes for over 85 different ingredients, there are plenty of options when your garden is plentiful and your freezer is stocked. From Almonds to Zucchini, these delightful recipes are organized by ingredient to highlight the seasonality of the recipes. Tammy Algood has been cooking Southern food all her life. Along with this complete collection of her favorite down-home recipes, she has also included some contemporary dishes as well: Lemon Butter Asparagus, Merlot Brownies, Pralines and Cream Cheesecake, Southern Chicken Cordon Bleu, and Mixed Mushroom Tart. Here is a sample of the wonderful Southern recipes available Almond BrittleDried and Fried Apple PiesSouthern Apple FrittersBacon Cheese DipHot Bacon DressingNew Orleans Bananas FosterCarolina Baby Back RibsTennessee's Best ButtTexas Thunder Barbecue SauceAppalachian Baked BeansSeaside Black Beans and RiceIndian Summer Beet SaladCountry Ham and Cheese BiscuitsDaisy BiscuitsHot Cheese Drop BiscuitsRefrigerator BiscuitsOld South Cabbage RollsPan-Fried ColeslawSweet Kissed CarrotsTime-Honored Cheese StrawsFresh Cherry CobblerState Fair Caramel CornPecan "Fried" ChickenSpicy Fried ChickenLady's Lunch Old-Fashioned Chicken SaladCornbread WafflesCrispy Southern HushpuppiesSausage Cornbread DressingAndouille Grilled GritsSouthern Hospitality Cheese GritsFabulous Fried OkraOyster Po'BoysSouthern-Fried PiesSouthern Tradition Pecan PieFirecracker Sausage BallsButtermilk Spoon BreadBourbon-Basted Sweet Potatoes"A Sip of Tradition" Sweet TeaTea JulepsFried Buttermilk Green TomatoesHot Tomato GritsFried Zucchini MatchsticksAnd so much more . . .
Called to Coach: The Life, Faith and Career of College Football's Most Popular Coach
Bobby Bowden - 2010
With his recent retirement, Bowden is ready to give fans and readers the behind-the-scenes story of his 55-year career and the path that helped him become one of college football's most successful coaches and patriarch of the sport's most famous coaching family. In this book, Bowden will reveal never-before-published details of the moments and events that have defined his life, including: * The tragic death of his grandson and son-in-law in a 2004 automobile accident.* The details of his retirement as FSU's coach at the end of the 2009 season.
The Twelve Days of Christmas in South Carolina
Melinda Long - 2010
Rainbow-painted houses, yummy shrimp stew, war heroes, prowling pirates, kudzu monsters, leaping dolphins…and a wren in a palmetto tree: that's a South Carolina Christmas, and Laura is experiencing it all for the first time! Kids will love exploring this magical southern state with her.
Everything You Were Taught about the Civil War Is Wrong, Ask a Southerner!
Lochlainn Seabrook - 2010
But if we are ever to learn the full and honest truth about the conflict, then exposed they must be.In Everything You Were Taught About the Civil War is Wrong, Ask a Southerner! award-winning historian and author Colonel Lochlainn Seabrook sets the record straight in this easy-to-read, well documented handbook that confronts the North's many falsehoods about the American Civil War - important facts the anti-South Movement has been supressing for 150 years! Divided into convenient chapters, such as "Cause of the War," "Secession," "Slavery," "The Abolition Movement," "Jefferson Davis," "Abraham Lincoln," "The Emancipation Proclamation," "The Union and Blacks," "Yankee War Crimes," "Prisons," and "The Confederate Flag" (among many others), this bestselling expos� of Yankee anti-South propaganda has the power to heal hearts and change minds. For in reeducating the world about Lincoln's War it will give Northerners a better understanding of the conflict itself, while making Southerners, of all races and political persuasions, proud to be Southern.Read the politically incorrect, international blockbuster that everyone's talking about - the book that totally blows the lid off Yankee mythology - and learn the Truth for yourself, from Dixie's perspective. You will never completely understand the conflict until you do. Contains over 1,000 endnotes and a 700-book bibliography, and is endorsed by Dixie Outfitters, the Southern National Congress, League of the South, and numerous other pro-South organizations and individuals - and even by many Yankees. The Foreword is by noted African-American educator and Sons of Confederate Veterans member Nelson W. Winbush, M.Ed., the grandson of Private Louis Napoleon Nelson, just one of the hundreds of thousands of black Confederate soldiers who fought for the South.Everything You Were Taught About the Civil War is Wrong, Ask a Southerner! has become required reading in homes and schools all over the world and is available in paperback, hardcover, and large print. Blurbs are by Thomas Moore (Chairman, Southern National Congress), Ronny Mangrum (Adjutant, Roderick, Forrest's War Horse Camp 2072, Sons of Confederate Veterans), Timothy D. Manning (Executive Director, The Southern Partisan Reader), J. T. Thompson (Executive Director, Lotz House Museum, Franklin, TN), Scott Bowden (nine-time award-winning historian and author), and Barbara Marthal, B.A., M.Ed., (African-American educator, lecturer, and Civil War reenactor).Neo-Victorian Civil War scholar Lochlainn Seabrook, a descendant of the families of Alexander H. Stephens, John S. Mosby, Edmund W. Rucker, and William Giles Harding, is the most prolific and popular pro-South writer in the world today. Known by literary critics as the "new Shelby Foote" and by his fans as the "Voice of the Traditional South," he is a recipient of the prestigious Jefferson Davis Historical Gold Medal and the author of over 50 books that have introduced hundreds of thousands to the truth about the War for Southern Independence. A 7th generation Kentuckian of Appalachian heritage and the 6th great-grandson of the Earl of Oxford, Colonel Seabrook has a 40-year background in American and Southern history, and is the author of the runaway bestseller Everything You Were Taught About American Slavery is Wrong, Ask a Southerner!
Fried Chicken and Champagne
Lisa Dupar - 2010
Well actually, many secrets...which readers will love curling up with, giggling over and then taking to the kitchen when they read the award winning chef s new book, Fried Chicken & Champagne: A Romp Through the Kitchen at Pomegranate Bistro. Born in Mexico, Southern bred and now a firmly transplanted Pacific Northwesterner, she knows how to spin a tale that is more like an ongoing conversation with a close friend. Dupar, who is as well known nationally for her unparalleled reputation as a caterer, as she is as a top restaurateur, released her cookbook November 10th, which is available at select bookstores as well as at her Redmond restaurant, Pomegranate Bistro.
New Orleans: What Can't Be Lost: 88 Stories and Traditions from the Sacred City
Lee BarclayTom Piazza - 2010
Alongside Christopher Porche West's alluring black-and-white photographs, New Orleans' culture bearers pay tribute to the city they call home.
Rascal: A Dog and His Boy
Ken Wells - 2010
He used to live on Voclain's Farm, with its whole jambalaya of dogs, but now he lives with his very own boy, Meely. Together they explore the Louisiana bayou, bunny chasin', coon and squirrel huntin', and crawfishin'. But when Meely gets stuck on a rotting bridge deep in the bayou, it's up to Rascal--with a little help from his old friends at the farm--to save his boy from danger.In the spirit of "Huckleberry Finn, ""Rascal" is a classic coming-of-age story, but from a dog's perspective. With unforgettable characters, heart-stopping action, and charming black-and-white line drawings that capture it all, this zesty gumbo of a book is one to savor long after it is finished.
Southern Living 2010 Annual Recipes: Every Single Recipe from 2010 -- Over 750!
Southern Living Inc. - 2010
From showcasing some of the twists on Southern classics to featuring quick-andeasy weeknight meals your family will love, there's something for everyone. Insider hints and tips from the Food Staff, full-color photographs, and all-time favorite Southern recipes make this a must-have volume. More than 50 menus are included to help you plan for every occasion. From everyday dinners to supper club entertaining, Southern Living helps you find the perfect recipes to create simple, easy, and inspiring menus.
Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves South Carolina Narratives, Part 2
Work Projects Administration - 2010
You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
New Stories from the South 2010: The Year's Best
Amy HempelEmily Quinlan - 2010
This twenty-fifth volume reachs out beyond the South to one of the most acclaimed short story writers of our day. Guest editor Amy Hempel admits, “I’ve always had an affinity for writers from the South,” and in her choices, she’s identified the most inventive, heartbreaking, and chilling stories being written by Southerners all across the country. From the famous (Rick Bass, Wendell Berry, Elizabeth Spencer, Wells Tower, Padgett Powell, Dorothy Allison, Brad Watson) to the finest new talents, Amy Hempel has selected twenty-five of the best, most arresting stories of the past year. The 2010 collection is proof of the enduring vitality of the short form and the vigor of this ever-changing yet time-honored series.
A Walk in Victoria's Secret: Poems
Kate Daniels - 2010
Imbued with a unique poetic voice that is utterly feminist, these poems possess a fiery intensity for those abuses no woman can ever quite recover from, but also reveal the loving, forgiving temperament of the mother no woman can do without. From the title poem's unapologetic celebration of the breast to a belated apology to the girl who integrated her elementary school, to the awkward juxtaposition of elderly and young women in a gynecologist's office on September 11, 2001, Daniels provides a rich array of meditations on what it means to be a woman in our time. Buoyant and entertaining, singular in style, and exuberant in language, A Walk in Victoria's Secret offers an intimate look at women's experiences.
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
Beth Hoffman - 2010
For years she’s been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille— the crown-wearing, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town. Though it’s 1967 and they live in Ohio, Camille believes it’s 1951 and she’s just been crowned the Vidalia Onion Queen of Georgia.The day CeeCee discovers Camille in the front yard wearing a tattered prom dress and tiara as she blows kisses to passing motorists, she knows her mother has completely flipped. When tragedy strikes, Tootie Caldwell, a previously unknown great-aunt comes to CeeCee’s rescue and whisks her away to Savannah. Within hours of her arrival, CeeCee is catapulted into a perfumed world of prosperity and Southern eccentricities—a world that appears to be run entirely by women.While Tootie is busy saving Savannah’s endangered historic homes from the wrecking ball, CeeCee encounters a cast of unforgettable, eccentric characters. From the mysterious Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in an outdoor tub under the watchful eyes of a voyeuristic peacock, to Oletta Jones, the all-knowing household cook, to Violene Hobbs, the loud-mouthed widow who entertains a local police officer in her yellow see-through peignoir, the women of Gaston Street keep CeeCee entertained and enthralled for an entire summer.But CeeCee’s view of the world is challenged in ways she could have never imagined: there are secrets to keep, injustices to face, and loyalties to uphold. Just as she begins to find her ballast and experiences a sense of belonging, her newfound joy collides with the long-held fear that her mother’s legacy has left her destined for destruction.Laugh-out-loud funny, at times heartbreaking, and written in a pitch-perfect voice, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is a spirited Southern tale that explores the intricate frailties and strengths of female relationships while illuminating the journey of a young girl who loses her mother but finds many others.