Book picks similar to
The Piney Ridge Trilogy by Janice Holt Giles


appalachia
applachia
biographies-memoirs
church-library

The Last Carousel


Nelson Algren - 1973
    What we have here in this big fat volume is a cockeyed chrestomathy of 37 Algren pieces... with his hallmark stamped on every link." —The New York Times Book Review"The range of the book is satisfying—rich, will titillate even the most fastidious dilettante or culture vulture... also contains pieces that will make you laugh your head off. Once you begin reading it, you will not be able to put it aside." —The Chicago Tribune"Essential Algren." —The Washington Post"Very good, fast, funny and tough... Algren, where have you been hiding?" —The San Francisco ChronicleHere again is Algren's rich output from the 1960s and '70s, tough, streetwise stories and travelogues from around the world: accounts of brothels in Vietnam and Mexico, stories of the boxing ring, and reminiscences of his beloved Chicago White Sox, among other subjects.

Amish Christmas Baby: Book One


Samantha Jillian Bayarr - 2014
    Will she have the strength and the faith to do what is best for the baby and the mother, despite the fact that she is no longer able to have anymore children of her own?

Hate to Love You


Ivy Symone - 2016
    I was guilty. And I used to not feel bad about having those feelings. My husband was evil and most days I hated him. I used to come up with outlandish schemes in my head to get rid of him without evidence coming back on me. I’ve watch Snapped many times. You had to play that shit careful or a jury wouldn’t believe your word.Ironically, now that my husband Marcos Beauchamp was laid up in the hospital, hanging on for dear life, I kind of felt guilty about my vindictive feelings. Did all of my hopeful wishes bring this about? I can’t lie; a part of me was laughing inside. Not a giggle laugh either. It was one of those deep from the belly that worked its way up to the throat and came out forceful like you had heard the funniest shit ever. That’s wrong; I know, but you don’t understand. This man has taken me through hell and it serves his ass right.~~ Nephia Beauchamp, mother of seven and wife of a woman beaterHate to Love You takes you deeper into the life of Nephia as she recalls a traumatic past that leads up to the near fatal death of her abusive husband. She finds herself at a crossroad and unsure of what direction she will go. Take this journey along with her and see if Nephia’s faith will allow her to stand by him or simply walk away and start anew.

Julotta


Tracie Peterson - 2002
    Sigrid Larsson may be resigned to spinsterhood, but she is not ready to sell the family homestead and move in with well-meaning relatives. When a dashing young man from the railroad approaches her, followed soon after by her neighbor, Erik Lindquist, Sigrid is thrown into confusion. On whose arm will she attend the Julotta, a Christmas morning worship service?

The Life of Mikey


Michael K. Willis - 2017
    Willis spent his most impressionable years in southern Appalachia. In his eye-opening new memoir, he perfectly captures the local culture of 1960s rural North Carolina. Willis’s memoir shows both the unique heritage of the region and his personal struggles as a young man growing up in an abusive family. The mountains of North Carolina serve as a deterrent to outsiders, but the locals embrace the beautiful scenery and rugged isolation. This isolation serves to make Mikey’s life a living hell. Even in the wild beauty of the mountains, he can’t escape the violent actions of his parents. If his father isn’t missing, he is beating young Mikey. But his neighbors know Mikey’s father only as the pastor of the local Baptist church. As Willis explores this early-childhood trauma, he also chronicles his encounters with southern gospel music, baptisms, and revival meetings. Things change for his family when his father accepts a position at a church in Asheville, North Carolina. Mikey suddenly finds himself in the big city. As he makes new friends and encounters the pangs of first love, he finally stands up to his father and plans a better future for himself.

Weedeater: An Illustrated Novel


Robert Gipe - 2018
    The events Gipe chronicles are frantic. They are told through a voice by turns taciturn and angry, yet also balanced with humor and stoic grace. Weedeater  is a story about how we put our lives back together when we lose the things we thought we couldn’t bear losing, how we find new purpose in what we thought were scraps and trash caught in the weeds.

Amaryllis


Nikita Lynnette Nichols - 2009
    After witnessing Randall Loomis drive off into the sunset with his new wife and family, Amaryllis starts a new chapter. She moves to Las Vegas to live with her sister, Attorney at Law Michelle Denise Price. Michelle is engaged to Minister James Bradley, and it doesn't take long for Amaryllis to set a new goal. Envying the attention and affection James showers on her sister, Amaryllis puts a plan in motion to destroy Michelle's fairy tale relationship and claim James as her own.What Amaryllis doesn't know is that someone else has a plan."Vengeance is mine," says the Lord.Stirring her pot of evil, Amaryllis cooks up a recipe fordestruction;but this devilish divais about toget adose of her own medicine."

Knowing


Rosalyn McMillan - 1996
    The higher she climbs, however, the more her jealous, controlling husband tries to pull her back down. Desperate to hold onto the things she loves, yet driven to achieve more, Ginger must make choices that are both extraordinary difficult--and ultimately freeing.

Fat Bald Jeff: A Novel


Leslie Stella - 2001
    When her boss, the repulsive Coddles, heaps another new project on her department -- with no additional remuneration naturally -- she decides she's had enough. She spends her days battling with her roommate, Val Wayne Newton, about whether Black Sabbath or Neil Diamond will occupy the turntable and her nights beating her overeager suitor, Martin Lemming, away from the door of her boudoir. When she discovers a piece of vile pornography in Coddles's dry cleaning, she has the means to retaliate. Meanwhile, Fat Bald Jeff, the tech-support guy who has to cope with her mechanical self-sabotage, turns out to be even more disaffected than she, and they hatch the ultimate plan to give the pigs some of their own medicine. With a surreal wit and a keen eye that bring to mind Lily Tomlin set loose in Dilbert-world, Fat Bald Jeff is a sharp satire and a paean to the petty humiliations of workers everywhere.

Skylarks At Sunset


Rita Bradshaw - 2007
    And so when she meets and falls in love with Daniel Fallow, son of a successful businessman, she's quick to accept his proposal of his marriage. His family, though, are against the match, and so the young couple marry in secret. Grudging acceptance follows, and as the Depression worsens Daniel is persuaded to join the family business, unaware of his father's dodgy dealings. Tragedy is just around the corner, and worse is to come when war is declared in 1939: as Daniel leaves to fight and her children are evacuated, Hope wonders if she will ever have all her family around her again...

The Legend of Jake Jackson: The Last Of The Great Gunfighters


William H. Joiner Jr. - 2019
    Joiner, Jr. comes a great new action-packed Western adventure. How does a man become one of the fastest guns in the old West? Ride with Jake Jackson as he roots out evil, brings peace to the Old West—and fights for what’s right! This is a man who isn't afraid to fire the six-shooter in his hand! Jake Jackson’s white family were killed when he was a baby by a Comanche war party. Jake’s red family raised him as White Wolf, Comanche warrior. He became a celebrated warrior of the tribe. When the Comanche were forced onto a reservation by the U.S. military and the decimation of the buffalo herd, Jake transitioned to the white world and became known as the fastest gun on the western frontier. Grab your copy today!

The Eight-Shilling Girl


Faye Godwin - 2021
    

Bane County: A Short Story


J.R. Rice - 2019
    . . Mystery, Suspense, an edge-of-your-seat Thriller with characters you’ll fall in love with. An old-school, heart-pounding, coming-of-age Horror series with 100s of 5-Star Reviews. A Bane County Short Story. This 8,000-word Novelette entitled “When Bane Flowers Bloom” takes place within the Bane County Universe. The timeline of the story is set during the third book of the series (First Moon), and it answers many questions and reveals new mysteries spanning all the way back to Book 1 (Forgotten Moon). Prepare yourself, for a twisting turning descent into absolute terror.

With a Hammer for My Heart


George Ella Lyon - 1996
    You never know what will fall from the sky...In this remarkable novel, George Ella Lyon creates characters rich and vibrant as the Kentucky landscape they call home, touching that secret place in all of us where we wait for love's transforming power...You never know what will fall from the sky...

You'll Never Walk


Andy Grant - 2018
    He had a broken sternum, two broken legs, a broken elbow and shrapnel lodged in both forearms. He had a severed femoral artery, while sustaining nerve damage to his hands and feet as well as facial injuries. He had been blown up during a routine foot patrol in Afghanistan. Within days of coming to his senses, a doctor told Andy that because of the blast he would no longer be able to have children. You’ll Never Walk is his story. This is the tale of a Scouser who had to cope with losing his mum at the tender age of 12. The story of how a dream career in the Royal Marines descended into nightmare at the hands of the Taliban. The painstaking account of how he grew back six centimetres of shattered bone in his leg and learned to walk again. However, Andy wanted to run and push himself to the very edge of his limits and so he made a colossal decision. Against doctor’s advice and pleas from his father, he chose to have his leg amputated. The operation was a success, although there was a minor twist. Where once Andy’s treasured Liverpool FC tattoo had carried the message ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, surgery to create a stump removed a key word from the slogan. The scars of his amputation had been decorated with an ominous new motto, which read ‘You’ll Never Walk...’ Andy would walk again – he would do much more than that. Armed with a running blade he learned to run and play football, scaled mountains in South America and Italy and claimed two gold medals at Prince Harry’s Invictus Games. Through public speaking he brought hope to people right across the country. In 2016, he set his sights on a 10k below- the-knee-amputee world-record and completed the run in an unprecedented 37 minutes 17 seconds. And, most preciously of all, after every obstacle placed in his path, Andy became a father to a little girl.