Notes from Ann: Don Hall
In 1985, when I was a graduate student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, my best friend Lucy and I would become obsessed by what we read. We belted out Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” for a full semester. We tried to memorize the first chapter of García Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. We fell in love with many short stories. I was there to learn how to write short stories so there was a whole raft of them I obsessed over, but none were as close to me as “The Ideal Bakery” by Donald Hall. Read the rest of this entry »
The Great Believers: An Excerpt from Rebecca Makkai’s New Must-Read Novel
Twenty miles from here, twenty miles north, the funeral mass was starting. Yale checked his watch as they walked up Belden. He said to Charlie, “How empty do you think that church is?”
Charlie said, “Let’s not care.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Work He Was Born to Do: Jim Ridley’s Legacy Lives on in New Book
“Beloved” is not a word usually associated with critics, but Jim Ridley, who spent 20 years as a film critic at the alt-weekly Nashville Scene and another seven as its editor, was absolutely beloved. When he died in 2016 after collapsing in his Scene office, the wave of sorrow rippled far beyond his personal circle. Many people who knew him only through his writing felt as if they’d lost a brilliant friend. A new collection of his work, People Only Die of Love in Movies, confirms that, in a very real sense, they had. Ridley’s voice was dazzling, honest, joyful, and a consistent force for good in the cultural life of the city he loved. Read the rest of this entry »
22 New Favorites for Young Readers: From Picture Books to YA
Summer’s here, and you know what that means: time to read whatever you want! We’re happy to help kids gather all their school-required books — and our kid-lit experts can show you lots of new and exciting just-for-fun reads, too. We’d love to recommend a stack tailored specifically to your young reader’s taste. Read the rest of this entry »
Faith and Family at a Crossroads: Southernmost by Silas House
I’ve been a huge Silas House fan ever since reading his novel Clay’s Quilt on the recommendation of an author friend. Nobody writes the varied landscapes — physical, emotional, and cultural — of the American South quite like he does. From the buzzsaw thrum of cicadas on a stifling summer night, to the gray smell of stones cooled in river water, to the beads of condensation on a pitcher of sweet tea, to a quiet moment of connection between a father and a son, the heart of this place beats in his books. Read the rest of this entry »
Early Summer Faves: 31 Bookseller-Picked Reads
Our best-books-of-right-now list ranges from sweet odes upon fatherhood and warmly relatable stories about growing up to heart-stopping suspense and surreal sci-fi. Then there’s some humor and cooking, a little memoir . . . OK, we’re all over the place this month, but that’s the deal: booksellers pick their favorites, no rules. That’s what makes this list so good, right? Read the rest of this entry »
Libro.fm: The Audiobook App That’s Changing How You Listen to Books
Love a good audiobook? Us, too. No, really — we do. Parnassus booksellers may spend their days preaching the gospel of the printed page, but sometimes we have to sit through a long road-trip or knock out a few hours of household chores (ugh, laundry) — occasions when an audiobook makes for perfect entertainment. Many of you have told us you feel the same way. Read the rest of this entry »
Escape Into These 8 Perfectly Beachy New Reads (No Invitation Necessary)
You might typically be a green salad and egg-white omelet type, but it’s hard to resist the pull of fried shrimp and frozen margaritas at this time of year. Summer’s starting, and even those of us stuck in landlocked Tennessee are thinking of the beach. So pass the cocktail sauce, and in exchange, let us serve up some books that fit the mood, starting with Dorothea Benton Frank’s latest, By Invitation Only. Read the rest of this entry »
Notes from Ann: Philip Roth
I’m sitting in the airport, feeling terrible about Philip Roth’s death. I’ve been a devoted Roth reader since I was in high school, bought and read each of his books as they were published. I thrilled to them, learned from them, and loved them. The very worst Roth novel was still better than anything published in a given year. When I was 24 I got in terrible trouble in the English department where I was teaching for giving Portnoy’s Complaint to a college freshman. He loved it. His mother did not. Read the rest of this entry »
What Makes a “Great American Read,” Anyway?
Want to get Americans fired up? Show them a list of “the best” anything. The best colleges. The best burgers. The best movies. Or in this case, the best books. PBS recently announced America’s 100 best-loved novels, as chosen in a public opinion survey. The survey was the first step in The Great American Read, a new PBS series that celebrates reading with a nationwide conversation about America’s most beloved books. The second step, apparently, was everyone talking loudly about the list. Read the rest of this entry »
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