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Goodbye, and thanks for the series
Bob Moyer says this about this review: “I had the privilege to hear Robert B. Parker read from his excellent baseball novel Double Play. Afterward, he answered questions in his gruff but somehow gracious way – until someone asked him about his ‘research’ on the times, Jackie Robinson, etc. Parker interrupted him and said, ‘Wait…
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A two-handed review
Our roving contributing editor, Paul O’Connor, has interrupted his travels to review a novel set during World War II. Since his travels took him to Oregon when the author was there, he also was able to hear Jeff Shaara discuss his writing. By Paul T. O’Connor THE FINAL STORM. By Jeff Shaara. Ballantine Books. 446…
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A labor of love
Anne Barnhill, a poet and novelist who often reviews books for this blog and in other forums, offers this note to readers: In more than 20 years of reviewing books, I have tried to maintain a certain objectivity. I may review books of acquaintances, but I do not let those ties cloud my interpretation of…
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Have some bread and a good story
Out of some probably silly literary snobbery, I tend to shy away from the sub-genre of novel about groups of women. I know there are some fine ones. Lee Smith’s The Last Girls, about a reunion of four college suite mates on a riverboat trip down the Mississippi, is a wonderful book. I read that…
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A real American baseball hero
Paul O’Connor, Briar Patch Books contributing editor, is on the road this summer. He’s had a little time to read and reflect on the national pastime, his own particular passion for the St. Louis Cardinals, the greatest Cardinal of them all – and life in America. By Paul T. O’Connor STAN MUSIAL: AN AMERICAN LIFE.…
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In the Briar Patch, May 26-29
Here in the briar patch, we’ve had lots of rain, thunderstorms mostly, punctuated by hot weather. And new books for summer reading keep rolling in, too.
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From the days when a story was a story
Bob Moyer enjoys new stories from an old favorite author, who died in 2007. By Robert Moyer WHILE MORTALS SLEEP. By Kurt Vonnegut. Delacorte Press. 253 pages. $27. Maybe it’s because we miss him. Maybe it’s because the editor put the best of these stories at the back of the book. For whatever reason, these…
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Red clay, bad blood
Valerie Nieman is a seasoned journalist, a novelist and a poet. She uses all those experiences and talents to good effect in this, her third novel. Originally from western New York State, Valerie Nieman teaches writing at N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C. She arrived in North Carolina via West Virginia, where she graduated…
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Watch out: Here comes Miss Julia
Ann B. Ross of Hendersonville, N.C., is a delightful lady whom I’ve had the privilege of interviewing twice – once for the Winston-Salem Journal back in the 1980s when she published The Pilgrimage, a novel about two orphaned sisters traveling on the Oregon Trail, and then for Our State magazine when her 11th Miss Julia…
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Food for thought
Paul O’Connor is on the road this summer, sampling high-quality beers, but avoiding meat. Before he headed west, he left some food for thought for the rest of us. Do not read this review close to mealtime if you still indulge in animal flesh. By Paul T. O’Connor EATING ANIMALS. By Jonathan Safran Foer. Back…