12 local authors Archives

Flight Behavior

by Barbara Kingsolver

The plot of Kingsolver's 2012 novel revolves around climate change, and a young Tennessee woman and a butterfly colony who both stray from their typical flight paths. When Dellarobia sees something inexplicable in nature, her experience stokes tension between religious leaders, scientists, politicians, and climate change experts with different views on what exactly she witnessed. Suspenseful and page-turning, I thought this finely crafted novel had many wonderful moments and an unsatisfying ending—which would make it perfect for a book club discussion. Though it's unusual for novelists to read their own work, Kingsolver's lyrical voice perfectly suits her prose.

Southernmost

by Silas House

From the publisher: "In the aftermath of a flood that washes away much of a small Tennessee town, evangelical preacher Asher Sharp offers shelter to two gay men. In doing so, he starts to see his life anew—and risks losing everything: his wife, locked into her religious prejudices; his congregation, which shuns Asher after he delivers a passionate sermon in defense of tolerance; and his young son, Justin, caught in the middle of what turns into a bitter custody battle. With no way out but ahead, Asher takes Justin and flees to Key West, where he hopes to find his brother, Luke, whom he’d turned against years ago after Luke came out. And it is there, at the southernmost point of the country, that Asher and Justin discover a new way of thinking about the world, and a new way of understanding love."

Don’t Overthink It: Make Easier Decisions, Stop Second-Guessing, and Bring More Joy to Your Life

by Anne Bogel

We've all been there: stuck in a cycle of what-ifs, plagued by indecision, paralyzed by the fear of getting it wrong. Nobody wants to live a life of constant overthinking, but it doesn't feel like something we can choose to stop doing. It feels like something we're wired to do, something we just can't escape. But is it? Anne's answer is no. Not only can you overcome negative thought patterns that are repetitive, unhealthy, and unhelpful, you can replace them with positive thought patterns that will bring more peace, joy, and love into your life. In Don't Overthink It, you'll find actionable strategies that can make an immediate and lasting difference in how you deal with questions both small—Should I buy these flowers?—and large—What am I doing with my life? More than a book about making good decisions, Don't Overthink It offers you a framework for making choices you'll be comfortable with, using an appropriate amount of energy, freeing you to focus on all the other stuff that matters in life.

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So We Can Glow: Stories

by Leesa Cross-Smith

From the publisher: "A lush, glittering short story collection exploring female obsession and desire by an award-winning author Roxane Gay calls 'a consummate storyteller.' From Kentucky to the California desert, these forty-two short stories -- ranging from the 80's and 90's to present day -- expose expose the hearts of girls and women in moments of obsessive desire and fantasy, wildness and bad behavior, brokenness and fearlessness, and more. Leesa Cross-Smith's sensuous stories -- some long, some gone in a flash, some told over text and emails -- drench readers in nostalgia for summer nights and sultry days. They recall the intense friendships of teenage girls and the innate bonds between mothers, the first heady rush of desire, and the pure exhilaration of womanhood, all while holding up the wild souls of women so they can catch the light."

The Seven Storey Mountain

by Thomas Merton

From the publisher: "The Seven Storey Mountain tells of the growing restlessness of a brilliant and passionate young man, who at the age of twenty-six, takes vows in one of the most demanding Catholic orders—the Trappist monks. At the Abbey of Gethsemani, 'the four walls of my new freedom,' Thomas Merton struggles to withdraw from the world, but only after he has fully immersed himself in it."

The Birds of Opulence

by Crystal Wilkinson

"From the critically acclaimed, award-winning author of Blackberries, Blackberries and Water Street comes an astonishing new novel. A lyrical exploration of love and loss, The Birds of Opulence centers on several generations of women in a bucolic southern black township as they live with and sometimes surrender to madness."

Three Ways to Disappear

by Katy Yocom

I got to talk with local author Katy Yocom on What Should I Read Next. Her book takes place in India and Kentucky, while one nomadic sister travels to India to help save the endangered Bengal tigers and the other stays home in Kentucky offering support from afar. A complicated family story weaves in and out of a travel narrative with stunning descriptions and increasing tension. In her WSIRN episode, Katy mentioned being constantly on the hunt for absorbing novels with plots that not only incorporate the natural world, but ones in which the story absolutely depends upon it. Her fondness for nature writing shines in her own book as well.

The Bourbon Kings

by J.R. Ward

Ward is best known for her vampire romance series The Black Dagger Brotherhood, but I thought it more Kentucky-appropriate to highlight her latest series about a wealthy southern family with a bourbon empire. This upstairs-downstairs novel sounds a bit like the Audrey Hepburn movie Sabrina. Head gardener Lizzie King falls in love with Tulane, troublemaker son of the Bradford bourbon dynasty. Two years after their break-up, he returns to his family home and the two meet again. As you can imagine, drama (and romance) soon follows. I haven't read this one, but I'm pretty sure Ward writes open door romance.

The Thing About Leftovers

by C. C. Payne

My 12 year old LOVES this book. Fizzy is committed to being a "good southern girl" and winning the Southern Living cook-off. That first part proves difficult, as Fizzy stifles her feelings and deals with her parents' divorce. She just wants to yell, to share her feelings, to say what she means. But a good southern girl says "yes ma'am" and keeps it inside. The cook-off, plus a couple of new friends, make the perfect distraction, and might just teach Fizzy about speaking up and expressing herself.

Hannah Coulter

by Wendell Berry

I've talked about Hannah Coulter several times: the books I can't stop recommending, a book I've read more than once, what to read when you feel like the world is falling apart. Hannah's second husband Nathan Coulter (her first died in the war) was reticent to talk about his experience in the Battle of Okinawa. "Ignorant boys, killing each other," is all he would say. In this atmospheric novel, an older Hannah looks back on her life and reflects on what she has lost, and those she has loved. I adore Berry, who writes gorgeous, thoughtful, piercing novels, and this is one of his finest. Contemplative, wistful, and moving.

Cleanness

by Garth Greenwell

"Cleanness revisits and expands the world of Garth Greenwell's beloved debut, What Belongs to You, declared "an instant classic" by The New York Times Book Review. In exacting, elegant prose, he transcribes the strange dialects of desire, cementing his stature as one of our most vital living writers."

12 local authors