Lady Banks' Commonplace BookSeptember 2010: Of bears and beauty pageants
September 2010: Of bears and beauty pageants
- Wednesday, 22 September 2010 00:00
In which her ladyship is embarrassed to find herself disagreeing with Ms. Harper Lee, it is proved beyond a doubt that anything may be deep fried but might not always be the better for it, several anniversaries are considered, a season’s harvest of Okra is set upon the literary table, Mr. Ron Rash discovers what it feels like to win a beauty pageant, Ms. Patti Callahan Henry looks for the perfect Christmas song, Ms. Janis Owens is bit by a spider, a lady admits to being a “pusher” (and is in no way sorry for it) and Mr. Patrick Covington is not chased by a bear
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Dearest readers,
As must have become abundantly obvious to anyone who raised their nose up out of their book for even a brief moment this summer, the year 2010 is celebrated as the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, often called the one novel that everyone in the world should read. But what might have been overlooked in all the (justified) excitement over such a literary milestone are a couple other bookly birthdays—each in their own way quite as significant, although somewhat overshadowed by the continued presence of Scout, Boo and Atticus. It is, for example, the fortieth anniversary of James Dickey’s novel Deliverance, a book that one writer notes “. . . is always best read beside a vaguely sinister body of water.”
It is also the thirtieth anniversary of a completely different sort of Southern novel, A Confederacy of Dunces—for which we have to thank a persistent mother and the good offices of Mr. Walker Percy, who her ladyship fervently hopes never realized that the novel he advocated would be read by more people than the novels he wrote. At least, more people in skipping class during their college careers.
Look, and no doubt the student of southern literature can discover great novels published twenty or ten years ago—novels that belong in that rarefied group we call—without any clear idea of what it might mean—“the classics.”
And what of the books being written and published today? Next month? Next year? In this newsletter readers will find the fall list of Okra Picks—new books that southern booksellers think are well worth watching (and, it goes without saying, reading). Must we wait a quarter of a century to know if any of these will stand on their own next to James Dickey and Harper Lee? Perhaps. But her ladyship posits that there are many worse ways to spend a fall evening than reading new novels in search of the next southern “classic.”
Think. You could be stuck watching television instead.
Her ladyship, the editor
Ten years of great southern lit for $9.95!
How well do you know your Southern lit? We dare you to use a pen on these crossword puzzles, each inspired by one of the winning titles of the SIBA Book Award, honoring ten years of the very best in Southern literature as chosen by the people who would know...Southern Independent Booksellers! A great gift for your book club, for puzzle-lovers, and anyone who loves Southern literature.
$9.95 paperback. Available at Southern Indie Bookstores.
Literary Gossip & News:
“Southern fried and sanctified” It is a motto that Texans, even more than most Southerners, take as gospel—a fact which was illustrated recently when a young man who is otherwise a very good cook, announced that he had discovered a way to deep fry beer. Her ladyship wonders if it was this event that caused a Virginia woman to eat 181 chicken wings in some sort of retaliation.
Mr. Ron Rash has won the 2010 Frank O’Conner Short Story Award for his story Burning Bright (the eponymous story in his collection, Burning Bright. This was very gratifying news for the author, as the award comes not only with a piece of paper signifying the very great honor conferred, but also approximately $45,000 in cash. Which is a little more substantial that is usual for literary prizes. “I guess I know how it feels to win a beauty pageant now,” said Mr. Rash. Her ladyship thinks he would win that beauty pageant, if only because Mr. Rash is such a lovely person.
The Southern Festival of Books has posted a list of attending authors. It is quite a long list . Her ladyships suggested that if you are attending, you pack for about a month. If you know someone attending, don’t expect to hear back from them until slightly before the holidays.
A set of rare books that originally belonged to the Department of Justice Library were discovered on eBay and returned to their original owner—the people of the United States of America.
Her ladyship, the editor is traveling in Florida this month, and thus very much appreciated this list of Florida Literary destinations.
Mr. John Cusack will play Mr. Edgar Allen Poe in an upcoming movie currently being filmed in Richmond, VA. Her ladyship quite likes Mr. Cusack’s acting, almost as much as she enjoys Mr. Poe’s writing, but confesses that she had never considered the two men within the same sentence.
Nominees have been announced for the Hurston Wright Legacy Award
The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird has somewhat overshadowed the fact that this is the 40th anniversary of the publication of Deliverance (the novel, her ladyship feels compelled to add, not the movie)
It is also the thirtieth anniversary of a somewhat different kind of Southern novel: Confederacy of Dunces. And the story of its birth is in its way quite as good a tale as the story within its pages.
And her ladyship finds herself in the uncomfortable position of disagreeing with Ms. Harper Lee, who seems to think books are coming to an end. Her ladyship the editor assures her this is not so.
“If Welty did not know how to write about ‘real people,’ a contention her readers dispute, she certainly knew how to photograph them.” A traveling exhibition “Eudora Welty: Exposures and Reflections,” highlights Welty’s photographs with her own words. But, her ladyship must point out, Eudora Welty certain knew how to write about real people.
Bookstore profiles:
There is a lovely piece by Shane Gottwals, owner of Gottwals Books in Warner Robins, GA, on building bookcases for her store. (By hand.)
In 1953 Mr. Watson and Mr. Crick discovered the structure of DNA. Also, sadly, the IRS was created. But more importantly, The Country Bookshop opened in Southern Pines, NC.
Lady Banks’ Commonplace Book
A Southern funeral procession
The mill had shut down for Tina Rutherford’s funeral. Hell, Chabot had. Black ribbons on the office and store doors, a long line of cars from the Baptist church following the hearse over the highway, Silas directing traffic for that, too, his post at the crossroads of 102 and 11, the four-way stop in his jurisdiction where the procession might get broken up by log trucks, shadows of birds flickering over the road, his uniform pressed and his hat over his heart as cars trolled by with their lights on, him standing, as he had not in years, at navy attention. The windows of the Rutherford limousine were tinted and he couldn’t see the girl’s parents, just a pair of white hands on the steering wheel. And after what must’ve been a hundred vehicles had rolled by, he’d driven to the church and sat in his Jeep, unable to go inside. Later he caboose the procession to a graveyard miles out in the country, whites only buried there, lovely landscaped grounds shaded by live oaks with Spanish moss slanted in the wind like beards of dead generals. Nothing like the wooded cemetery where Alice Jones lay under her little rock on the side of a hill eaten up with kudzu, the plastic flowers blown over and strewn by the wind.
--from Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (William Morrow, 2010) A Fall 2010 SIBA Okra Pick
Author 2 Author: Karen Spears Zacharias talks to Patti Callahan Henry
Pat Conroy calls Patti Callahan Henry’s debut novella lyrical – “Patti takes you to those places in the heart you didn’t even know you wanted to go.”
In The Perfect Love Song, Callahan Henry tells the story of Jimmy Sullivan, who has been living on the road with his brother, Jack, and their band. The road is Jimmy’s only home and music his only savior until he falls in love with a beautiful girl, Charlotte Carrington. Spending time with Charlotte inspires Jimmy to write a love song for her, which becomes an overnight sensation.
As Jimmy finds himself caught up in the desire for fame and fortune, the genuine lyrics of the song are overshadowed by his career ambitions. Will Jimmy miss his brother’s wedding in Ireland for a chance to put on a biggest show of his career in New York City —or will he find his way back to his family, to Ireland…and to the love of his life, Charlotte?
Karen: This story – The Perfect Love Song -- is your first novella. What are some of the challenges of righting a novella versus a novel, and how did you deal with them?
Patti: I found this a thrilling way to tell a story because I focused on ONE situation. I brought the lens closer and closer to the main characters and allowed the outside world and its tangents to blur into the background. I concentrated on Jimmy and Charlotte’s journey together. I eliminated any subplots and used the symbol of the Claddagh ring to hold together the events of the story. I didn’t find this a challenge at all, but merely a new way to write, a fresh way to tell a story. Writing a novella wasn’t so much about page count or cutting the length as it was redesigning the focus of my storytelling ways. When I wanted to delve into a subplot or another character’s needs, I reminded myself what this novella was really about and steered my words back onto the main road.
Karen: Readers who are familiar with your previous work will be delighted to encounter familiar characters from WHEN LIGHT BREAKS. So did you know when you finished that book that you'd revisit those people again?
Patti: I had no idea I would revisit those characters, yet at the same time my characters always live on. They just do. In the past few years, I’ve received a lot of email asking, “So when will Charlotte and Jimmy get together?”, so the question must have worked its way into my writing soul and I finally decided to find out what happened to ole’ Jimmy Sullivan. I never write a book with the plan for it to continue past “the end”, yet this time it did. I think part of the allure for adding to this story was hidden within the character Maeve Mahoney. She still had something to say and something to teach. Her story and her legend continued…
Karen: This story is narrated. Is this the first-time you've used the first-person to "tell" a story? Why did you choose that?
Patti: I don’t premeditate the way I tell a story; I write the story in the way it comes to me. I’ve written seven books and have gone from third person male POV to first person female and almost everything in between. This story came to me as a narration – almost a fairy tale or legend. The narrator knows more than the characters and we are privy to her information: I found it a fascinating way to tell a story. In many ways, the narrator told me the story!
Karen: As a writer, are there characters you encounter that linger long after the book is finished?
Patti: Absolutely. All of my characters seem to linger not only in my mind, but in my readers’ minds also. They go on living. Even after their situation is told, their story goes on.
Karen: There are parts of The Perfect Love Song that read almost like wisdom literature -- nuggets of truth. For instance, the line "The smallest actions lead to the biggest changes." Can you think of a time in your life where that's been the case?
Patti: Wow – nuggets of truth? I had hoped that was true about this story. Yes, I can think of one very particular time when “the smallest action led the biggest change” – when I quietly said to my five year old daughter (who is now almost eighteen years old), ‘I am going to be a writer of books’. This statement and gut-knowing decision changed my life slowly and deliberately. I think sometimes we don’t know the seeds of change have been planted, and yet other times we do know for certain, and this was one of those times!
Karen: You have been a huge fan of Amy Grant's husband, Vince Gill, for several years now. Did you model Jimmy Sullivan after Gill in any fashion? Are you sending an autographed copy to Gill?
Patti: I have been a fan of Gill’s songwriting in a way that could be called more “envy” than admiration. This man can write a song, a song that changes the heart and soul of anyone who hears it. He can take one stanza and say what takes me 300 pages to convey. I don’t know how he does it, and I can’t help but follow his career and music with something akin to obsession. His vulnerability and ability to show us the hidden places of the heart is nothing short of miraculous, and his gift is something to strive for in my own storytelling.
Jimmy Sullivan isn’t based on Vince Gill at all. But I do believe that the character Rusk Corbin has a bit of Vince’s kind spirit (or what I deem to be his kind spirit by listening to his music). And if I knew where to send a signed copy to Vince and Amy, I most definitely would.
Karen: You've teamed up with one of Nashville's top songwriter-- Dallas Davidson -- to find that perfect love song. Tell us more about that. Any chance Dallas can hook you up with Gill?
Patti: Dallas Davidson is one of today’s top new country songwriters, with eighty songs recorded in the past six years and five of them being number one hits. I am so excited that he’s agreed to judge our “Finish the Love Song” contest. I am enthralled with the art of songwriting, and yet I could only pen the first two lines of Jimmy Sullivan’s perfect song! Dallas, I am quite sure, will be able to help me find the rest of the song! As far as meeting Gill….hmmm…I haven’t asked, but maybe I should.
Karen: Tell us why Jimmy Sullivan's love song "Undeserved" is considered the perfect Christmas song. How did the title of the song present itself to you.
Patti: Jimmy wrote this song when he was overwhelmed with Love (and as the narrator says,’ what is love if not overwhelming?’). He felt he didn’t deserve to be loved as he was and that he didn’t deserve to feel the way he did. When he wrote the song, it was from the purest place (the soul). When others heard the song, they dubbed it “The Perfect Christmas Song” because the lyrics were all about undeserved love changing a heart from the inside out. And isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
Karen: You grew up a preacher's daughter. How does that upbringing and your own personal faith journey play out in your writing?
Patti: I think that our childhoods and our upbringing are underground rivers that we don’t always see or even feel, yet always inform and infuse our work. So, maybe I don’t wholly understand the impact my preachers-daughter influence has on my work, but I am sure it is there.
Karen: Ultimately, this story is about how our choices, career or otherwise, can impede our relationships. I couldn't help but wonder if part of this story is your own. When you hit the New York Times bestseller list last year you were on the road. This year your first-born child is a senior in high school. As Jimmy Sullivan wrangles with the issues of where his fame has taken him, is Patti Callahan Henry also wrangling with some of those same issues about her own career?
Patti: Wow, Karen, you know how to get to the heart of things. You’re right, I have missed events and moments when I’ve been on the road – the one event that hurt my heart the most was when I missed my youngest son’s ninth birthday (years ago). I have always attempted to balance this tightrope-walking act between pursuing my passion of writing and family love/obligation. I think for the most part I stay on that rope, but I have fallen off and hurt myself many times.
I don’t regret for a single moment writing or touring. I also don’t regret the choice I made eighteen years ago to be a stay-at-home Mom. I can only hope that when I have erred, it has been on the side of family (the most precious thing in my life).
I also believe it’s incredibly important for children to see their mother pursue her gifts and passions, to understand her love while seeing her reach out into the world. I so hope I have done this very thing. In this novel, Jimmy struggles with this very same issue of love versus fame, yet his pendulum has swung all the way to the “fame” side of the scale, obliterating his view of all that is important. What can heal this kind of error? Love.
Karen: Recent polls indicate that a large part of today's youth -- I think it was like 46 percent -- want to be actors. In other words, they are looking to be famous. You've got a household full of kids. What do you think this attraction to fame is with today's youth?
Patti: The media makes fame look so….easy and beautiful. TV, magazines and movies make the young long for that kind of beauty and money, that kind of ease when of course it is all smoke and mirrors – nothing real at all.
Karen: Parts of the book take place in Ireland. Have you been to Ireland?
Patti: Yes! I’ve been to Ireland three times. Once just out of college and twice with my daughter when she was an Irish dancer. The land there is so rich with story that you can almost hear the earth whispering to you! I love that lush land and hope to return again soon.
Karen: Your writing has an undercurrent of the lyrical and the mystery of myth embedded in it. How does a writer go about crafting work that has those elements?
Patti: What a beautiful and wonderful compliment. Thank you! I don’t know if or how a writer can deliberately craft their work to hold the elements of myth and lyricism. I grew my writing wings in the land of mythology and legend, so I believe my writing must reflect that love. So many elements work their way into a writer’s voice: childhood, reading habits, geography, friends, education, etc… that I’m not sure you can force a certain kind of storytelling into an author’s “voice”. I write the way I ‘hear’ the story.
Karen: Do you believe there is interaction across the dimensions? Do you think those who've passed on before us are involved in our daily living still?
Patti: Interaction across the dimensions? Yes, I’d like to think so. I’ve never experienced anything like it, but I believe those who say they have. This story – The Perfect Love Song – hints at such a thing, but still leaves the question unanswered
Karen: Do you think you'll do another novella? What's next?
Patti: Yes, I definitely believe I’ll write another novella. The form and the structure appealed to my storytelling soul. There was a certain thrill in writing this tighter narrative. This novella stretched my writing muscles in new ways and as soon as I find the right situation, I will write another novella! For now, what’s next? My next full length novel will be out some time in 2011. Details coming soon!
From the Blogs
{The Authors}
A Good Blog is Hard to Find : although I grew up in the South and have deep southern roots, I am not fond of Faulkner, O'Connor or Welty. They didn't write about southerners I know. . . http://southernauthors.blogspot.com/2010/08/teachers-have-no-idea-how-influential.html
Fried Chicken and Coffee: It’s clear James Dickey mythologized and often outright lied about the circumstances of his life now, and what’s been lost along with his critical reputation is the work, the work, my god the work. Six years of formal education and I was never assigned a Dickey poem, which is a tragedy. http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com/2010/08/25/remembering-deliverance/
Here, Where I Am:
Naming the Constellations by John Thomas.
My father quit the farm
one piece at a time:
Kate, the old mule, gone one day,
no word of her destination,
then the cows, thirty-five Holsteins,
sold to a man who didn’t know their names. . .
http://kathrynstriplingbyer.blogspot.com/2010/09/naming-constellations-john-thomas-york.html
Janis Owens: These things that do not kill us leave really cool scars. http://www.janisowens.com/?p=817
Nancy Pate: Mark T. Mustian’s first novel, The Gendarme, has the most striking cover — the half-face of a young woman with olive skin and a deep blue eye. If you unfold the cover flat, you see her full face and that her other eye is hazel. Such mismatched eyes belong to a character in the story, the Armenian girl Araxie, but they also remind us that memory’s eye colors the past. . . http://patebooks.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/war-and-remembrance/
Peggy Payne: Maybe you build and repair your own cars and refrigerators and such, but not me. I like instant oatmeal. Processed foods. Processed plumbing. Things already done. http://peggypayne.blogspot.com/2010/09/bold-attempt-at-repair.html
Gunpowder Cowboy Boots and Mascara: It wouldn't do to white-wash the man. The last time I saw him he was walking across the parking lot of St. Mark's. Said he didn't want the ride I offered but he'd sure take the hug. http://workingtitlefarm.blogspot.com/2010/08/hank-and-tennessee.html
{The Booksellers}
A Reading Life: Because of Gilbert Highet, I will always associate the Latin poets with the high shriek of cicadas in the southern summer, and the relentless heat of the August sun turning the air thick and liquid. Summers in the South beat down on you, even the bees in the flowers look stupefied. It’s an effort to move as far as it takes to reach for a glass of lemonade, which is perhaps why I picked up Highet’s book Poets in a Landscape in the first place. If you can barely bestir yourself from your own chair, why not read a book about someone who has gone a-wandering? http://www.bibliobuffet.com/a-reading-life-columns-193/archive-index-a-reading-life/1355-a-summer-of-ancient-poets-082910
Burry Bookstore: With the ruins of her high-powered Wall Street job now far in the rearview mirror of her rented silver Camaro, thirty-two-year-old Mags Rogers arrives at her great-aunt Jeep's sprawling Wings Ranch to reassemble her life. In the passenger seat, with his suspicious nose to a cracked window, is Mags's beloved wirehaired dachshund, the urbane Baxter…http://burrybookstore.blogspot.com/2010/09/rita-mae-brown-nose-for-justice.html
Maple Street Bookshop: Customers confide to me daily, like I’m their priest in the confessional of the books, they have a problem with wanting, needing books, that they can’t even look around because it will be bad for all involved. Then, they start to twitch a little and back out of the store slowly, but not before their eyes catch that volume of Lear poetry or that great collection of Poe stories. Back at the counter, they can only dole out money and avoid my gaze. I am an addict. An enabler. A dealer. http://fightthestupids.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/bibliomania-if-loving-you-is-wrong-i-dont-want-to-be-right/
Pomegranate Books: Last week, The Wall Street Journal ran an article called "Clearance Sale: Barnes and Noble Didn't Evolve Enough." Read it here. The main premise of the article is that Barnes & Noble was too slow to embrace the world of e-readers and e-books, but also didn't do enough to maintain that "shop around the corner" bookstore feel. And, now it is being outpaced by Amazon and the Kindle, and Independent bookstores for people who want to talk to someone who knows something about books. WSJ thinks that indie bookstores will fill the gap. http://www.pombooks.net/index.php?option=com_flexicontent&view=items&cid=4:blog&id=56:long-live-books&Itemid=22
Page 854: Exit, not quite pursued by a bear: The Governor's Western Residence is located on a mountainside in north Asheville, not too far from the Blue Ridge Parkway. In addition to being a retreat for the state's chief executive it also hosts high-powered meetings and social gatherings. This past Tuesday evening, the Asheville United Way hosted a picnic there for leading volunteers and donors, with the guest speaker being local author Wayne Caldwell, author of Cataloochee and Requiem By Fire. Wayne asked Accent on Books to provide copies of his novels for the occasion, so I loaded up my Subaru and off I went.
I arrived about 5:30 for the 6:00 event, backed my car up on the path near the picnic area, and was unloading boxes when one of the United Way folks called out, "There's a bear!" http://accentonbooks.blogspot.com/2010/09/exit-not-quite-pursued-by-bear.html
Square Books: Sandra Beasley made a big impression during her stint as poet in residence at Ole Miss this summer. She befriended many of us in her short time here, and, with her stunning book of poems, I Was The Jukebox (Norton, 24.95, signed firsts available here) having been recently published, we discovered her work at the same time we got to know her. http://www.squarebooks.com/sandra-beasley-broadside-now-available
Read This!: recommended by your neighborhood southern booksellers
Last week the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance announced its Fall Season of Okra Picks—great southern books, fresh off the vine. These are forthcoming books that Southern indie booksellers don’t want to be missed. You can see the full list here. But here is what a bookseller would say to you about some of the books on the list
Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon [is]a wonderful middle reader set in Florida about the childhood of Zora Neale Hurston. Candlewick --Leslie Reiner, Inkwood Books, Tampa, FL
Southern Plate by Christy Jordan: We have had the cookbook galley in our hands no less than four hours and already our staff are showing the book to everyone coming in the doors and reviewing the recipes, and reminding the customers that they just have to have "this one." Repeatedly, our customers tell us they love cookbooks that have "homespun" recipes and family culture that are interwoven, and this one has it all. --Jeanette, M.L., Bessie, Louise and Brooks, Peb's Book Store, Jacksonville, FL
My Only Sunshine by Lou Dischler. My Only Sunshine is a great Southern comedy of growing up that includes bank robbers, a gun-toting grandmother and a pond in the back yard that formed while digging with spoons. Reminiscent of Ferrol Sams' books about growing up in Georgia, this one will make you laugh out loud. – Beth Carpenter, The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, NC (also reviewed by Bermuda Onion: http://bermudaonion.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/review-my-only-sunshine/ )
Love, Charleston by Beth Webb Hart: The mysterious social dynamics are wonderfully examined in Beth Webb Hart's new novel Love Charleston. Peter Wentworth, Blue Bicycle Books, Charleston, SC
Virals by Kathy Reichs: A fun mashup of forensics and the paranormal set in the Charleston area. –Jill Hendrix, Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC
They Came to Nashville by Marshall Chapman: In an article in the Bluegrass Journal, Marshall Chapman recalls ““This book happened out of the blue—just as my first book, “Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller,” did… starting with the very first line,” she says. “I wrote ‘The night I met Billy Joe Shaver, my hair caught on fire,’ and, just as with my first book, I saw this book laid out before me.” http://www.bluegrassjournal.com/2010/08/25/they-came-to-nashville-new-book-from-marshall-chapman-shares-legends-stories/
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The Okra Picks, 2010 Fall Edition:
Fiction:
A Perfect Love Song by Patti Callahan Henry
9781593156169 Vanguard Press, October 2010 $15.95
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
9780060594664 Morrow, October 2010 $24.99
I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg
9781400065936 Random House November 2010 $26.00
Love, Charleston by Beth Webb Hart
9781595542014 Thomas Nelson, September 2010 $14.99
My Only Sunshine by Lou Dischler
9781891885723, Hub City, October 2010 $21.95
Virals by Kathy Reichs
9781595143426 Razorbill, November 2010 (Penguin) $17.99
Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon
9780763643003 Candlewick Press October 2010 $16.99Z
The Typist by Michael Knight
9780802119506 Atlantic Monthly Press August 2010 $20.00
Nonfiction:
Carry the Rock by Jay Jennings
9781605296371 Rodale September 2010
Greek Revival by Patricia Moore-Pastides
9781570039393 USC Press October 2010 $34.95
My Reading Life by Pat Conroy
9780385533577 Nan A. Talese, November 2010 $25.00
Southern Plate by Christy Jordan
9780061991011 Morrow, October 2010 $27.50
They Came to Nashville by Marshall Chapman
9780826517357 Vanderbilt U Press, October 2010 $25.00
Lady Banks’ Bookshelf
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