{Believing is more fun than not believing}

Dearest readers,

What is the first book you read in 2013? When we inquired this of the people who follow the ARTS Facebook page, we received a fascinating collection of responses—and a list of books that could well carry one over until the next new year. J.K. Rowling’s Casual Vacancy is high on many people’s tbr stack, but among the other books people told us they were planning to pick up are:

The End of Your Life Book Club
Sometimes a Great Notion
‘Mater Biscuit
Come In and Cover Me
The Panther
Shine Shine Shine
Quiet, the Power of Introverts
Sweet Tooth
Minding the South
Mastery
House at Riverton
Dick and Jane and Vampires
13th Sign
Wolf Hall
Chinaberry Sidewalks
Summer Breeze
Elsewhere
The Song of Achilles
The Round House
Come August Come Freedom
The General’s Son
The Kitchen House
Rainbow Pie

The first book her ladyship picked up for 2013? Birds of a Lesser Paradise by Megan Mayhew Bergman. She finished it in about a day and a half. What, she wonders, was yours?

Happy Reading!

her ladyship, the editor

Southern Indie Bestsellers

For the week ending December 30, 2012

- A STARS Author | - A SIBA Okra Pick 
Titles in red are SIBA Book Award winners and finalists!
Printable versions: Hardcover | Paperback | Children.

Hardcover Fiction

Hardcover Nonfiction

Trade Paperback Fiction

Trade Paperback Nonfiction

Mass Market

Children's Illustrated

2. Pete the Cat Saves Christmas
Eric Litwin, James Dean (Illus.), Harper, $17.99, 9780062110626

Children's Interest

Children's Fiction Series Titles

Lady Banks' Commonplace Book

Noteworthy poetry and prose from her ladyship's bedside reading stack.

More beautiful than proud

Lila pulled out of the prison gates, her body still humming with adrenaline. She didn’t have enough time to go hoome before meeting Clay at the wine bar in town, so she pulled the truck over on the side of the road near the old Edgerton place. The road was empty and she couldn’t see anyone around, so she got out of the car and opened the passenger-side door, which faced the tree line. Lila stepped out of her boots and work pants and for a second exposed the naked body she was still proud of. She slipped the black dress over her head, the soft fabric sliding down her back and falling into place.

She used the passenger-side mirror to do her lipstick, careful to cover the pink, tattooed lines where the swollen flesh of her lip used to end.

To her right, wild turkeys ran through barren fields, fields that once grew cotton and tobacco, fields that someone was too poor or too old to tend. She wiped the lipstick from her teeth.

Maybe tonight would be different. Maybe Clay would take her hand and she’d let him. Maybe, after wine, they’d eat a big meal at Brodie’s, tip like movie stars.
But what kind of woman found a happy ending in Raeford? Lila drove the deserted country road toward the dying town she called home. She imagined Clay’s strong hands on her body again and wished she was more beautiful than proud.

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Book Gossip

Literary News & Gossip passed along from the readers, the writers, the reviewers, the resellers, the riff raff, and dutifully repeated here by her ladyship (who falls into the last category).

Folkstreams is an incredible online archive of documentary films about American folk and roots music and culture. folkstream.net

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Author Gossip

With thoughts of writing a historical novel, she began researching the lives of Sarah and Angelina Grimké, daughters of a wealthy plantation owner, who traveled throughout the United States proselytizing for the American Anti-Slavery Society. The novel never materialized, but her research led to a new career. Gerda Lerner dies at 92

As the highest decorated poet in the land, Trethewey is a Mississippi champion. Her league is “Arts and Letters” and her sport is “poetry,” and though she once cheered her Bulldogs from the sidelines as head cheerleader at the University of Georgia in the late 1980s, the recent honor of U.S. poet laureate puts her on a playing field shared by just a select few. A working writer

My mother and father are 79 and 82 respectively, and in need of more and more of me as time flies. After twenty years of driving through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina in order to get to them, it is now time to remove those seven hours and those winding roads, that I feel I know every bump and curve of from the equation. After thirty-eight years of being away from South Carolina it is time to go home. Nikki Finney decides to go home 

Have the years that I began with greens, black-eyed peas and corn bread been luckier and more prosperous than those that I did not?  Well, yes, by and large, as best as I can remember.  Do I really believe that this meal has mystical powers?  I’d say I believe it for the same reason I believe in ghosts: it’s so much more fun than not believing. And a prosperous New Year to you, too

“I wound up spending four years at Duke under his spell—a spell that will last . . . for the rest of my life. What he gave me, and gave everyone, was a faith in language—as a path to wisdom, as healing medicine, as revelation. Nothing less.” Josephine Humphreys’ Top Ten list

STARS Authors on tour:

What are "STARS" authors? These are authors listing in the Southern Traveling Authors Registration Service--a directory of authors who live in, or are traveling in the South and are interested in meeting with book clubs, civic groups, classrooms, and readers of all kinds. The STARS directory is brought to you by Southern Indie Booksellers, who want to connect readers with their favorite writers.

see the full list online here and find the authors touring in your area here

Hester Bass  , Brandon, MS 01/16/2013 - 01/19/2013

Renea Winchester  , Jefferson , Texas 01/17/2013 - 01/20/2013

Bookstore Gossip

Square Books, Books and Books, Faulkner House: the best bookstores in America

2012 Bestsellers are all about the local authors at The Fountainhead Bookstore in Hendersonville, NC

Hendersonville can be particularly proud that 6 of these titles were written by Local authors.  Additionally, 2 of the titles are by a regional author. In the number one spot, the Miss Julia series is an all-time favorite written by local resident Ann B. Ross.  The books, set in the fictional small southern town of Abbottsville, are popular nationwide as attested by the fact that the Miss Julia series consistently hits the New York Times Bestsellers list. In the number two slot, another local author with her debut novel, Southern Fried Lies by Susan Snowden.  Although Snowden has been published in many literary journals, this is her first novel. Through shear word of mouth, Southern Fried Lies quickly climbed the bestselling list, even beating out Fifty Shades of Grey. For an extended bestsellers list (which includes a couple more local authors) go to www.fountainheadbookstore.com.

1.  Miss Julia to the Rescue, Ann B. Ross (Local)
2. Southern Fried Lies, Susan Snowden, (Local)
3. Sea Change, Karen White (Regional)
4. Fifty Shades of Grey, James
5.  Lions of the West, Robert Morgan (Local)
6.  Casual Vacancy, J. K. Rowling
7.  Laurie Bakke's Cookbook (her third straight year on the top 10 list - Local)
8.  Gifts of Imperfection, Brene Brown
9.  State of Wonder, Ann Patchett
10.  House on Tradd Street, Karen White (Regional)
11. Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, Ann B. Ross (Local)
12.  Hendersonville and Flat Rock, Terry Ruscin (Local)

Lady Banks' {Book} Trailer Park

The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew

Read This!

Recommended Reading from The Indie Next List

A True History of the Captivation, Transport to Strange Lands, & Deliverance of Hannah Guttentag by Josh Russell

Like the Puritan-era narratives she studies, Hannah Guttentag's early-1990s narrative is a chronicle of the strange places she travels--Nashville, Ithaca, New Orleans, Cleveland, Nebraska--the savages who captivate her--librarians, grad students, professors, her baby--and the redemption she earns.

Josh Russell's previous novels are Yellow Jack and My Bright Midnight. An Illinois native--born in Carbondale, raised in Normal--he now lives in Decatur, Georgia with his wife and daughter.

Full set of Okra Picks here

Snow White Must Die, by Nele Neuhaus
(Minotaur, $24.99, 9780312604257)
“This mesmerizing story comes from one of Germany’s most popular mystery writers. A seemingly normal small town is turned upside down when the body of a young woman is found and the convicted killer of two young girls who have never been found returns home after 10 years in prison. Nothing is as it seems as neighbor turns against neighbor and dark secrets from the past are slowly revealed by the diligent work of two police detectives who fear they have not done enough or worked quickly enough to save lives. Filled with enough twists and turns and motives and means to keep you guessing to the very end!” —Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC

The Intercept: A Jeremy Fisk Novel, by Dick Wolf
(William Morrow, $27.99, 9780062064837)
“This debut by Wolf, the award-winning creator of the television series Law & Order, introduces Jeremy Fisk, a detective in the NYPD’s antiterrorism intelligence-gathering agency. After an attempted airline hijacking is foiled by a handful of passengers just days before the President is scheduled to attend a July 4th celebration in New York City, Fisk and other law enforcement specialists surmise that the hijacking was just a diversion. But then who — or what — is the real target? And how can the plan be foiled without knowing the identity of the real terrorist? Time is of the essence in this well written page-turner.” —Ellen Klein, Hooray for Books!, Alexandria, VA

The Boy in the Snow: An Edie Kiglatuk Mystery, by M.J. McGrath
(Viking Adult, $25.95, 9780670023691)
“Highly recommended for fans of Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak series, this follow-up to McGrath’s debut, White Heat, offers a view of the life of Inuits in Alaska. Half-Inuit Edie Kiglatuk is another strong heroine who has a troubled past but tries to do what she can to make things right. I look forward to learning more about what drives her in future books in this series.” —Nancy McFarlane, Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC

The Great Pearl Heist: London’s Greatest Thief and Scotland Yard’s Hunt for the World’s Most Valuable Necklace, by Molly Caldwell Crosby
(Berkley Hardcover, $25.95, 9780425252802)
“This is the true story of the heist of the most valuable pearl necklace in the world in 1913 London by one of the biggest international jewel thieves and the man who sent him to jail. This little-known case is a great read about how Scotland Yard began to use forensic sleuthing to solve crimes as well as a compelling description of how the criminals were almost able to get away with the theft.” —Beth Carpenter, The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, NC

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In This Issue

• Southern Indie Bestsellers
• Lady Banks' Commonplace Book
• Book Gossip
• Author Gossip/ Stars Authors
• Bookstore Gossip
• The {book} trailer park
• Read This!/Okra Picks
• Special to the Southern List
• Authors Round the South

Special to the Southern List

(Books that appear on the Southern list, but not the national list)  Click on a book to purchase from a great indie bookstore!

Author Readings

Stuart Neville, author of Ratlines, will be appearing at Quail Ridge Books & Music, 01/09/2013 (13658)

Sherry and John Petersik, author of Young House Love, will be appearing at Books & Books Inc, 01/09/2013 (13717)

Chris Kuzneski will be appearing at Inkwood Books, 01/10/2013 (13607)

Dr Brown, author of Daring Greatly, will be appearing at Alabama Booksmith, 01/10/2013 (13644)

Claudine R. Moreau, author of Dark Machines, will be appearing at Flyleaf Books, 01/10/2013 (13669)

Chris Kuzneski will be appearing at Inkwood Books, 01/10/2013 (13679)

Hannah Gamble, author of Your Invitation to a Modest Breakfast, will be appearing at Parnassus Books, 01/10/2013 (13695)

Sherry and John Petersik, author of Young House Love, will be appearing at Books & Books Inc, 01/10/2013 (13718)

Carolina Garc?a-Aguilera, author of Magnolia, will be appearing at Books & Books Inc, 01/10/2013 (13719)

Eric Meyers, author of The Astrology of Awakening: Volume 1-Eclipse of the Ego, will be appearing at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, 01/10/2013 (13737)

Bettina Love, author of Hip Hop?s Li?l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Identities and Politics in the New South, will be appearing at Charis Books & More, 01/11/2013 (13676)

Kristin Tubb will be appearing at Parnassus Books, 01/11/2013 (13696)

Dr. James Andrews, author of Any Given Monday, will be appearing at Alabama Booksmith, 01/11/2013 (13700)

Books & Books Inc is hosting the event Live Music in the Courtyard: ERROL RACKIPOV TRIO featuring RANDY BURNSEN on 01/11/2013 (13720)

James Grippando will be appearing at Books & Books Inc, 01/11/2013 (13721)

Tisha Duncan, author of Myrtle the Blue-eyed Turtle, will be appearing at Quail Ridge Books & Music, 01/12/2013 (13659)

Flyleaf Books is hosting the event Prompt Writing with Nancy Peacock on 01/12/2013 (13670)

Donald Eugene Koger, author of The Corrupter, will be appearing at Books on Broad, 01/12/2013 (13691)

Ronald Cooper, author of It's My Trail Too, will be appearing at City Lights Bookstore, 01/12/2013 (13705)

Jason Graves, author of Blood Roses, will be appearing at Barnhill's, 01/12/2013 (13710)

Michael Muller, author of Mirabelle Goes For a Walk, will be appearing at Books & Books Inc, 01/12/2013 (13722)

Books & Books Inc is hosting the event W.J Bryan Elementary Museums Magnet School -- Through the Eyes of My Haitian Friend on 01/12/2013 (13723)

Books & Books Inc is hosting the event FOCUS ON HAITI: So Spoke the Earth on 01/12/2013 (13724)

Books & Books Inc is hosting the event Live Music in the Courtyard: Sam Savage Trio on 01/12/2013 (13725)

Octavia Books is hosting the event Octavia Books Science Fiction Book Club- The Pastel City on 01/12/2013 (13730)

Jubal Tiner, author of The Waterhouse, will be appearing at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, 01/12/2013 (13738)

Janice Fletcher, author of Wisdom from the Inner Teacher, will be appearing at Park Road Books, 01/12/2013 (13745)

Trey Carland, author of A Seekers Guide to Inner Peace (Notes to Self), will be appearing at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, 01/13/2013 (13739)

M.O. Phoenix, author of Funniest Things My 6yr Old Says, will be appearing at Park Road Books, 01/13/2013 (13746)

Flyleaf Books is hosting the event Flyleaf Book Lovers Club Discussion: Everything is Obvious: How Common Sense Fails Us by Duncan Watts on 01/14/2013 (13671)

Charis Books & More is hosting the event Writing With Intent on 01/14/2013 (13677)

Miles Arceneaux, author of Thin Slice of Life, will be appearing at Garden District Book Shop, 01/14/2013 (13685)

Parnassus Books is hosting the event Parnassus Book Club: The Paris Wife and A Moveable Feast on 01/14/2013 (13697)

Gayle Forman will be appearing at Books & Books Inc, 01/14/2013 (13726)

Adrian Van Young, author of The Man Who Noticed Everything, will be appearing at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, 01/14/2013 (13740)

Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe is hosting the event MYSTERY BOOKCLUB- I Am Half Sick of Shadows on 01/14/2013 (13741)

Richard Leonard, author of House by the Creek, will be appearing at Quail Ridge Books & Music, 01/15/2013 (13660)

Page & Palette is hosting the event Book Club Night with Anderson and Stephanie on 01/15/2013 (13663)

Regulator Bookshop is hosting the event Daniel Greyber in conversation with Joe Harvard on 01/15/2013 (13665)

William Rau, author of 19th-Century European Painting: From Barbizon to La Belle ?poque, will be appearing at Garden District Book Shop, 01/15/2013 (13686)

L. Jagi Lamplighter, author of Prospero in Hell , will be appearing at Fountain Bookstore, 01/15/2013 (13693)

Katrina Kenison, author of Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment, will be appearing at Parnassus Books, 01/15/2013 (13698)

Andrea Ford, author of The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types , will be appearing at City Lights Bookstore, 01/15/2013 (13706)

Vernon Valentine Palmer, author of THROUGH THE CODES DARKLY, will be appearing at Octavia Books, 01/15/2013 (13731)

Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe is hosting the event COMIX CLUB - The Underwater Welder on 01/15/2013 (13742)

Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe is hosting the event IT'S TIME TO TALK ABOUT IT SERIES ON EATING DISORDERS: EATING DISORDERS & WELLNESS: INTEGRATING THE RECOVERY MODEL WITH YOGA AND MINDFULNESS-BASED INT on 01/15/2013 (13743)

Quail Ridge Books & Music is hosting the event NC Opera's Eric Mitchko on The Ring on 01/16/2013 (13661)

Michael Morris, author of , will be appearing at Page & Palette, 01/16/2013 (13664)

Audra Ang, author of To the People, Food Is Heaven: Stories of Food and Life in a Changing China, will be appearing at Flyleaf Books, 01/16/2013 (13672)

Nick Bruell, author of Bad Kitty School Daze, will be appearing at FoxTale Book Shoppe, 01/16/2013 (13683)

Adamari Lopez, author of Viviendo, will be appearing at Books & Books Inc, 01/16/2013 (13727)

Bound To Be Read Books is hosting the event January Book Club discusses The Perks of Being a Wallflower on 01/17/2013 (13635)

Charis Books & More is hosting the event Cliterati Open No-Mic Featuring Mariana McDonald on 01/17/2013 (13678)

James Sheehan will be appearing at Inkwood Books, 01/17/2013 (13680)

Susannah Cahalan, author of Brain on Fire , will be appearing at Books & Books Inc, 01/17/2013 (13728)

georganne Spruce, author of With and Without Her: A Memoir of Being and Losing A Twin, will be appearing at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, 01/17/2013 (13744)

Flyleaf Books is hosting the event A Conversation with theatre director Anne Bogart on 01/19/2013 (13673)

The Fountainhead Bookstore is hosting the event Reception for Fiction Contest Winner Tom Hooker on 01/19/2013 (13687)

Janis Ian, author of Society's Child, will be appearing at Parnassus Books, 01/19/2013 (13699)

Linda Star Wolf, author of Sacred Medicine of Bee, Butterfly, Earthworm & Spider, will be appearing at City Lights Bookstore, 01/19/2013 (13707)

Chuck Thurston, author of Senior Scribbles Unearthed, will be appearing at Barnhill's, 01/19/2013 (13711)

Octavia Books is hosting the event Octavia Books Book Club on 01/19/2013 (13732)

Bill Horn, author of Seasons on the Flats, will be appearing at Hooked On Books, 01/19/2013 (13734)

Janna McMahan , author of ANONYMITY, will be appearing at Park Road Books, 01/19/2013 (13747)

John Parascandola, author of King of Poisons: A History of Arsenic, will be appearing at Fountain Bookstore, 01/22/2013 (13694)

Kim Marie Vaz, author of THE BABY DOLLS - Breaking the Race and Gender Barriers of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Tradition, will be appearing at Octavia Books, 01/22/2013 (13733)

Melissa de la Cruz, author of Gates of Paradise, will be appearing at Little Shop of Stories, 01/23/2013 (13748)

Barbara Fredrickson will be appearing at Flyleaf Books, 01/24/2013 (13666)

Janna McMahan  will be appearing at Books on Broad, 01/26/2013 (13692)

Park Road Books is hosting the event Park Road Books Foodie Book Club on 01/29/2013 (13657)

Jen Lancaster, author of Here I Go Again, will be appearing at Fiction Addiction, 01/31/2013 (13689)

Herman Parish will be appearing at Little Shop of Stories, 01/31/2013 (13749)

Cavalier House Books is hosting the event Book Club Meeting - Thinking Fast and Slow on 02/05/2013 (13629)

Margaret Wrinkle, author of Wash, will be appearing at Alabama Booksmith, 02/05/2013 (13645)

Ron Rash, author of Nothing Gold Can Stay, will be appearing at Alabama Booksmith, 02/22/2013 (13701)

Alabama Booksmith is hosting the event An Evening with Garrison Keillor on 03/25/2013 (13702)

Jill McCorkle will be appearing at Alabama Booksmith, 04/08/2013 (13703)

Ann B. Ross will be appearing at The Fountainhead Bookstore, 04/09/2013 (13688)

Authors Round the South
www.authorsroundthesouth.com