The best Southern book of the year.

Details: Published: 14 February 2019 14 February 2019

LADY BANKS' COMMONPLACE BOOK

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Week of February 14, 2019

>> IN THIS ISSUE

The Commonplace Book | Read This! | Okra Picks | Southern Indie Bestsellers | Events

{The best Southern book of the year.}

In which there is something in the air (and the gumbo) of New Orleans, Mr. C.S. Lewis defies categorization, and after a heated battle the best southern books of the year have been selected.

Well, the votes are in, and Southern readers have spoken. The 2019 Southern Book Prize winners have been chosen. By all accounts it was a hotly contested race as writers, booksellers, and their customers rallied around their favorite books. According to the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, which manages the award, over 2800 ballots were submitted, representing booksellers and readers from over 150 Southern independent bookstores:

2019 Southern Book Prize Winners

FICTION
The Line That Held Us by David Joy
G.P. Putnam's Sons, 9780399574221
“With the Southern grit of Daniel Woodrell and the rich Appalachian cadence of Ron Rash, David Joy is the new voice of Southern noir. In The Line That Held Us, Joy drags the reader by the gut on a dark and twisted journey of violence and vengeance in a story that will not be soon forgotten.” – Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, NC

CHILDREN’S
Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe by Jo Hackl
Random House Books for Young Readers, 9780399557385
“Cricket is all alone -- her mama ran away, and her dad died, and now she's stuck with her Aunt Belinda, who doesn't want her. So Cricket sets out on a quest to find and solve a clue trail that she hopes will lead her to her mama and make everything right in her world. On the way, she learns to rely on herself and discovers that some treasures aren't monetary but are just as valuable. Fans of Sheila Turnage's Three Times Lucky will love Cricket and her journey of self-discovery.” – Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC

NONFICTION
The Best Cook in the World by Rick Bragg*
Knopf, 9781400040414
“Rick Bragg is the whole package. Intelligent, to the point, hilarious and beyond generous with his time and storytelling. A true man's man and momma's boy who makes us cry with laughter. He embraces his Southern roots and contributes to the overall reason we all love the South.” – Page 158 Books, Wake Forest, NC

*recipient of the 2019 Conroy Legacy Award

Read independently, and shop local.

her ladyship, the editor

Lady Banks' Pick of the Week

Lady Banks' Commonplace Book

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

His work had gotten him beaten and arrested and threatened with death. His lens stared down cold-eyed killers and searched dark country back roads where outsiders like him had vanished forever. He navigated a hostile and mysterious country with audacity and sneaky wit. But in later interviews, he downplayed himself. "I was there for a purpose and the purpose was to record the events that were taking place. It wasn't that I was doing it because I was any different. It's just that I was a news photographer and the news events were occurring."

--Preston Lauterbach, Bluff City: The Secret Life of Photographer Ernest Withers (Norton, 2018) 9780393247923

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Read This! Books with Street Ced

Recommended reading from Southern Indie Booksellers

Jane Harper has created yet another masterpiece, this one a standalone set in the outback region of Queensland Australia. It is a beautifully written character driven novel where the extreme hardship of living and surviving in the outback is one of the major characters.

It is the story of the Bright brothers told from the perspective of Nathan--the oldest of the three--as he tries to make sense of how his middle brother, Cameron, ended up alone in the middle of the desert dead of dehydration when he had a well-stocked and working car not far away. Was it something sinister or was it suicide as the authorities seem to believe. If suicide, what might have driven this charismatic well liked young man with a wife and two young daughters to take his life. The Lost Man is a story of family dynamics, of abuse and of lots of what if's.

The descriptions of the scenery and life in the outback would be enough alone to keep up your interest, but added to that is a cast of characters who you feel like you know intimately by the end of the book. A cast of characters who all have secrets and who make you wonder did Cameron kill himself or did one of them do the unspeakable?

The Lost Man by Jane Harper ($27.99*, Flatiron Books), recommended by Fiction Addiction, Greenville, SC.

Has your wishful thinking or powerful imagination ever turned into a not-so-small fib? That's what happens to Colette as she ventures into her new neighborhood to make friends. Luckily almost everyone loves a good story, and this one uses an inventive color style not often seen in picture books.

Colette's Lost Pet by Isabelle Arsenault ($17.99*, Random House Books for Young Readers), recommended by Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, NC.

A heartbreaking, soul-wrenching, lovely and poetic book. Sekaran's two protagonists, Soli and Kavya, play tug of war with your heart and it's impossible to divide their stories into black and white. A politically important novel, because of its portrayal of immigration issues and the people affected by our failing policies, but Sekaran's story is much more than that; it's about love, and the storms we weather to protect it.

Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran ($27, G.P. Putnam's Sons), recommended by Rachel, Avid Bookshop, Athens, GA.

More bookseller recommendations

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Gossip

News of a literary nature

"New Orleans is my favorite place on Earth. There’s something in the air (and the architecture and the music and the cocktails and the gumbo) that makes it feel extra special."

keep reading: 8 Great Books Set in New Orleans

"Every great book needs a hero, and Savannah Book Festival organizers might as well wear capes this weekend."

keep reading: The Savannah Book Festival is a true community asset

"Books are our very own way to change the reality we live in. They inspire and uncover creativity. Nowhere is this feeling fostered more strongly than within the walls of a bookstore."

keep reading: The 10 Best Bookstores in Kentucky

"I’ve always felt that C.S. Lewis was an author I couldn’t confine to any sort of genre, and because of that I didn’t know much about him."

keep reading: Patti Callahan on Becoming Mrs. Lewis

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The Okra Picks: The winter season

Make a New Year’s Resolution to read more Okra! Southern Independent booksellers have chosen the 2019 Winter Okra Picks – a collection of the best forthcoming Southern books of the season. Add a bit of tasty reading to your literary diet. Serve yourself a helping of Okra Picks.

"A heady yet accessible exploration of family and America's collective past that reaches into a variety of texts and art forms for inspiration. But It's the ambition of Luiselli's writing and its overall impact that makes this novel such a monument."
--Justin, Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe, Asheville, NC

From the two-time NBCC Finalist, an emotionally resonant, fiercely imaginative new novel about a family whose road trip across America collides with an immigration crisis at the southwestern border—an indelible journey told with breathtaking imagery, spare lyricism, and profound humanity.

A mother and father set out with their two children, a boy and a girl, driving from New York to Arizona in the heat of summer. Their destination: Apacheria, the place the Apaches once called home.

Why Apaches? asks the ten-year-old son. Because they were the last of something, answers his father.

In their car, they play games and sing along to music. But on the radio, there is news about an "immigration crisis: thousands of kids trying to cross the southwestern border into the United States, but getting detained—or lost in the desert along the way.

As the family drives—through Virginia to Tennessee, across Oklahoma and Texas—we sense they are on the brink of a crisis of their own. A fissure is growing between the parents, one the children can almost feel beneath their feet. They are led, inexorably, to a grand, harrowing adventure—both in the desert landscape and within the chambers of their own imaginations.

Told through several compelling voices, blending texts, sounds, and images, Lost Children Archive is an astonishing feat of literary virtuosity. It is a richly engaging story of how we document our experiences, and how we remember the things that matter to us the most. With urgency and empathy, it takes us deep into the lives of one remarkable family as it probes the nature of justice and equality today.

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
February 12, 2019 | (PRH) Knopf | 9780525520610

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Southern Indie Bestsellers

For the week ending February 10. Books on the Southern Indie Bestseller List that are southern in nature or have been recently recommended by southern indie booksellers.

Southern Indie Bestsellers

See the full list here.

The Southern Book Prize |

A SIBA Okra Pick
Special to the Southern List | Read This Next!

Printable versions (PDF): Hardcover | Paperback | Children's

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens, Putnam, $26, 9780735219090
2. Black Leopard, Red Wolf
Marlon James, Riverhead Books, $30, 9780735220171
3. The Silent Patient
Alex Michaelides, Celadon Books, $26.99, 9781250301697
4. Unsheltered
Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $29.99, 9780062684561
5. Circe
Madeline Miller, Little Brown, $27, 9780316556347

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Becoming
Michelle Obama, Crown, $32.50, 9781524763138
2. Educated
Tara Westover, Random House, $28, 9780399590504
3. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck
Mark Manson, Harper, $24.99, 9780062457714
4. Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style
Benjamin Dreyer, Random House, $25, 9780812995701
5. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Samin Nosrat, Wendy MacNaughton (Illus.), S&S, $35, 9781476753836

Special to the Southern List

FICTION of note

1. Where the Crawdads Sing
Delia Owens, Putnam, $26, 9780735219090
8. The Overstory
Richard Powers, Norton, $27.95, 9780393635522
11. Sugar Run
Mesha Maren, Algonquin Books, $26.95, 9781616206215
13. The Weight of a Piano
Chris Cander, Knopf, $26.95, 9780525654674
15. The Great Alone
Kristin Hannah, St. Martin's, $28.99, 9780312577230
1. An American Marriage
Tayari Jones, Algonquin Books, $16.95, 9781616208684

NONFICTION of note

8. Calypso
David Sedaris, Little Brown, $28, 9780316392389
9. The Point of It All
Charles Krauthammer, Crown Forum, $28, 9781984825483
12. Churchill: Walking with Destiny
Andrew Roberts, Viking, $40, 9781101980996
10. The Last Castle
Denise Kiernan, Touchstone, $17, 9781476794051
12. 125,000 Ways to Say I Love You
Pia Frey, Atria, $15.99, 9781501198601
14. The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea
Jack E. Davis, Liveright Publishing, $17.95, 9781631494024

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Events

What's happening at Southern Indies across the South?

See the full calendar | Find a Southern Indie Bookstore near you.

Rien Fertel: Drive-By Truckers’ Southern Rock Opera (33 1/3 #133) (author appearance)
Rien Fertel | 02/15/2019, 06:30 pm | Avid Bookshop | Athens, GA

Maurice Carlos Ruffin with WE CAST A SHADOW (author appearance)
Maurice Carlos Ruffin | 02/15/2019, 05:00 pm | Square Books | Oxford, MS

A YA Fantasy Panel with Leigh Statham, Nicole Conway, and Jodi Zdrok (author appearance)
Leigh Statham | 02/15/2019, 07:00 pm | Quail Ridge Books | Raleigh, NC

Donna Everhart Author of The Forgiving Kind (author appearance)
Donna Everhart | 02/15/2019, 11:00 am | Litchfield Books | Pawleys Island, SC

YA author event with CJ Redwine, author of The Blood Spell (author appearance)
CJ Redwine | 02/15/2019, 06:30 pm | Parnassus Books | Nashville, TN

Romantic Cocktails • Cocktail Night with Clair McLafferty (author appearance)
Clair McLafferty | 02/16/2019, 05:30 pm | Ernest & Hadley Booksellers | Tuscaloosa, AL

T.K. Thorne (author appearance)
T.K. Thorne | 02/16/2019, 02:00 pm | Page & Palette | Fairhope, AL

An Evening with Dixie Ann Black (author appearance)
Dixie Ann Black | 02/16/2019, 06:00 pm | Midtown Reader | Tallahassee, FL

Ardi Schneider presenting Anatoly Anole (author appearance)
Ardi Schneider | 02/16/2019, 11:00 am | Vero Beach Book Center | Vero Beach, FL

Avid Poetry Series: Andrea Jurjević, James May, Chelsea Rathburn (author appearance)
Andrea Jurjević, | 02/16/2019, 06:30 pm | Avid Bookshop | Athens, GA

Emma Perez, What’s the Point of School? (author appearance)
Emma Perez | 02/16/2019, 10:30 am | FoxTale Book Shoppe | Woodstock, GA

Maurice Carlos Ruffin signs We Cast a Shadow (author appearance)
Maurice Carlos Ruffin | 02/16/2019, 02:00 pm | Lemuria Books | Jackson, MS

Amy Zavatto with Prosecco Made Me Do It: 60 Seriously Sparkling Cocktails (author appearance)
Amy Zavatto | 02/16/2019, 05:00 pm | Turnrow Books | Greenwood, MS

Robin Yocum, The Perfect Shot (author appearance)
Robin Yocum | 02/16/2019, 11:00 am | McIntyre's Books | Pittsboro, NC

Children's Author Event: Bucleigh Kernodle - I Would Love You Even If You Were A Pickle (author appearance)
Bucleigh Kernodle | 02/16/2019, 11:00 am | Park Road Books | Charlotte, NC

Author Event: Paloma A. Capanna - Nearly Fifty (author appearance)
Paloma A. | 02/16/2019, 02:00 pm | Park Road Books | Charlotte, NC

Laura King Edwards - Run to the Light (author appearance)
Laura King Edwards | 02/16/2019, 03:00 pm | Quail Ridge Books | Raleigh, NC

Carey Pahel, Rufus the Mild-Mannered Bull (author appearance)
Carey Pahel | 02/16/2019, 11:00 am | Scuppernong Books | Greensboro, NC

Andrew Snorton: Open House (author appearance)
Andrew Snorton | 02/16/2019, 01:00 pm | Hub City Books | Spartanburg, SC

Charlie Jane Anders reads from The City in the Middle of the Night! (author appearance)
Charlie Jane Anders | 02/17/2019, 07:30 pm | Charis Books & More | Atlanta, GA

Marie Benedict, The Only Woman in the Room (author appearance)
Marie Benedict | 02/17/2019, 02:00 pm | FoxTale Book Shoppe | Woodstock, GA

Sarah Edwards - What the Sun Sees (author appearance)
Sarah Edwards | 02/17/2019, 02:00 pm | The Country Bookshop | Southern Pines, NC

Meet and Greet (and Treats!) With Kate Kennedy, Author of Twinkle, Twinkle, Social Media Star (author appearance)
Kate Kennedy | 02/17/2019, 12:30 pm | Fountain Bookstore | Richmond, VA

Howard Owen Launch Party for Scuffletown at Cafe Clang! (author appearance)
Howard Owen | 02/17/2019, 04:00 pm | Fountain Bookstore | Richmond, VA

Elinor Lipman (author appearance)
Elinor Lipman | 02/18/2019, 08:00 pm | Books & Books, Inc. | Coral Gables, FL

Writers at the Wrecking Bar Presents Snowden Wright | American Pop (author appearance)
Snowden Wright | 02/18/2019, 07:00 pm | A Cappella Books | Atlanta, GA

Ann Fisher-Wirth with THE BONES OF WINTER BIRDS (author appearance)
Ann Fisher-Wirth | 02/18/2019, 05:00 pm | Square Books | Oxford, MS

Stephen Lane discusses his book No Sanctuary & the protection of LGBT youth in school (author appearance)
Stephen Lane | 02/18/2019, 07:00 pm | Flyleaf Books | Chapel Hill, NC

Heather Edwards presents Important Parts, in conversation with Patti Digh (author appearance)
Heather Edwards | 02/18/2019, 06:00 pm | Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe | Asheville, NC

Author event with Delia Owens author of Where the Crawdads Sing (author appearance)
Delia Owens | 02/18/2019, 06:30 pm | Parnassus Books | Nashville, TN

Meet the Author: Deborah Kalb (author appearance)
Deborah Kalb | 02/18/2019, 03:00 pm | Hooray For Books | Alexandria, VA

B. A. Shapiro (author appearance)
B. A. Shapiro | 02/19/2019, 06:00 pm | Copperfish Books | Punta Gorda, FL

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls: Anissa Gray and Joshilyn Jackson and GCFTB (author appearance)
Anissa Gray | 02/19/2019, 07:15 pm | Charis Books & More | Atlanta, GA

Vikki Grodner Event (author appearance)
Vikki Grodner | 02/19/2019, 05:30 pm | Lorelei Books | Vicksburg, MS

Judy Goldman Discusses Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap (author appearance)
Judy Goldman | 02/19/2019, 07:00 pm | Flyleaf Books | Chapel Hill, NC

Kimberly Paul presents Bridging the Gap: Life Lessons from the Dying (author appearance)
Kimberly Paul | 02/19/2019, 06:00 pm | Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe | Asheville, NC

Jasper Fforde - Early Riser (Reserved Seating Available) (author appearance)
Jasper Fforde | 02/19/2019, 07:00 pm | Quail Ridge Books | Raleigh, NC

A. Gibert Kennedy: Reading and Signing (author appearance)
A. Gibert | 02/19/2019, 07:00 pm | Hub City Books | Spartanburg, SC

Author event with Ian S Port author of The Birth of Loud (author appearance)
Ian S. | 02/19/2019, 06:30 pm | Parnassus Books | Nashville, TN

History Night with David A. Taylor!!! (author appearance)
David A. | 02/19/2019, 06:30 pm | Fountain Bookstore | Richmond, VA

Reading with Pam Houston (author appearance)
Pam Houston | 02/20/2019, 06:00 pm | Midtown Reader | Tallahassee, FL

Gretchen Rose presenting Dancing With The Devil - A Memoir (author appearance)
Gretchen Rose | 02/20/2019, 04:00 pm | Vero Beach Book Center | Vero Beach, FL

Author Terrie Farley Moran (author appearance)
Terrie Farley | 02/20/2019, 06:00 pm | Copperfish Books | Punta Gorda, FL

Lawrence N. Powell - TROUBLED MEMORY - early 20th anniversary edition (author appearance)
Lawrence N. | 02/20/2019, 06:00 pm | Octavia Books | New Orleans, LA

Marla Hardee Milling presents Wicked Asheville (author appearance)
Marla Hardee | 02/20/2019, 06:00 pm | Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe | Asheville, NC

Lindsay Bernal, What It Doesn't Have to Do with: Poems (author appearance)
Lindsay Bernal | 02/20/2019, 07:00 pm | Scuppernong Books | Greensboro, NC

Author event with Laura Benedict author of The Stranger Inside (author appearance)
Laura Benedict | 02/20/2019, 06:30 pm | Parnassus Books | Nashville, TN

Don Keith (author appearance)
Don Keith | 02/21/2019, 06:00 pm | Page & Palette | Fairhope, AL

Lisa Cicero & Martin Baranek (author appearance)
Martin Baranek | 02/21/2019, 06:30 pm | Books & Books, Inc. | Coral Gables, FL

Thomas Cole - STANDING IN THE SHADOWS (author appearance)
Thomas Cole | 02/21/2019, 06:00 pm | Octavia Books | New Orleans, LA

Deborah & James Fallows on Thacker Mountain Radio with OUR TOWNS (author appearance)
Deborah and James Fallows | 02/21/2019, 06:00 pm | Square Books | Oxford, MS

Dayna and Jim Guido present The Parental Tool Box: For Parents and Clinicians (author appearance)
Dayna and | 02/21/2019, 06:00 pm | Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe | Asheville, NC

Judy Goldman - Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap (author appearance)
Judy Goldman | 02/21/2019, 07:00 pm | Quail Ridge Books | Raleigh, NC

Mesha Maren - Sugar Run (author appearance)
Mesha Maren | 02/21/2019, 05:00 pm | The Country Bookshop | Southern Pines, NC

Tim Conroy with Marjory Wentworth (author appearance)
Tim Conroy | 02/21/2019, 05:30 pm | Buxton Books | Charleston, SC

Wine and Cheese with Anne Rodrick: A Reading and Signing (author appearance)
Anne Rodrick | 02/21/2019, 07:00 pm | Hub City Books | Spartanburg, SC

Author event with Tim Johnson author of The Current (author appearance)
Tim Johnson | 02/21/2019, 06:30 pm | Parnassus Books | Nashville, TN

Deborah C. Pollack (author appearance)
Deborah C. | 02/22/2019, 06:30 pm | Books & Books, Inc. | Coral Gables, FL

Sean McFate (author appearance)
Sean McFate | 02/22/2019, 05:00 pm | Bookstore 1 Sarasota | Sarasota, FL

Taylor Brown Author of Gods of Howl Mountain (author appearance)
Taylor Brown | 02/22/2019, 11:00 am | Litchfield Books | Pawleys Island, SC

Author event with Elizabeth McCracken in conversation with Ann Patchett (author appearance)
Elizabeth McCracken | 02/22/2019, 06:30 pm | Parnassus Books | Nashville, TN

Joy Fitzgerald: The Journey to Joy: 5 Generations Share Stories Every Woman Needs to Hear (author appearance)
Joy Fitzgerald | 2/15/2019, 5:00 PM | novel. | Memphis, TN

February Reading Series (author appearance)
Martine Kalaw | 2/15/2019, 7:00 PM | New Dominion Bookshop | Virginia, VA

Wanda Shelton: Paint Her Dead (author appearance)
Wanda Shelton | 2/17/2019, 2:00 PM | novel. | Memphis, TN

Author Event: Stephen Lane (author appearance)
Stephen Lane | 2/19/2019, 6:30 PM | Page 158 Books | Wake Forest, NC

Pam Houston Signs Deep Creek (author appearance)
Pam Houston | 2/21/2019, 6:00 PM | Pass Books | Pass Christian, MS

Substance of Fire: Gender and Race in the College Classroom (author appearance)
Claire Millikin | 2/22/2019, 7:00 PM | New Dominion Bookshop | Virginia, VA

Authors Round the South | www.authorsroundthesouth.com

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