Good Reads

I’ve read more good books this week: Sue Monk Kidd’s The Mermaid’s Chair and Adriana Trigiani’s Milk Glass Moon were the answer to “What to read next?”

I became a Kidd fan after reading The Secret Life of Bees a few years ago. I like her strong, powerful writing, her use of metaphor, her quirky characters, and her craftsmanship. The protagonist in The Mermaid’s Chair was an artist. (Lately, I seem to be reading a lot of books with artist protagonists.) The setting was an island off the coast of South Carolina. Since I’d lived in Charleston many years ago, I could “see” and appreciate the setting.

Milk Glass Moon was the final book in the Big Stone Gap trilogy. I’d enjoyed the previous two—Big Stone Gap and Big Cherry Holler—so I was primed to like this one. I did. I’d probably never have read Trigiani’s first book if I hadn’t been to Big Stone Gap a couple of times for the John Fox Literary Festival. The last time I went, I’d won first place in the Lonesome Pine Short Story Contest for the fifth time (I was retiring from competition) and my writer buddy Marion Higgins, a die-hard Trigiani fan, went with me. The day before the festival, we explored the streets of downtown Big Stone Gap and a few of the tourist attractions. So, I could “see” the setting in Milk Glass Moon, too. (If I have one complaint about the book, it’s the time frame. If the setting is anytime after the late-90s, why isn’t the teenage Etta emailing like most teens do?) Anyhow, now I’m primed to read the next Big Stone Gap book, Home to Big Stone Gap. Hmmm. Four books: not a trilogy anymore?

After Milk Glass Moon, I read some early (1980s!) Sharyn McCrumb, Bimbos of the Death Sun, that I’d found at a used book store a couple of years ago. I liked this murder at a fantasy-con mystery, but I like her later work a lot more.

On Sunday, an article on the front page of the Roanoke Times’ Virginia section proclaimed that my favorite book, Lee Smith’s Fair and Tender Ladies, has been banned in Washington County schools because two paragraphs contained some improper words that teenagers shouldn’t know (Note: the middle-schoolers I used to teach knew these words pretty well). The article also said the book was published ten years ago; it was actually published in 1988. One trade paperback version was published in 1993. It really isn’t a kids’ book, although I know a lot of young people who’d enjoy it. I couldn’t find a link to the RT article, although I did find Lee Smith’s mother’s sweet potato biscuits recipe on the RT website. The Richmond Times-Dispatch, however, had an article about the proposed banning back in October.

I'm now half-way through a memoir, Voices from the Hollow, that I bought when Ibby's bookstore had its going-out-of-business sale. After I finish it, I think I'll reread my favorite book again. It's been almost five years since I reread it last time.

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