Memoir
By Gary Carden
In this Appalachian memoir, 89-year-old esteemed storyteller Gary Carden brings together tales from his childhood and youth that he’s shared for decades with audiences in the Smoky Mountains and beyond. Moving and often whimsical, stories like “Mason Jars in the Flood,” “The Bootlegger’s Turn,” and “Blow the Tannery Whistle!” resurrect Appalachia of the mid-20th century and reveal both the strength and struggles of family and community. A treasure box of anecdotes for teens and adults alike.
Maritime History
By Angus Konstam
There are few historical subjects as engaging as pirates. Angus Konstam, a pirate history scholar, has assembled a fascinating work on how pirating began, who the most famous pirate captains were, and how the naval powers, specifically the British Royal Navy, brought piracy to an end. Konstam explains how pirates marked as their territory the Caribbean, and especially Nassau, Bahamas, how they attacked merchant ships, and why young men chose this life.
Travel
By Hal Jackson
The phrase “El Camino Real”—The Royal Road—promises adventure. It evokes images of conquistadors, treasure, Indian uprisings, and pioneering frontiersmen. This guide traces the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro—the road running from Mexico City through Taos, New Mexico. It is the oldest road in the Americas. Part history book, part travelogue, part guidebook, this book is indispensable for anyone wishing to follow this road or for the less adventurous content to take this trip vicariously.
Novel
‘Pickoff’
By GP Hutchinson
It is 1927. Prohibition is on and the 1920s are roaring. Joe Rath is a catcher for the National League Baltimore Beacons. The team takes a road trip to Chicago, which Joe joins over his wife’s objections, but soon regrets, as he misses his family. To cheer Joe up, a buddy drags him to a Chicago speakeasy, where Joe gets entangled in an adventure that puts the mob on his tail and endangers his marriage. This fast-paced novel takes readers into baseball when it was a working-class sport.
The Hutchinson Group, 2021, 307 pages
Classics
Edited by Ann Braybrooks
This collection delivers as promised, offering an extravaganza of patriotic verse and song. Adding to the pleasure are the many pieces Braybrooks included that will be unfamiliar to most readers, like Phillis Wheatley’s “Peace,” Joseph Drake’s “The American Flag,” and Francis Finch’s “The Blue and the Gray.” Familiar songs and verses, like Katharine Bates’s “America the Beautiful,” also make the cut. Here’s the perfect book to pick up at random and simply relish for a minute or two.
For Kids
By Charlotte Zolotow and Wendell Minor
From “a little house in the mountains,” a young boy asks his mother what the seashore is like. “Let’s pretend,” she says and the young boy and the reader are transported by his mother’s detailed descriptions of a day at the beach, from the break of day to the dark of night. Beautifully painted illustrations make this a truly, lovely summer read.
