Rhythm and Books

The Wake of Forgiveness

Bruce Machart, who visits Turnrow this Thursday (9/30), has just published The Wake of Forgiveness, one of the most impressive debut novels we've read in a long time.  Fans of big-country dramas and sagas of sons, brothers, husbands and horses should take serious note.

The novel opens in Texas, 1895, as planter Vaclav Scala watches his wife die giving birth to his fourth son, Karel, who will grow up to play a pivotal role in the family's story.  The Scalas begin to unfurl following the matriarch's death, and their fates are sealed when Karel is saddled with his father's hasty bet — a horse race, pitting the boy against the lovely daughter of a wily Spanish landowner.

What follows is the story of their winnings and losses, the land and animals both in and out of their possession, and the women who tolerate them. 

Using the big rugged West of the early 1900s, Machart explores motherless sons, suffering a tyrannical father, and the ways in which these deficits are manifested in their own families and relationships.  It succeeds on the strength of these characters and the author's muscular prose.  He crafts big, tornadic sentences that broaden each scene, and fashions some of the most boisterous, colorful dialogue this side of Deadwood.  (Not as f—n' profane, but still plenty f—n' impressive to say the f—n' least.)

And though this is certainly the story of men, a host of robust women characters give this story a wider appeal than so many of the mannish historical epics we've seen in recent years. 

The Wake of Forgiveness announces the arrival of a genuine new talent, and we look forward to meeting Bruce and reading more.  Fans of great equestrian fiction like Coal Black Horse and All the Pretty Horses should come out and hear the reading, or at least reserve a signed copy.

A Novel Bookstore

It doesn't hurt that the marvelous Europa Editions has published French novelist Laurence Cossé's new book, A Novel Bookstore, but perhaps we were most intrigued by this story because it's about an independent bookstore striving against all odds.

This enchanting new novel is about Ivan and Francesca, two booklovers who meet serendipitously in a bookstore and begin a conversation about the state of contemporary (albeit French) literature.  One thing leads to another, and the two soon become partners in a new store that vows only to sell great novels.  Their shop, The Good Novel, opens to much fanfare and controversy in Paris.  Their stock of only great (and overwhelmingly French) fiction is determined by a secret committee of eight respected writers, each of whom submits a list of the 600 best novels of all time, with room for the few great new novels that are published each season, to be recommended by Ivan and Francesca and adopted or rejected by the anonymous panel.

It's not long before detractors begin to raise questions about the ethics of this business:  who gets to decide which literature is great and which is merely popular and shallow?  Can a book with less literary ambitions not be great?  Isn't it dangerous for a large segment of books to be suppressed based on the tastes of a few? 

The book shop owners deliver eloquent rebuttals, but a hostile division arises nevertheless.  On one side is the devoted clientele of A Good Novel, who appreciate that artful literature is being preserved and that they don't have to sort through the commercial riff-raff to find an edifying reading experience.   On the other side are fellow booklovers who decry the elitism and subjugation of merely pleasurable books.

Francesca and Ivan fear a secret cabal has formed once personal attacks against them begin to appear in print, followed soon by actual attempts to harm the members of their secret panel, threatening the lives of their writers and the sanctity of their entire business model.

There are plenty of interesting ideas at work here — what makes great literature, for instance, or how new technology is being used to discredit opposing viewpoints — but Cossé playfully incorporates elements of mystery and romance into her story, illustrating that good novels aren't limited by genre but by their lack of ambition to challenge and provoke.  But perhaps most lastingly, A Novel Bookstore is a call to preserve literature in these days of waning interest, when technology and navel-gazing have consumed popular interest.

Reading A Novel Bookstore gave us the opportunity to analyze our own criteria of how we determine which books are represented at Turnrow.  It seems in the past year or so, facing economic slow down and better understanding our clientele, we've become more devoted to the books we love and have attempted to find a good middle ground for customers.  It's not that we don't carry the big bestsellers like James Patterson, Dan Brown, Stephen King and John Grisham — we love to read some of these authors, and some are even good friends to the store — but we especially enjoy introducing readers to books they might not have picked up without our recommendation.

When it comes down to it, selling (and publishing) books is an extremely important exchange and preservation of ideas.  You don't have to agree with them all, but only recognize their worth and creative arrangement. 

Cossé says it better through Francesca, who is telling Ivan about her grandfather, a famous historian and closet novelist, who bequeathed to her his entire library when he died:

"My grandfather left me a great deal more — a passion for literature, and something additional, fundamental:  the conviction that literature is important.  He talked about it often. Literature is a source of pleasure, he said, it is one of the rare inexhaustible joys in life, but it's not only that.  It must not be dissociated from reality.  Everything is there.  That is why I never used the word fiction.  Every subtlety in life is material for a book.  He insisted on the fact:  Have you noticed, he'd say, that I'm talking about novels?  Novels don't contain only exceptional situations, life or death choices, or major ordeals;  there are also everyday difficulties, temptations, ordinary disappointments;  and in response, every human attitude, every type of behavior, from the finest to the most wretched.  There are books where, as you read, you wonder:  What would I have done?  It's a question you have to ask yourself.  Listen carefully:  it is a way to learn to live.  There are grown-ups who will say no, that literature is not life, that novels teach you nothing.  They are wrong.  Literature informs, instructs, it prepares you for life."

The Long, Hot Summer

Like most of you, we spent our Labor Day packing away our seersuckers and white jodhpurs and picking the mothballs out of fall sweaters.  It was a time to reflect on labor, sure, but also a time to look back at a fanciful summer.  It was such a festive and hectic summer, in fact, that we've hardly had time to blog about all the goings-on.  As we commit to posting more in the upcoming season, we'd like to take you back through some of the highlights of a long, hot summer.

The Help
The biggest story of the summer in Greenwood is without a doubt the filming of The Help.  A massive troupe of techs, builders, movers, shakers, stars, publicists and artisans of all sorts infiltrated the town at the beginning of the summer and continue to create their adaptation of debut novelist and Mississippi native Kathryn Stockett's phenomenon.  (We still have a few signed copies left.)  We've refrained from telling much about the movie in deference to the producers, who hope to keep news of the project as much under wraps as possible, due to arcane Hollywood business logic, and we've been happy to oblige in exchange for some great opportunities to share in the experience.  We don't even have a photo from our event in early August that featured several of the major cast members reading selections from the book.  (Though we did post some other photos from the weekend.)  Stockett put together a terrific sampling of scenes from the book, read by the actors and actresses.  The 500 or so attendees got a rare and unique sneak peek at the performances, not to mention a slice of heavenly seven-layer caramel cake, courtesy of Caroline's in Baltimore.A vast majority of the movie is being filmed in Greenwood proper, including a major scene just down the street from us.  It's been wonderfully surreal to greet comers and goers, both local extras in beehive hairdos and maid uniforms, as well as great actresses like Sissy Spacek, Allison Janney and Viola Davis, not to mention a host of young Hollywood up-and-comers, lounging on our backporch, reading Larry Brown, Barry Hannah and Charles Portis at our insistence.

The hoopla will soon be gone, but we'll remember this for a long time.

Labor Day
We ended the season on a high note with a book signing and reception for renowned interior designer Charles Faudree of Tulsa.  His French County style has been celebrated and emulated all over, and we were proud to have this prince of domesticity in our midst.  He was in town at the pleasure of new friends Mark and Jennifer Radcliffe and the inestimable Leslie Jordan, all in town with the film production of The Help.  As Mr. Faudree met his many admirers and signed books for the large crowd, Jordan kept everyone entertained with hilarious and ribald tales from Hollywood.  See our photo album for more.

Citrus County
Perhaps our favorite discovery of the summer was Citrus County, the second book by John Brandon, current writer-in-residence at the University of Mississippi.  On the surface, this story of two disenfranchised teenagers and their equally oppressed teacher in a small Florida town is darkly comic, offbeat and troubling, but don't think for a minute you've read this story before.

Brandon pulls off an astounding trick:  he sets up a menacing backdrop, allowing his characters to tangle up in the deceptively mundane foreground, then nails the ending, an outcome you may not expect yet spend the whole book dreading.  By sheer impact, he has achieved something of the magnitude you'd expect from the Southern gothic masters of old, while remaining current in language and subject.  It reminded us of some of our contemporary favorites like Dan Chaon and Brad Watson, who are able to achieve that smooth yet intoxicating blend of the ordinary and the horrible.  The effect here is staggering.

We're pleased to announce that John will visit us on Wednesday, September 15 (5:30 p.m.) to sign and read from Citrus County.  You don't want to miss this one.  By all means, reserve a signed copy.


Live Music
This summer we discovered that the downstairs seating area at the front of Turnrow is a great stage for live music.  To combat the lack of original live music in town, we invited two of Mississippi's finest songwriters, Cary Hudson (left) and Jimbo Mathus, for separate shows.  We couldn't have been more pleased by the acoustics our open space holds, and the performers, each excellent in their own right, enjoyed the intimate setting of playing a bookstore.  It was appropriate to host both musicians in a house of literature as they're both great storytellers.  Cary's songs are narratives in the tradition of great folk and country songs, while Jimbo continues to resurrect old songs and tales from Mississippi history.  We hope to host more music events in the coming months ... at least until someone opens a proper music hall in town.

Great Authors
We had several memorable author visits this summer.  John Grisham dropped by early in the season to sign his new book for young readers, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, which one school here adopted for their summer reading.  Deborah Wiles (left), a dear friend and advocate for the bookstore, also dropped by to meet with young readers and hosted a workshop for young writers to inspire them to create a story for our Theodore Boone story contest.  She also signed her new novel Countdown, a wonderfully unique novel that intersperses documentary photos and news clips within the story of an 11-year-old trying to make sense of a world that seems to have gone crazy all around her.  Great for history teachers as well as teenagers who remember the terrors of 9/11 and anyone who enjoys a good coming-of-age yarn, this clever tale is another gem by a supremely talented writer.  Read all about Deborah's Greenwood visit on her blog.

From kids to grown-ups, we hosted a couple of titillating events, one with Adam Ross for his controversial debut novel, Mr. Peanut.  His reading included an eyebrow-raising scene of coitus in the front seat of a car, which had the audience buzzing and fanning; even the author himself was panting by the end.  Later, Nevada Barr stopped by for a noon reading from her new novel, Burn, then told the lunching crowd all about her research in the underground sex community of New Orleans, which included a visit to an orgy palace (not in full swing) that gave her the willies.

We had a big time with our friend Carolyn Haines, who launched her new novel, Bone Appetit, in Greenwood.  The novel concerns a murder at the Viking Cooking School, and she was co-host at a lunch-time cooking demonstration that went down without incident.

Finally,  we enjoyed our time with Howard Norman, who we've hoped to meet for years.  He was the rarest of gentlemen, affable and curious, enthusiastic and generous with stories of his life and work.  He read from his novel, What is Left the Daughter, one of the summer's finest.

The Heat
Nothing can be said of the Summer of '10 without mentioning the record heat.  None could say they made it through without soaking through their shirts or complaining of it fury.  It cast its horrible pall over the months but could not suffocate our fun.

The Biggest Books
Our summer bestsellers:

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
2. Theodore Boone by John Grisham
3. Bone Appetit by Carolyn Haines
4. The Time of Eddie Noel by Al Povall
5. Rasputin's Legacy by Troy Carnes (Greenwood native's debut, if you like early Greg Iles)
6. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
7. Greenwood: A Postcard History by Donny Whitehead and Mary Carol Miller
8. Burn by Nevada Barr
9. The Eyes of Willie McGee by Alex Heard
10. What is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman

Low Point
With all the highs must come lows, and this summer we were saddened by the passing of our friend Will Long, a Greenwood and Delta institution, and one of the best in a land of great storytellers.