Walk A Mile In My Shoes: January

This year, our theme is “Walk A Mile In My Shoes.” The idea that you can’t understand someone (and shouldn’t judge them) until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes is a pretty common sentiment. And research has shown that reading fiction is one way to really get such a walk going. So, that’s what we are going to do this year: use fiction (and some nonfiction when we just can’t resist) to take walks in someone’s shoes. We hope you lace up those sneakers and join our journey. To kick off the series, we’re going to start close to home.

Book Buzz: Inspiring Historical Fiction, Magical Realism Westerns, Arkansas Gangsters, and More

Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For January, we’re looking at WWII fiction inspired by a true story; a magical realism Western that focuses on the Chinese experience in 1800s America; a look at the gangster past of Hot Springs, Arkansas; and a new feature–a monthly spotlight on new audiobooks.

Book Buzz: Romantic Fiddlers, Murderbots, and Appalachian Memoirs

Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For October, we’re looking at historical fiction set in Civil War and Reconstruction-era Texas, an intriguing science fiction series, and a meditative memoir about rural Kentucky.

Paulette Jiles’s News of the World

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd has a mission that he did not ask for nor one that he wishes, though he readily admits the necessity of his journey. A news reader who makes his living traveling between rough frontier towns in the tension-filled midst of Reconstruction-era Texas, he is asked to return a 10-year-old girl to her family. The child, Johanna, was captured by Kiowa years earlier and seems to have no memory of her former life or native language. She just wants to return to her adopted tribe and keeps trying to run away every chance she gets. As the two travel hundreds of miles together through a land beset by raiding parties and criminals, complications ensue.

Ask the Blogger: Enemy Women

A couple of months ago at Books in Bloom, I was accepting suggestions for books/movies/topics to blog about, and I received a lot of intriguing suggestions. One of the recommendations was for Paulette Jiles’s Enemy Women. The woman who recommended it told me it was set during Civil War-era Missouri and that the author was a poet and her resulting writing style was lovely and evocative. We got so distracted discussing the book that I didn’t even think to ask her for her name until after she had left, but I recently read Enemy Women and really enjoyed it. (I really hope the lady who suggested it chimes in with a comment, so I can thank her properly. Until then, thanks so much for the great book recommendation!)