June 8, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
I wish we’d had less sad news this week. I wish I weighed a little less heading into summer and the unkindness of sleeveless dresses. (For sure I need less rosé.) On the bright side – Andrew Sean Greer will be reading from his Pulitzer-Prize winning novel Less at Parnassus at 2 pm this Saturday – he’s reading, answering questions, and also celebrating the launch …
May 20, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
Thank God for the people who survive their harrowing childhoods and live to tell their warrior tales. Thank God for the novelists who imagine courage in the worst of circumstances. They inspire us – the truth tellers – for truth and bravery take many forms. Mary Raymond returns to Bacon today with a compelling account of two hot current reads featuring heroines who transcend dire …
April 29, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
Friends – please keep whispering in my ear! I love the book lists, the book recs, the bookish news you send my way. Today I’m passing some of it along, before sharing a guest post by a lovely young writer, Peter Taylor. Finishing up a gap year in Bolivia, working on his Spanish, he’s been thinking about what gets lost in translation. Sincerest thanks to him …
April 19, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
Last week I found myself on a small stage but in big company with Alice Randall, Adam Ross, and Gary Shockley. We were talking about Lincoln in the Bardo, the Man-Booker-Prize-winning novel by George Saunders. (Thank God all I had to do was ask the questions.) The novel imagines Lincoln on the night after his 11-year-old son’s death in February of 1862. Newspapers reported that …
April 13, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
Nashville’s supposed to be reading The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of The Modern South for its annual community-wide “Nashville Read.” I started it and put it down. Started it again – and put it down. After the third time, I gave up. How can a history of food and cooking in the South read so much like a school textbook? One could fairly describe …
April 2, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
Marcia Masulla rocks her striped boots on a rainy day. She’s got mad style. And she’s making you smile! She walks into a room and owns it. She’s speaking her truth. Marcia is a founder and managing partner of Nashville Fashion Week, which kicks off tomorrow. She’ll be busy and using her superpowers all week, but she’s taken a moment to stop in at Bacon …
March 17, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
Sesame Street was as urban as it got for me, growing up in leafy, suburban Raleigh, North Carolina (“City of Oaks”). My parents took my sister and me on trips across the country that included big city visits, but we saw those cities as tourists. Sesame Street showed me in a more personal way – in an imaginative way – a different kind of neighborhood …
March 11, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
Spring arrives – not a moment too soon – in pinks and purples and yellows and whites. We’ve been waiting! It’s time for a new book, too. Today’s post features four novels, a short story collection, and a memoir, all of them as fresh and engaging as the season. Spring Break bonus: two of the books are perfect to read with your middle schooler or …
February 28, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
Well shoot – I hate not doing what I said I would. It’s February 28th and I have failed to complete the two nonfiction books I committed to read in January and February – The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia and The Girl with Seven Names: Escape from North Korea. For those of you who might be reading along: I am in process …
February 20, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
We all know this to be true, but it feels good to be reminded: success doesn’t often come easy. Or first. Just ask Newberry-Award winning author Kwame Alexander – he’s coming to Parnassus this Wednesday, February 21st at 4 pm and has a terrific story to tell. Let’s give him a warm welcome, Nashville! He’s got a reputation for lighting up a room. From The New …