April 19, 2018
by jenniferpuryear
Book Titles: White Tears, Lincoln in the Bardo
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 …
July 22, 2016
by jenniferpuryear
David Ewing and Alice Randall bring star power to any gathering – Nashville luminaries much in demand for their wit and intellect, their kindness and sparkle. David is a ninth-generation Nashvillian, an attorney, and one of Nashville’s most knowledgeable local historians. You’ll often find him being interviewed, giving a talk, or sharing an item from his extensive collection of Nashville memorabilia. His wife, Alice Randall, …
April 28, 2016
by jenniferpuryear
It’s not often that I read three books focusing on race in the span of a couple of months, and this was time well spent. I’ll describe all three, but if you just want the take-home (because April is a “hair on fire” month), here it is: for a read that will move you and stretch your heart, pick up Nashville’s All-City Read, The Color of …
October 8, 2015
by jenniferpuryear
Hometown heroes make Nashville proud at the Southern Festival this weekend! Don’t miss the chance to support them at their panel discussions or under the tents with the booksellers. Thank you, hometown heroes, for giving us books that sing. Read on for tidbits and teasers from Don Winston, Nicki Pendleton Wood, Alice Randall, Caroline Randall Williams, Ed Tarkington, and Margaret Lazarus Dean (hometown broadly defined). From …
February 24, 2015
by jenniferpuryear
Soul Food Love: Healthy Recipes Inspired by One Hundred Years of Cooking in a Black Family is a cookbook in the same way that Eat, Pray, Love is a book about Italy. These books convey deeply personal journeys of women passionate about what they have seen and learned and who they have become. Nashville author/songwriter and Vanderbilt professor Alice Randall has teamed up with her daughter …
May 29, 2014
by jenniferpuryear
Book Titles: Poisonwood Bible, Bridge of Sighs, Vedi
I first met author Alice Randall when she visited book club at my friend Lawrence Blank-Cook’s home years ago, when Lawrence and her family lived on Central. Our book club was discussing The Wind Done Gone, and Alice agreed to come and join the conversation about her novel. I remember a lively evening with what seemed to me quite a lot of honesty in the room. I …