Jennifer Puryear

March 13, 2014
by jenniferpuryear

Vacation Bacon: One More Slice

Book Title: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is a smart, playful romp that begins in a musty secondhand bookstore in San Francisco then weaves through time and place, with stops at a book-worshipping cult in ancient Egypt (probably imagined by the author), a cavernous library hidden underneath 5th Avenue in New York (possibly imagined by the author), and the Google campus in California (not). Our hero, a young …

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March 4, 2014
by jenniferpuryear

Treading Time Like Water Going Nowhere While We Wait

Book Titles: This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Wave, The Goldfinch, On Such a Full Sea, Stitches

The dark days of February are behind us, and Spring lies just ahead – but March in Nashville tries our patience. The world stays gray and cold and all is tedium; the dogs are restless, and we with them. We are treading time like water going nowhere while we wait. These are the days when a good book is a time machine – a change …

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March 1, 2014
by jenniferpuryear

Orange Is the New Black

Book Title: Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison

You’ve probably seen or heard of the hot Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, which has introduced many of us to such concepts as “gay for the stay” and “going to the SHOE” (Solitary Housing Unit). Based on the memoir by Piper Kerman, the TV show follows the adventures and misadventures of a blonde, well-heeled 30-something doing time in federal prison for a 10-year-old drug …

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March 1, 2014
by jenniferpuryear

“Gay for the Stay” and Other Phrases You Might Learn in Women’s Prison

“Going to the Shoe” means solitary confinement (the Special Housing Unit/SHU). “Feelin’ some kinda way” means having a low day, while “feelin’ it” means everything’s great. If you’ve seen the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black,” you’re feelin’ it! Based on the memoir by Piper Kerman, the TV show follows the adventures and misadventures of a blonde, well-heeled 30-something doing time in federal prison …

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