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January 25, 2022 We could have gone another way. Become something else.
This is the last week readers can vote for The Southern Book Prize. There are eighteen books on the ballot, representing what Southern Indie booksellers feel are the best Southern fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books of the year. Now it is up to readers to vote for the best of the best. Click here to see the full list of books on the ballot, and to cast your vote. You can also be entered into a drawing for a collection of the Southern Book Prize titles on the ballot. Coming up on the Reader Meet Writer Author Series:
The riveting new novel by the critically-acclaimed author of Sugar Run, Perpetual West is a brilliant and evocative story of borders—between countries, between lovers, and between facets of the self. Read This Now | Read This Next | The Bookseller Directory |
Perpetual West with Mesha Maren|
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Read This Now! Recommended by Southern indies… |
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Honor by Thrity Umrigar Adult Fiction, Hispanic & Latino Honor is the kind of book that makes me want to sit for hours and read. Thrity Umrigar transports the reader to India through both the eyes of an Indian American journalist and the subject of her article, a Hindu woman who was the victim of a horrible attack at the hands of her own family. The result is powerful and poignant. Reviewed by Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
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Bookseller Buzz |
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Spotlight on: To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
"It was the sense of possibility, of how easily America could have been something else, how easily it could become something else, that I wanted to explore in all three of these books. Because there have been certain moments in America’s creation, certain turning points where the country could have gone another way. "–Hanya Yanagihara (via The Bookseller) 
What booksellers are saying about To Paradise
About Hanya Yanagihara Hanya Yanagihara is an American novelist, editor, and travel writer. She grew up in Hawaii and currently lives in New York City. |
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A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham Adult Fiction, Crime, Thrillers A January 2022 Read This Next! Title “I was twelve years old when those shadows started to form a shape, a face. Started to become less of an apparition and more concrete. More real. When I began to realize that maybe the monsters lived among us.”In the deep South, Chloe Davis is a therapist with a secret. Her father is in jail for the murder of multiple young girls who disappeared from her rural town when she was only a child. But now it is happening again and this time it seems the girls have connections to Chloe herself. But can Chloe find the truth and stop the killer, even if they are someone close to her?Stacy Willingham’s A Flicker in the Dark is a solid debut thriller, full of the thick humidity of Southern summers spent running through the woods. Readers will race to the end to find who is at fault and may discover that no one can be trusted. Reviewed by Faith Parke-Dodge, Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, North Carolina |
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MonsterMind: Dealing With Anxiety & Self-Doubt by Alfonso Casas Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, Comics & Graphic Novels Casas’ most recent graphic novel is a wonderful, poignant dive into living with mental health issues. Creating monsters out of feelings, Casas gives a visual representation of how trauma, anxiety, fear, and other pests affect daily life, especially in the midst of a pandemic. I really appreciated the hopeful but realistic ending of this. It’s a reminder that though these things will always live with us, there are ways to fight them. Reviewed by Grace Quinn, Foggy Pine Books in Boone, North Carolina |
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Hansel and Greta by Jeanette Winterson Adaptations, Children, Fairy Tales & Folklore This book felt like a fever dream in all the wildest ways. From comedic to angering, this book covered an abundance of feelings and topics that made it whole. A fun and much needed adaptation to a classic fairytale. Will stay with you a long time after reading. Reviewed by Stephanie Carrion, Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida |
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The Big Reveal by Jen Larsen Dating & Sex, Social Themes, Young Adult, Young Adult Fiction Addie is a fat dancer, and proud of it–not letting her peers or anybody else allow her to feel shame or inferiority because of her body. She has a group of truly excellent friends, who throughout the book are self-affirming, endlessly supportive, and outright hilarious. I wish I’d had anything close to these friends when I was in high school. Scratch that, I wish I had these friends now. Together, they hatch a plan to financially support Addie’s potential post-graduation job with a dance company in Milan that involves an underground burlesque show, and through it, Addie discovers the self-affirming and body-positive power of burlesque, which she and her friends had previously cast aside as creative stripping. But she also has, and does, stand up to misogyny, slut-shaming, and fatphobia from her peers and superiors, and Larsen is truly excellent at illustrating exactly how internalized bigotry can hurt you even when you think you love who you are, just because we live in a world where anything that isn’t the default is constantly assumed to be aberrant. The best YA I’ve read all year!! Reviewed by Akil Guruparan, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia |
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Read This Next! Books on the horizon: Forthcoming favorites from Southern indies… |
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Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz Adult Nonfiction, Biography & Autobiography, Personal Memoirs A January 2022 Read This Next! Title An exquisite view into the inextricable relationship among love, grief, and hope, Kathryn Schulz’s Lost & Found is a masterpiece. It’s been a while since I’ve underlined so many sentences and created marginalia—from page one, it felt as if I myself was part of Schulz’s story. Her metaphors are spot-on and stunning; her fondness for research and etymology manage to deepen our relationship to the work instead of distancing us. Five stars. I’ve already created a mile-long list of loved ones who will, like me, treasure this memoir. Reviewed by Janet Geddis, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia |
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Southern Bestsellers What’s popular this week with Southern Readers. |
[ See the full list ] |
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Parting Thought “The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.” |
Publisher:
The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance /
siba@sibaweb.com |
SIBA | 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive | Asheville, NC 28805
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