The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Biography & Autobiography

While You Were Out by Meg Kissinger

Meg Kissinger begins with an intimate portrayal of a family silently battling mental illness and ends with an exploration of the mental health system that failed them. Her writing is both compassionate and thought provoking. She evokes sympathy for the plight of those with mental illness and anger at the failings of our mental health system.

While You Were Out by Meg Kissinger, (List Price: $30, Celadon Books, 9781250793775, September 2023)

Reviewed by Horton’s Books in Carrollton, Georgia

Move Like Water by Hannah Stowe

Beautifully evocative, Stowe’s memoir captures the emotional and physical pull of open waters in a visceral and compelling way. A book that can be read on many levels– memoir, a natural history guide, a call to care–with it’s strength in the intersection of all. If you love oceans, women explorers and artists, or just a book to challenge your mind and soul, this one is for you.

Move Like Water by Hannah Stowe, (List Price: 24.95, Tin House Books, 9781959030102, September 2023)

Reviewed by Jan Blodgett, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

Strip Tees by Kate Flannery

This was a nostalgic punch to the gut for me as a former American Apparel gal, reminding me of when I wore Lycra and bodysuits to work, had my picture taken every day, then finally snapped, saying I was not a model and quitting, taking the last vestiges of my dignity along with me. I feel seen. More seen than when I was wearing spandex and lamé. This was a validating read for me, but will also be interesting to those who came of age in the 2000s, for every Millennial who cut their teeth on celebrity culture and came away wanting more.

Strip Tees by Kate Flannery, (List Price: 27.99, Henry Holt and Co., 9781250827289, July 2023)

Reviewed by Aimee Keeble, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin

An August 2023 Read This Next! Book

This is the most "un-put-downable" piece of non-fiction I’ve ever read. A brash and well-written account that -without being trivial- allows hope and redemption to spring from addiction, incarceration and shame, liberally sprinkled with the power of the written word to empower and invoke change. Looking forward to discussing this work as it also shines a harsh light on the injustice system and one can hope, bring more of us to seek improvement. Truly an important and unique book, much applause!

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin, (List Price: 28.99, Simon & Schuster, 9781982197667, August 2023)

Reviewed by Shari Stauch, Main Street Reads in Summerville, South Carolina

America the Beautiful? by Blythe Roberson

Blythe Roberson is a 28 year old writer and comedian who quits her job to take The Great American Road Trip alone beginning in the spring of 2019. In a borrowed Prius, she drives cross-country to National Parks to earn Junior Ranger Badges and to share her experiences with her Instagram followers and readers of this book. Along the road with Blythe, all readers experience the beauty of the natural parks, her humor about life and love, and her despair with Trump politics and devastating climate change. We hear her questions about her future and the future of this country and the world. While writing about Emerson, Dickinson and Thoreau, many thoughts are shared about traveling while being a solo woman with fears and loneliness and feeling horny. Riding each mile with this humorous and thoughtful woman, all readers will reflect about the meaning of life and our freedoms. Are we all living our lives to the fullest? Surely this book will linger in the minds of all readers as we decide how to spend our minutes of our days….do you need a solo road trip?

America the Beautiful? by Blythe Roberson, (List Price: 30, Harper, 9780063273405, July 2023)

Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser, Inc. in Marietta, Georgia

First to the Front by Lorissa Rinehart

The book is not just a dry recounting of Dickey Chapelle’s story. The writing is moving, engaging, and gripping. The author captures Dickey’s personality and her drive. The reader learns about the many firsts that Dickey accomplished as well as the disturbing “unknown” behind-the-scenes events that the US participated in throughout many wars and conflicts across the globe. Her life spans WWII through the Vietnam war. An amazing life! An amazing story!

First to the Front by Lorissa Rinehart, (List Price: 32, St. Martin’s Press, 9781250276575, July 2023)

Reviewed by Robin, A Novel Escape in Franklin, North Carolina

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel

A July 2023 Read This Next! Book

I’ll admit I have a bit of a guilty pleasure approach when it comes to thieves and heists. I’m amazed at the planning, the execution, and most of all, the why. When I saw this book about master art thief Breitweiser and his girlfriend, Anna-Christine, I knew I had to read it. I’m not sure what I was expecting it to be. An over-romanticized account about the wild and daring adventures of this couple that managed to steal billions of dollars right under the noses of the art world and art police alike? Whatever the case, that’s not what I got and I think the novel is all the better for it. It doesn’t read like fiction because it isn’t- everything actually happened! And none of this is to say it was boring or uninteresting. Quite the opposite! I was heavily invested. Rather, the matter-of-fact, understated reporting of the thefts as well as the behind the scenes drama are as true to Breitweiser’s manner of stealing as can be. This was not a man who needed to don all black and plan elaborate, barely made it heists. No, all Brietweiser needed was his pocketknife and girlfriend (with the occasional nail clipper). The detailed retelling of many of the thefts is not only paired with insight into the lives of two of the most successful thieves, but also a thorough psychoanalysis from many a psychiatrist interested in the mind behind the man. Well reported and I’d say authentic, The Art Thief is a must read.

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel, (List Price: $28, Knopf, 9780525657323, July 2023)

Reviewed by Laney Sheehan, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

An engrossing and necessary work of memoir, queer perspective, and groundbreaking from examining a history of abuse through a series of prismatic episodes dissecting road trips, meetings with parents, Disney villains, and gaslighting. Stumbling through each new layer you delve deeper into the unshakeable, irrational hold of abuse. At times what seemed like romance transforms in the next page into folklore, raw emotion, queer theory, criticism, and horror. I am immensely grateful for the work Carmen Maria Machado has done in writing as generous a book as In the Dream House.

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, (List Price: $18, Graywolf Press, 9781644450383, December 2020)

Reviewed by Luis Correa, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

The Wounds That Bind Us by Kelley Shinn

I did not want this book to end. Shinn is a true adventurer who is willing to take risks to find insight, inner peace, help others and have a good time along the way. She has suffered more than a few wounds that could have wrecked any normal person, but Shinn wrestles her way through each blow with incredible courage, sharing what she’s learned along the way. She is funny, extremely wise and super brave. Read this.

The Wounds That Bind Us by Kelley Shinn, (List Price: 21.99, West Virginia University Press, 9781952271861, June 2023)

Reviewed by Lisa Uotinen, Book No Further in Roanoke, Virginia

Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop by Alba Donati

What an elegant, joyful, and open reflection on living fully. Who opens a bookstore in a tiny (180 people) remote village? A wise and adventurous women, ready to return to her family roots while casting out a wide net for new friendships. Her daily entries are thoughtful lessons in seeing beauty, cultivating connections, facing loss, and celebrating the writers and stories that shape our worlds. A gift of a book to book lovers.

Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop by Alba Donati, (List Price: 17.99, Scribner, 9781668015568, June 2023)

Reviewed by Jan Blodgett, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

The Book of (More) Delights by Ross Gay

Ross Gay is an ambassador of pure joy—not the sugar-coated, roll-your-eyes kind of happiness, but the subversive, wink-and-nod kind of delectation. Whether he is comparing clusters of harvested sweet potatoes to snuggled bunnies or finding beauty at his aunt’s funeral, Gay’s eye for the oft-overlooked wonders of life is unrivaled, and his conversational, familiar delivery is perfection. Each tiny essay in this beautiful book digresses again and again, which, no surprise, makes it all the more delightful. Do we need a book of more delights? Yes, yes, yes. This book is a ray of sunshine, a juicy peach, a warm hug, a sunflower growing out of a crack in the sidewalk.

The Book of (More) Delights by Ross Gay, (List Price: $28, Algonquin Books, 9781643753096, September 2023)

Reviewed by Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies by Elizabeth Winkler

The myths of Shakespeare are so deeply ingrained that I didn’t realize how many of the things I "know" may not be correct. Winkler makes an excellent case that the Shakespeare we read may not be the Shakespeare of Avon, and she makes it very clear that not every anti-Stratsfordian is a crank. I am not convinced but I am intrigued, and I will keep digging for myself. To me, that makes this book successful–I am hooked and I want to know more.

Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies by Elizabeth Winkler, (List Price: 29.99, Simon & Schuster, 9781982171261, May 2023)

Reviewed by Tracy Bailey, Oxford Exchange in Tampa, Florida

White House by the Sea by Kate Storey

This book is very well written, and does a great job explaining the Kennedy’s family century-long ties to Hyannis Port. The story does a wonderful job exploring the family’s ties to the beach town along with how Hyannis Port helped shape the Kennedy image. Her insights into other residents are beautifully done and some of my favorite bits of the book.

White House by the Sea by Kate Storey, (List Price: $30, Scribner, 9781982159184, June 2023)

Reviewed by Tracie Harris, The Book House in Mableton, Georgia

Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper

Better Living Through Birding is a memoir that is very much about birds… but it’s also about so much more. Cooper was thrust into the media spotlight via a viral video in which he was subject to racial threats in Central Park from a dog walker… and he discusses this incident in detail. However, he also discusses growing up gay & black in NYC in the 70’s & 80’s, how comic books and nature saved his life, and how activism against social injustice runs in the family. From Harvard to writing for Marvel Comics & Star Trek to following elusive birds in the most remote places in the world, this memoir is honest, emotionally stirring, and heartfelt. It made me want to go for a nature walk immediately after I finished it.

Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper, (List Price: $28, Random House, 9780593242384, June 2023)

Reviewed by Stuart McCommon, Novel. in Memphis, Tennessee

Spotlight on: George, A Magpie Memoir by Frieda Hughes

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Frieda Hughes, photo credit Frieda Hughes

I had this huge bird-shaped hole in my life. I had my painting and my poetry, but my third marriage was crumbling and all the attention I had paid to George really had nowhere else to go. I also had this vast aviary I had built, so I set about determinedly trying to find occupants for it. You can go and buy a bird but that wasn’t what I wanted to do. The birds had to be unwanted and they had to need care – birds that could not otherwise fly free. ―Frieda Hughes, Interview, The Guardian

George, A Magpie Memoir by Frieda Hughes

What booksellers are saying about George, A Magpie Memoir

  • This captivating memoir of life with an unruly magpie had me hooked from the very first page. The eponymous corvid is rescued by Hughes – poet, painter, and daughter of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes – and quickly becomes a much-loved (albeit very naughty) member of the household. Hughes recounts his impish antics – which include daily games of hide-and-seek with multiple household objects – with affection and wry, exasperated humor.
      ― Jude Burke-Lewis from Square Books in Oxford, MS | Buy from Square Books

  • I want her to write a hundred memoirs. I’ll take twenty more about her animals. This – her first – memoir takes place after the death of her father, during the early stages of a divorce, and prior to the suicide of her brother; Ms. Hughes experienced multiple health issues during the same time frame. She’s lived a life, man, and she keeps on living it, and she’s not immune to describing the beauty of nature and animals in tremendous detail. Fabulous.
      ―Alissa Redmond from South Main Book Company in Salisbury, NC | Buy from South Main Book Company

  • While It is no surprise that deep encounters with nature, including wild animals can be life-transforming, it is always a new delight to encounter a writer with the skill make the experience come alive. Hughes captures the wonder, the mess, the wisdom gained, and the joy in her time spent with rescued birds. Her magpie story is a welcome addition to shelves with Marc Hamer, Helen MacDonald, Lyanda Lynn Haupt, and Sy Montgomery.
      ―Jan Blodgett from Main Street Books in Davidson, NC | Buy from Main Street Books


  • Reading the memoir George will make some readers desperately want a baby magpie of their own in their life and kitchen…until the reality of what damages and chaos a tiny bird can do to one’s house and heart sets in. Frieda Hughes, the daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath and an established artist and author herself, decides to move to an acre of land in the Welsh countryside. While gardening and landscaping, she finds a magpie from a destroyed nest that she decides to rescue and George quickly grows and attaches deeply into her heart. Frieda Hughes writes with such vivid clarity all readers will be in her kitchen with her having tea and lovingly watching George as he plays with the dogs and messes every inch of the house. This very personal story will reveal a deep love of all of the wild nature and how it touches and changes our life. Readers will laugh and cry with the writings as we hold out breath every time George flies out our kitchen window and we tensely await his return. With drawings and poetry the author reveals all about the losses and joys of her life and we find her happily at the end with her many rescued animals and enjoying her motorbikes.
      ―Nancy Pierce from Bookmiser, Inc. in Marietta, GA | Buy from Bookmiser

About Frieda Hughes

Born in London in 1960, Frieda Hughes, the daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, is an established painter and poet. She has written several children’s books, eight collections of poetry, articles for magazines and newspapers, and was The Times (London) poetry columnist. As a painter, Frieda regularly exhibits in London and has a permanent exhibition at her private gallery in Wales, where she resides with fourteen owls, two rescue huskies, an ancient Maltese terrier, five chinchillas, a ferret called Socks, a royal python, and her motorbikes.

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