The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Biography & Autobiography

Becoming Little Shell by Chris La Tray

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Becoming Little Shell by Chris La Tray
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Chris La Tray has written a memoir that is so very much more than his personal story. It’s the story of how, for generations, his Native family has been brutalized, ostracized, robbed, and dismissed. It teaches about Blood Quantum laws, migration patterns, genealogical searches, and Indigenous customs of the Metis people in Montana and the landless tribe of the Little Shell Chippewa Indians. It weaves through all of this vital information the stories of how his family has continued living and loving, seeking connection and community in a country that has tried to erase that they ever existed.

Becoming Little Shell by Chris La Tray, (List Price: $28, Milkweed Editions, 9781571313980, August 2024)

Reviewed by Maggie Robe, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Every Valley by Charles King

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Every Valley by Charles King
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As told by Charles King, the story of the Messiah’s creation has everything: war, a royal succession crisis, forbidden love, disgrace, and reinvention, all of it funded by the horrors of slavery. It’s thrilling stuff, regardless of your religious beliefs or familiarity with classical music, and supported by rigorous research. Can’t wait to get this into people’s hands for the holidays.

Every Valley by Charles King, (List Price: $32, Doubleday, 9780385548267, October 2024)

Reviewed by Amy Woolsey, Bards Alley in Vienna, Virginia

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Halfway There by Christine Mari

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Halfway There by Christine Mari
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This had me SOBBING. For someone who is not mixed race, this was really eye-opening about the struggles that mixed-race children and adults face in their daily lives. I’m assuming this book would be very comforting for someone who also understands what the MC goes through. This really highlights the microaggressions that are often spoken. Really eye-opening and a very emotional ride. Beautiful story 10/10

Halfway There by Christine Mari, (List Price: $17.99, Little, Brown Ink, 9780316416726, October 2024)

Reviewed by Stephanie St. John, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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A Well-Trained Wife by Tia Levings

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A Well-Trained Wife by Tia Levings
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This book shows the hidden world of fundamentalism so well. How easy it is to get involved in it and how hard it is to get out. As someone who grew up in the Baptist culture and had to reframe their mind as they got older this book hit home in a lot of spots. The way that her parents were not involved in the fundamentalist movement, but because of the church that they choose and how they taught the children, it ended up brainwashing them into being extremely fearful, thinking that there is only one way to be redeemed and one specific job for women to do. The author had plans for her life and goals, but the church told her that she was to work on finding a husband and being a wife and refused to give her help to further her education. In the end, this leads her to her abusive husband, who leads them into the life of a fundamentalist. The books that the author had read and the way that the church taught her was that it was her fault that her husband treated her the way they did, and thus started a spiral of her trying to do more and be better and feel like the abuse was deserved. Reading her suffering and seeing how close I could have come to this lifestyle myself made this book an emotional one for sure and one I will not forget anytime soon.

A Well-Trained Wife by Tia Levings, (List Price: $30, St. Martin’s Press, 9781250288288, August 2024)

Reviewed by Kelli Dynia, Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda , Florida

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Gather Me by Glory Edim

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Gather Me by Glory Edim
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Heartbreaking and heartwarming, this is a powerful tale of the power of the right book at the right time and of perseverance. If you love books, this is a must-read. Edim’s Well Read Black Girl clubs are a gift to the world, and her memoir makes that gift even more meaningful.

Gather Me by Glory Edim, (List Price: $28, Ballantine Books, 9780525619796, October 2024)

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

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Sharks Don’t Sink by Jasmin Graham

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Sharks Don't Sink by Jasmin Graham
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Jasmin Graham’s story is one of hardship, struggle, triumph, and most importantly, power. Each chapter introduced a new notion. A new understanding. A new feeling. And after finishing this book, I was left with such hope that I couldn’t help but smile. The energy Graham brings to her field of shark science is something that traditional academia has been sorely lacking. And they will continue to miss out on this Rogue Scientist as she stands in defiance of the status quo.

Sharks Don’t Sink by Jasmin Graham, (List Price: $28, Pantheon, 9780593685259, July 2024)

Reviewed by Jamie Kovacs, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina

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Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

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Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
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Gorgeous, timely, and moving; each and every page of Dreamers is a masterpiece. The story is my favorite part because it is familiar, and yet, I’ve never seen it so dazzlingly portrayed. It’s a subtle and sweetly told vignette in the life of an immigrant that I think will spur important conversations for little readers.

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales, (List Price: $18.99, Neal Porter Books, 9780823440559, September 2018)

Reviewed by Cristina Russell, Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida

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The Use of Photography by Annie Ernaux

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The Use of Photography by Annie Ernaux
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To throuple with two icons–no, that’s too simple. But this work, like all of Ernaux’s work, feels profoundly generous, an invitation into the most intimate enclave formed at the intersection of passion, memory, love, and death. Conceptually fascinating and artistically surprising, moving, hopeful, and brilliant.

The Use of Photography by Annie Ernaux, (List Price: $22.95, Seven Stories Press, 9781644214138, October 2024)

Reviewed by Kristen Iskandrian, Thank You Books in Birmingham, Alabama

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A Really Strange and Wonderful Time by Tom Maxwell

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A Really Strange and Wonderful Time by Tom Maxwell
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This book is a rapid fire entrance into the moment when punk rock merged into indie music and a creative community was blossoming in North Carolina. Not only a memoir of one of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, this is a drop into the coolest spots in the 1990s. The musicians, venues, record stores, promoters, sound people. artists for posters and albums and indie labels were all part of a collective moment of creativity- A Really Strange and Wonderful Time.

A Really Strange and Wonderful Time by Tom Maxwell, (List Price: $30, Hachette Books, 9780306830587, April 2024)

Reviewed by Kimberly Daniels, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

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A Really Strange and Wonderful Time by Tom Maxwell

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A Really Strange and Wonderful Time by Tom Maxwell
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Oh man, did this bring back memories! Having grown up in Chapel Hill I pretty much recognize everyone mentioned, especially in the first half, which I overlapped (my heyday was REM, The Replacements, The B-52’s, and the rest of that first wave of Indie bands) until I pretended to become an adult and a responsible person with all the dull early nights that entailed. And while this is THE Chapel Hill scene, it will still be enjoyable to anyone who cares about music and its magic within a community, especially a supportive community which is what Chapel Hill was and still is. Two thumbs and two big toes, up!

A Really Strange and Wonderful Time by Tom Maxwell, (List Price: $30, Hachette Books, 9780306830587, April 2024)

Reviewed by Pete Mock, McIntyre’s Books in Pittsboro, North Carolina

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The Mango Tree by Annabelle Tometich

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The Mango Tree by Annabelle Tometich
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The Mango Tree was a book I didn’t know I needed. Annabelle Tometich is from my hometown of Fort Myers, Florida, and she perfectly puts our little town on the map in an honest and lyrical way. All while telling the story of her unique, flawed, and loving family. It starts with a bang and ends with a hug. If you are a memoir reader this is for you.

The Mango Tree by Annabelle Tometich, (List Price: $30, Little, Brown and Company, 9780316540322, April 2024)

Reviewed by Rayna Nielsen, Blue Cypress Books in New Orleans, Louisiana

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The Wilderness by Aysegül Savas

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The Wilderness by Aysegül Savas
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In this slim volume, Savas beautifully explores the “wilderness” of postpartum and the mythologies that surround the first forty days after birth. Each short entry dives deep into the chaos of new motherhood—the newborn days full of paradox and pain, the deep wells of care and emotion that emerge, the mystery and lore of the mother-child bond. Savas argues that we mothers emerge from that beginning inexorably changed; we enter the wilderness and cannot help but emerge a bit wild ourselves. A perfect companion for reading in snippets during nursing sessions or wakeful nights—this is a book for anyone who enjoyed Jazmina Barrera’s Linea Nigra or Rivka Galchen’s Little Labors.

The Wilderness by Aysegül Savas, (List Price: $17.95, Transit Books, 9798893389098, October 2024)

Reviewed by Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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Sharks Don’t Sink by Jasmin Graham

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Sharks Don't Sink by Jasmin Graham
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Such an entertaining and important memoir. Not only does Jasmin pack the book with super interesting shark facts, she also talks about important issues – racism, sexism, workplace and educational abuse, marine conservation, and mental health. The ways in which she describes her experiences (good and bad) and how they sometimes relate to sharks, is so poetic.

Sharks Don’t Sink by Jasmin Graham, (List Price: $28, Pantheon, 9780593685259, July 2024)

Reviewed by Stephanie St. John, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia

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The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel

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The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel
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The Elements of Marie Curie is one of the best biographies I’ve ever read. It’s not just a deeply personal look at Curie’s life. By tying the elements that were part of her work to her family and staff, we’re introduced to the many women she supported in the sciences, especially her daughter. Radium’s dangers have made it lose its allure. But publicizing Curie’s fostering of women in the lab will give her reputation a renewed glow.

The Elements of Marie Curie by Dava Sobel, (List Price: $30, Atlantic Monthly Press, 9780802163820, 2024-10-08)

Reviewed by Rosemary Pugliese, Malaprop’s in Asheville, North Carolina

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The Slow Road North by Rosie Schaap

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The Slow Road North by Rosie Schaap
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A memoir of love and grief and the winding paths that mourning takes. Candid about complicated relationships and the power of place to heal, this memoir takes its time, revisiting the past, excavating the present. Blending her story with the comfort (and conflicts) she finds in a very small town in Northern Ireland, Schaap’s ability to reflect and interweave lives and loves enchants and can break hearts as well as heal them.

The Slow Road North by Rosie Schaap, (List Price: $29.99, Mariner Books, 9780358097457, August 2024)

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

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