NaNoWriMo 2013

It's that time again!  (Almost) time to get started on NaNoWriMo 2013!!!  I'm trying something a bit different this year.  All four of the stories I've previously tried to write (two of them for NaNo) were all fantasy-esque, a little sci-fi, but definitely not life-like.  This year's story actually takes place at LSU, where I go to school, and it's entirely realistic.  It's not going to be autobiographical, though it will be shaped by my own experiences.  I wanted something that was simple and easy to write, but that I would really enjoy writing and talking to people about as I write it, and this is the idea I came up with.  I'm actually really excited about it, even though it's not what I normally write about.  I've been reading a lot of realistic YA fiction lately, and I wanted to try my hand at it.

I've written the synopsis of the novel, though I'm not sure if I like it yet.  We'll see once I start writing how well it hold up.  I'm definitely pants-ing this one, though not near as much as I did for last year's NaNo.  I have a very basic idea in mind, along with a few events and characters that I want to include.  We'll see how this goes.

I think I actually have an ending in mind this time, so hopefully I'll be able to finally finish something.

Anyway, here's the synopsis:

Winifred Michaels is worried about college.  An overachiever who always follows the rules, she doesn't feel ready to take on the world of drinking and partying that she imagines college to be.  The idea of "adulthood" terrifies her, because it will mean that she's finally on her own.
When her parents ship her down south to Baton Rouge to attend LSU, Winnie is left more scared and alone than she's ever been in her life.  Stress and anxiety are her constant companions, and she doesn't understand how anyone can think that college is fun.  For the first time in her life, she's struggling with school, and her fear of failure rises up to greet her.  Add in a partying roommate, a weird guy who sits next to her in class, and an excitable girl she meets at work, and Winnie feels like she's in over her head.
When her first semester ends in disaster, Winnie is devastated at her failure to live up to her own ideals.  She doesn't think she can handle college and all its struggles and responsibilities.
But failure has its benefits.  Starting from rock bottom, Winnie comes to realize that college is a place to create and discover yourself.  Turning from false friendships and a major she hates, she learns to embrace a different side of college life that she didn't know existed, one that might just change her for the better.

I don't know how I feel about it, but it's going to stay for now.  I needed to write one so I could "create" my novel on the NaNo site, and this is what I came up with.  The current working title is The Way We Were, which I got from Carrie Hope Fletcher's new song.  The video fits perfectly with the sort of feel I want for my novel, and I thought the title was fitting.

Good luck to all the other Wrimos out there!  See you all at the starting line on Friday :).

~Victoria
(originally posted on Victoria's writing blog Curious Nonsense)

Victoria: Spotlight on Pop-Up Books

This week we'll be turning the spotlight over to Pop-Up Books!  Every kid loves a good pop-up book, right?  Well, it might surprise you to know that the first pop-up books were actually made for adults.  The earliest known pop-up book was created in the 13th century by Ramon Llull of Majorca, a Catalan mystic and poet, to illustrate his philosophical theories.  By the 18th century, pop-up books were primarily used for scholarly material.  Medical pop-up books were particularly popular because the author could show several different parts and layers of the body at once and in relation to everything else.  They were also commonly used for astronomy as well as other scientific areas.
Perhaps it should be noted that the term "pop-up book" may refer to any number of different types of books with moveable parts, such as books with pull tabs, flip tabs, and sliding tabs in addition to the traditional books with popping-out scenes.

It wasn't until the late 18th century that pop-up books were created for entertainment purposes, specifically for children.  The first person to use the term "pop-up book" was publisher Harold Lentz in the United States in the 1930's.

Most pop-up books today are primarily aimed at entertaining children, and though they can sometimes be relatively complicated, the pop-ups are often as simple as a pop-out scene or picture from the book or a pull tab that moves a piece back and forth. 

One of the most notable and recent pop-up books is Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy by Matthew Reinhart.  The book was revered for its complex pop-up illustrations and artistry in a way that most of today's pop-up books are never recognized.  The New York Times even said of the book: "calling this sophisticated piece of engineering a 'pop-up book' is like calling the Great Wall of China a partition."

Now that you know some of the history of the pop-up book, why not pop on down to the shop to see our selection?

Victoria's Rainbow Rowell Love Rave

Have you ever found a book (or series) - or maybe had one recommended to you - that you initially weren't sure about, but then it stole your heart and turned you into a raving, die-hard fan? We'll call it a Book, just to differentiate here from books that you love or that have meaning for you, but didn't affect you in that certain special way. Everyone has a Book. Some people have more than one. Some have more than a few. But even if you've read several Books in your life, there's always room for one more. In fact, I spend most of my book-browsing time looking for a new Book, one that will take it's place next to the others on the bookshelf of my heart (sorry, I know it's cheesy, but you get what I mean). I've been lucky to find many such Books throughout my life: Harry Potter was the biggest one, of course, but sitting next to it are The Night Circus, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the works of John Green, The Perks of Being a Wallflower (though I'll admit to being late to that particular party), Stephen King's On Writing, and maybe a couple more (Shakespeare just has a whole shelf to himself). These are the Books that I recommend most often. They are the ones I can always go back to when I'm feeling sad, lonely, or maybe just a little nostalgic.


Not too long ago, Michelle gave me an arc that she thought I might like. It was Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor and Park. I thought it looked interesting, but it certainly didn't look like a Book, so I didn't expect much more than an enjoyable read. I liked the cartoon-ish cover. I liked that it took place in the 80's. I even liked the title. So I took it home and decided I'd read it if I found the time.

I don't remember when I started the book, but I vividly remember finishing it. It was the middle of the night, and I was sitting on the balcony outside my apartment, facing the large pond in the center of the complex. It was dark, it was quiet, but even if I would have been in the middle of a hurricane, I wouldn't have noticed. I was completely absorbed in that unassuming little book. I finished it sitting on that balcony, and I remember feeling both amazing and empty at the same time. My thought we're going a mile a minute, and I could hardly focus on anything. I felt like I was waking up from a vivid dream, not sure what was dream and what was reality.

It's a quiet book, and because it's so quiet, you hear what it's saying all the more powerfully. It's a story about rising above hard circumstances, bullying, living life, dealing with the bad times and appreciating the good, and of course, at the root of it all, friendship and love and how the two intertwine in strange and wonderful ways. Eleanor isn't a perfect girl. She's not the typical teenager. She defies stereotype in so many ways. So does Park. They are not "two teenagers in love," they are just wholly themselves. Best of all, they feel real. They feel believable. I feel like I know them, like there's more of them to know than what's written on the page. It was a beautiful thing to read and experience.

As soon as I finished Eleanor and Park, I knew it was a Book. I knew I was going to recommend it to as many people as I possibly could convince to read it. Eleanor and Park convinced me of the genius of Rainbow Rowell, but I couldn't help believing that Eleanor and Park was an anomaly. It was different. Even if I read Rowell's other works, they couldn't ever compare to Eleanor and Park. It's just not possible that an author can write two books (not in a series) that could be that wonderful.

Then I read Fangirl.

Reading Fangirl was an entirely unique experience, even different from Eleanor and Park. I could relate to Eleanor and Park. Just about anyone could, I'm sure, because they're the kind of characters that go deep, no matter what your high school experience was like (In fact, mine was nothing like theirs). But I connected with Fangirl on an entirely different level. This was the first time in my life that I've ever felt so completely like I was reading pieces of my own life and mind on the pages of a book. I couldn't put the book down. And even when I had to, I couldn't stop raving about it. It just felt so strongly that Rainbow Rowell, a person I've never met, GOT me. She understood the things that people never understand. She knows what it's like to love something so much that it becomes as much a tangible part of your life as the people you talk to every day. She understands how it feels to be misunderstood, ridiculed, looked at strangely, or just plain reviled for the fact that you love something that much. She also gets the immediate connection you feel when you find another person who feels the same way, who loves the same things. I couldn't believe how much absolute truth I found in her fiction. And I know it's not just me. Tons of others feel the same way about Fangirl. I have a tumblr. I've seen it. I've watched people fall in love with Fangirl through their posts on Tumblr and twitter and blogs. It's an amazing experience to be part of a fandom for something that exemplifies fandom in such a unique way.

Fangirl, for those who don't know, is about Cath, a fanfiction-writing fangirl for the Simon Snow series (a fictional series, unfortunately). Cath's novel-length fanfiction, Carry On Simon, is famous, read by tons and tons of Simon Snow fans all around the world. The story focuses on Cath through her first year of college as she navigates new friends, dorm life, classes, family trouble, and love, all while trying to finish Carry On Simon before the last Simon Snow book is released and the story ends forever. Cath struggles with how to find a place for Simon Snow in her life as she enters adulthood, something I know many fans of many things (ahem...Harry Potter, anyone?) have struggled with over the years. Can it still hold the same special place in your heart now as it did when you were a child? Are you ever too old for something? Can you be a fangirl/boy AND a respectable adult simultaneously? Fangirl explores all these questions as it follows shy, introverted Cath through her hectic, hilarious, relatable, and often poignant first year of college. This book is required reading for anyone who has ever been proud to call themselves a geek or a nerd. This book is fandom in words. It's a beautiful thing.

So, to sum up this rather lengthy post: Read Rainbow Rowell. You won't regret it. There's even a good chance she could change your life, that these books could become Books for you too. And that's a chance you should always take.

Banned Books Week: Or the Children's Crusade

I support the message of the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week. This is a week celebrating the freedom to read; “it highlights the value of free and open access to information.” That’s a celebration I can get behind. The spirit of this week makes me hopeful for open mindedness in general. But every year all of the talk about the irrationality, the indignity, and the sheer stupidity of banning books gets me thinking about the difference between censorship and guidance.

This year those thoughts took the form of squeamishness over two of our most popular young adult books. With the film versions of Ender’s Game and Catching Fire coming out this fall, these two already bestselling books are flying off the shelves. I’ve read and enjoyed both novels, but I don’t know that I would recommend them to my young cousins. The violence inherent in the subject matter of these two novels (war) definitely has its place. However, I am constantly surprised by how much violence is elaborately described. In Ender’s Game we see our hero straight up murder two children (I’m sure I could have stated that more eloquently, but I think my phrasing expresses my feeling). Catching Fire is the second installment in a series about a warrior heroine sent twice to kill or die in a battle with twenty three of her fellow man. By the final book in the trilogy, Mockingjay, Katniss’ kill count nears ten total individuals both inside and out of the arena. 

I have been told by countless parents, teachers, and librarians that they do not worry about the amount of violence in young adult literature (or video games and movies for that matter). Violence is so far from the realm of our daily lives that we do not imagine it being an issue for our children. This is worrisome to me. While I would never imagine that someone would bring the actions of Ender Wiggin or Katniss Everdeen into the real world because of what they saw in their stories, I do think reading these stories when we aren’t ready for them does damage. I mean no negativity to these two titles in particular, but to the culture of youth violence as a whole. We should not seek to ban Ender’s Game or Catching Fire, but we need to be having a different sort of conversation around them. We need to be talking about the meaning of the violence, because in neither of these works is the violence gratuitous or meaningless. If we are going to champion books with difficult themes we need to know why we are doing it.

The conversations about these books are more important now than ever especially as the kids reading them today have friends and parents coming home from very real wars and suffering the same traumas as their fictional counterparts. I would never condone the banning of these two books, but I also fervently disagree with ignoring the greater conversation of why people wish them to be banned in the first place. The nerve being struck is not to be ignored, there just may be something there worth thinking about. 

I celebrate Banned Books Week. I support those challenging established ideas, but I urge everyone to think broadly about why books are banned. Take a look at the root, have a conversation about it, and judge the merit for yourself. The glory of Banned Books Week is that you are free both to read what you want to and bypass what you don’t. That’s FREADOM.

Banned Books Week Contest

Banned Books Week is a celebration of the freedom of speech and the freedom to read.  It is held annually during the last week in September.  It celebrates the FREADOM to read and experience ideas even if others might not agree with them.

In true Banned Books Week spirit, we will be hosting a Banned Books Week Contest!  We will have ten banned books in the store, wrapped in paper. On the wrappings, we'll list the reasons each particular books bas been banned, and participants must guess the titles of the books.  All participants will receive an I Read Banned Books sticker along with a FREADOM bumper sticker and button.  Guessing five out of the ten books correctly will enter you into a drawing to be one of three winners to win a $10 gift certificate to Cavalier House Books!  The contest will open on Monday, September 23rd and last through next Friday, September 27th.  We'll announce the winners the following Tuesday.  Stop by the shop anytime next week to participate!  Happy reading!  

Victoria: Waiting to Catch Fire?

If you're a Hunger Games fan, then the wait for the release of Catching Fire in November will probably feel more like a year than the three months it actually is.  If you're looking for a way to pass the time, then check out our list of recommended reading for fans of The Hunger Games!

Divergent by Veronica Roth

In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

 Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship "Godspeed" and expects to awaken on a new planet in 300 years. Never could she have known that she would be thrust into the world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Nine alien teenagers are hiding on Earth. Three are dead. Number Four is next. This is the launch of a gripping, action-packed series that was the basis for the blockbuster DreamWorks feature film.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Incarceron is a prison so vast that it contains not only cells, but also metal forests, dilapidated cities, and vast wilderness. Finn, a 17-year-old prisoner, has no memory of his childhood and is sure that he came from Outside Incarceron. And then Finn finds a crystal key that allows him to communicate with a girl who claims to live on the Outside.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

The alien Buggers threaten humanity with extinction, and Earth's ultimate savior may be one small boy. Andrew "Ender" Wiggins thinks he is only playing computer games, but he is really commanding Earth's last great fleet.

 

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

In a future world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Suddenly able to see demons and the Darkhunters who are dedicated to returning them to their own dimension, fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is drawn into this bizarre world when her mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a monster.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Tally’s adventures begin in Uglies, where she learns the truth about what life as a Pretty really means. She rebels against the surgery that will make her a Pretty, but ultimately succumbs. In Pretties, Tally has forgotten all about her Ugly life, and when she’s reminded, she has a hard time listening. And what little’s left of the old Tally is further compromised in Specials, because Tally has been transformed into a fierce fighting machine. But when she’s offered a chance to forever improve civilization, will she be able to overcome her brainwashing? The answer is evident years later in Extras, after the Pretty regime has ended. Boundless human creativity, new technologies, and old dangers have been unleashed upon the world. But fame and popularity can be just as dangerous as extreme beauty…

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

In a post-apocalyptic future, 15-year-old Deuce, a loyal Huntress, brings back meat while avoiding the Freaks outside her enclave. But when she is partnered with the mysterious outsider, Fade, she begins to see that the strict ways of the elders may be wrong--and dangerous.

Legend by Marie Lu

North America has split into two warring nations. Fifteen-year-olds Day, a famous criminal, and June, the brilliant soldier hired to capture him, discover that they have a common enemy.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

In this futuristic thriller, Neal Shusterman creates a world that blurs the line between life and death and challenges ideas about what it means to be alive.

Matched by Ally Condie

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Bar Code Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn

The first book in the Bar Code series. Identity vs. access. Freedom vs. control. For Kayla, the choice not to get the bar code tattoo changes everything. She becomes an outcast in her high school. Dangerous things start happening to her family. There's no option but to run . . . for her life.

Partials by Dan Wells

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials--engineered organic beings identical to humans--has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever. And I’ve always believed them. Until now. Now everything has changed. Now, I’d rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie.

Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

IN THE ENCLAVE, YOUR SCARS SET YOU APART, and the newly born will change the future.
Sixteen-year-old Gaia Stone and her mother faithfully deliver their quota of three infants every month. But when Gaia's mother is brutally taken away by the very people she serves, Gaia must question whether the Enclave deserves such loyalty. A stunning adventure brought to life by a memorable heroine, this dystopian debut will have readers racing all the way to the dramatic finish.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

When Thomas wakes up, he's surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade. Just like Thomas, the Gladers don't know why or how they got there. The next day, a girl arrives with a surprising message.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

From the #1 "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Shiver" and "Linger" comes a heartstopping novel. With her trademark lyricism, Stiefvater turns to a new world, where a pair are swept up in a daring, dangerous race across a cliff with more than just their lives at stake should they lose.

2013 Fall Okra Picks

Southern indie booksellers like their okra, and they love their southern books. The new list of Okra Picks-- great southern books, fresh off the vine-- has just been released. A dozen new books that all have two things in common: They are southern in nature, and there is a southern indie bookseller that wants everyone to read each one! The SIBA Okra picks offer a curated reading list for every season.

The Alligator Man by James Sheehan

Kevin Wylie's crooked boss wants to run him out of town, and Kevin's long-time girlfriend is ready to take a hike. He decides that now is the time to leave Miami, visit his father, who he hasn't seen in 28 years, and get some answers. Heading back to his hometown, he doesn't realize that he and his dad will become embroiled in a murder case.
The victim, one of the richest and most-hated corporate criminals in America has been dubbed The Alligator Man since pieces of his clothing were found in a local swamp. Billy Fuller had every reason in the world to want Johnson dead and all the evidence leads right to his doorstep. But legendary trial lawyer Tom Wylie believes in Billy and he and his son reunite to fight the courtroom battle for Billy's life.
The Alligator Man is a story of greed, anger, love, redemption and two powerful trial attorneys who fight to the end-- and risk everything--for the truth.

The Funeral Dress by Susan Gregg Gilmore

A deeply touching Southern story filled with struggle and hope.
Emmalee Bullard and her new baby are on their own. Or so she thinks, until Leona Lane, the older seamstress who sat by her side at the local shirt factory where both women worked as collar makers, insists Emmalee come and live with her. Just as Emmalee prepares to escape her hardscrabble life in Red Chert holler, Leona dies tragically. Grief-stricken, Emmalee decides she'll make Leona's burying dress, but there are plenty of people who don't think the unmarried Emmalee should design a dress for a Christian woman - or care for a child on her own. But with every stitch, Emmalee struggles to do what is right for her daughter and to honor Leona the best way she can, finding unlikely support among an indomitable group of seamstresses and the town's funeral director. In a moving tale exploring Southern spirit and camaraderie among working women, a young mother will compel a town to become a community.

Guests on Earth by Lee Smith

It is 1936 when orphaned thirteen-year-old Evalina Toussaint is admitted to Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, a mental institution known for its innovative treatments for nervous disorders and addictions. Taken under the wing of the hospital's most notable patient, Zelda Fitzgerald, Evalina witnesses the cascading events leading up to the tragic fire of 1948 that killed nine women in a locked ward, Zelda among them.

Lookaway, Lookaway by Wilton Barnhardt

Presiding over her family and its legacy of masterpiece Civil War art, North Carolina society maven Jerene Jarvis Johnston takes increasingly haphazard steps to protect her grown children from their own heedlessness.

Love and Lament by John Milliken Thompson

A dauntless heroine coming of age at the turn of the twentieth century confronts the hazards of patriarchy and prejudice, and discovers the unexpected opportunities of World War I
Set in rural North Carolina between the Civil War and the Great War, "Love and Lament" chronicles the hardships and misfortunes of the Hartsoe family.
Mary Bet, the youngest of nine children, was born the same year that the first railroad arrived in their county. As she matures, against the backdrop of Reconstruction and rapid industrialization, she must learn to deal with the deaths of her mother and siblings, a deaf and damaged older brother, and her father's growing insanity and rejection of God.
In the rich tradition of Southern gothic literature, John Milliken Thompson transports the reader back in time through brilliant characterizations and historical details, to explore what it means to be a woman charting her own destiny in a rapidly evolving world dominated by men.

Moonrise by Cassandra King

When Helen Honeycutt falls in love with a man who has recently lost his wife in a tragic accident, their sudden marriage creates a rift between her new husband and his circle of friends, who resent her intrusion into their circle. When the newlyweds join them for a summer at Moonrise, his late wife's family home in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, it soon becomes clear that someone is trying to drive her away, in this writer's homage to Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier.

Mother of Rain by Karen Spears Zacharias

Maizee Hurd was an easy target for hard times, according to Burdy Luttrell, the town healer. Burdy is a Melungeon woman with striking features and mysterious ways who owns the land the Hurds leased following their marriage on June 3, 1940.

Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain

Caring for her family on their mid-20th-century tobacco farm after the loss of her parents, 15-year-old Ivy connects with Grace County social worker Jane, who strains her personal and professional relationships with her advocacy of Ivy's family, whose dark secrets test Jane's resolve against racial tensions and state-mandated sterilizations.

Respect Yourself by Robert Gordon

Set in the world of 1960s and ‘70s soul music, Respect Yourself is a story of epic heroes in a shady industry. It’s about music and musicians—Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, and Booker T. and the M.G.’s, Stax’s interracial house band. It’s about a small independent company’s struggle to survive in a business world of burgeoning conglomerates. And always at the center of the story is Memphis, Tennessee, an explosive city struggling through heated, divisive years. Told by one of our leading music chroniclers, Respect Yourself brings to life this treasured cultural institution and the city that created it.

Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

Someone Else's Love Story is Joshilyn Jackson's funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness; about falling in love and learning that things aren't always what they seem--or what we hope they will be. It's a story about discovering what we want and ultimately finding what we need.

The Stories South by William Ferris

"The Storied South" features the voices--by turn searching and honest, coy and scathing--of twenty-six of the most luminous artists and thinkers in the American cultural firmament, from Eudora Welty, Pete Seeger, and Alice Walker to William Eggleston, Bobby Rush, and C. Vann Woodward. Masterfully drawn from one-on-one interviews conducted by renowned folklorist William Ferris over the past forty years, the book reveals how storytelling is viscerally tied to southern identity and how the work of these southern or southern-inspired creators has shaped the way Americans think and talk about the South.
"The Storied South" offers a unique, intimate opportunity to sit at the table with these men and women and learn how they worked and how they perceived their art. The volume also features 45 of Ferris's striking photographic portraits of the speakers and a CD and a DVD of original audio and films of the interviews.

The Tilted World by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly

Set against the backdrop of the historic flooding of the Mississippi River, The Tilted World is an extraordinary tale of murder and moonshine, sandbagging and saboteurs, and a man and a woman who find unexpected love, from Tom Franklin, the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, and award-winning poet Beth Ann Fennelly. The year is 1927. As rains swell the Mississippi, the mighty river threatens to burst its banks and engulf everything in its path, including federal revenue agent Ted Ingersoll and his partner, Ham Johnson. Arriving in the tiny hamlet of Hobnob, Mississippi, to investigate the disappearance of two fellow agents who'd been on the trail of a local bootlegger, they are astonished to find a baby boy abandoned in the middle of a crime scene.

What I Came to Tell You by Tommy Hays

Since his mother died earlier this year, Grover Johnston (named after a character in Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward Angel) has watched his family fall to pieces as his father throws himself into his work rather than dealing with the pain. Left to care for his younger sister, Sudie, Grover finds solace in creating intricate weavings out of the natural materials found in the bamboo forest behind his North Carolina home, a pursuit that his father sees only as a waste of time.
But as tensions mount between father and son, two unlikely forces conspire to lead the Johnstons on a new path -- a presence that seems to come to Grover in his darkest moments and new tenants in the rental house across the street who have come from deep in the Carolina hills and plopped themselves right into Grover's life. The families seem so different but become increasingly intertwined, bound together in unexpected ways. Until one devastating disaster threatens to tear them apart.