Member: bravenewgirl

Noticed that you liked The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in reviewing my new novel and posting your comments here (as well as on a few other book-related sites). I thought you might like my novel since it's been compared to that novel by a number of reviewers. I could e-mail you the novel in an e-book format if you'd like. Let me know if you're interested. Here's a link to a summary in case you're interested:

http://christophertusa.com/

Thanks,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 9:34 pm (EST) on Apr 17, 2009

Have you had a chance to read Meltzers new novel? 'The Book of Lies'. I was wondering if it was better than 'The Book of Fate'?

Thanks,
Shane

posted by shanereads at 12:15 pm (EST) on Dec 3, 2008

Oh no, I'm sorry! Well, I know some of the May books are still trickling in, so there's a chance yours just got delayed. But I'm wiping your slate clean, so lack of a review won't hurt you for the future.

Abby

posted by ablachly at 4:48 pm (EST) on Jul 17, 2008

Dear Beth,

I am an archivist at Duke University. I'm also an author. I just published my first book, Family Bible ( a memoir about race, gender, and sexuality in the Deep South in the 60s and 70s), through University of Iowa Press. I've pasted a description and some quotes from reviews below. The book is doing well. I am interviewed in the current (May/June) issue of Poets and Writers on pages 67-71. I thought from your profule that it may be of interest to you.

The book was begun during a year I spent as a Fellow at Duke University's John Hope Franklin Center in a seminar entitled, "Historicizing Identities." It would be of particular interest to people working in the areas of gender studies, Southern studies, and women's studies, or to those writing memoir or creative nonfiction.

I am going to be reading at A Capella Books in Atlanta this coming Thursday, May 22 at 7:00. I'm a little nervous about it. Not stagefright. I love interacting with an audience. I'm afraid of nobody showing up. Frank had to cancel my radio interview due to some time constraints, and I don't think there's been a lot of publicity for the event. I don't know many people in Atlanta. I would like to invite you to my reading. I would also be extremely grateful if you could encourage any of your students, friends, or colleagues at Emory to attend. My readings are by no means staid literary affairs. They are fun, and we usually end up laughing and talking a lot. I've had great audiences at my recent readings in Birmingham, Chattanooga, Richmond, Durham, and Raleigh.

Thanks so much, Beth. I hope to meet you at my reading.

Sincerely,

Melissa Delbridge
Archivist, Duke University

Family Bible
By Melissa J. Delbridge
Sightline Books: The Iowa Series in Literary Nonfiction


“Delbridge knows sorrow like she knows the rhythm of her own heart. . . . Fans of Carson McCullers won't want to miss this one—witty, tragic, and relentlessly wise.”—Booklist, starred review
"Melissa Delbridge's memories of her early life are dead—accurate, hilarious, and tragic and will surely prove enduring as a guide to the Deepest South—a place and a culture that continue to prove alarmingly vital. I mean to keep the book handy, for pleasure and real guidance."—Reynolds Price
"Family Bible is a gritty coming-of-age story set on the banks of the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with everything one expects of the Deep South: incest (some willing, some not), guns, bourbon, insanity, Jesus, fast women, cheating men. But Melissa Delbridge explodes and exploits these clichés into something startling and new, and in spite of the horror aroused by some events, it's a hell of a fun ride. Delbridge's ability to bring such joy to her readers through narratives that contain so much quiet sorrow is a true testament to her understanding of what it means to persevere."—Jennifer S. Davis, author, Our Former Lives in Art
"Melissa Delbridge chronicles her journey toward self-realization with startling freshness and humor. I highly recommend it."—Bev Marshall, author, Right As Rain, Walking through Shadows, and Hot Fudge Sundae Blues
"Family Bible took me home. Reading it was like going to a reunion. All the people I wanted to see were there, fully there. All the people I never wanted to see again were there as well! It was deliciously painful. She captured the past, in character and place, and brought them to life in the now."—Steven Sherrill, author, The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, Visits from the Drowned Girl, and The Locktender's House
"Melissa Delbridge's Family Bible is one of the most memorable books to come my way in a long time. She writes with grace, love, and understanding. Her ear is pitch perfect, and her eye misses nothing, not even the smallest detail. Put this one on a shelf where you can find it easily, because if you're like me, you'll want to re-read it again and again."—Steve Yarbrough, author, The End of California
"What a solid, warm embrace Melissa Delbridge offers the South in her memoir. But don't think she's not able, somehow, to keep eye contact with what's behind her, literally and figuratively. Family Bible is a true triumph, and proves that there's no such thing as moderation down here."—George Singleton, author, Work Shirts for Madmen
"Melissa J. Delbridge writes with a watch-maker's eye and a warrior's brave heart. Family Bible is wonderful."—Marshall Chapman, songwriter/rocker/author of Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller
"Swimming and sex seemed a lot alike to me when I was growing up. You took off most of your clothes to do them and you only did them with people who were the same color as you. As your daddy got richer, you got to do them in fancier places." Starting with her father, who never met a whitetail buck he couldn't shoot, a whiskey bottle he couldn't empty, or a woman he couldn't charm, and her mother, who "invented road rage before 1960," Melissa Delbridge introduces us to the people in her own family bible. Readers will find elements of Southern Gothic and familiar vernacular characters, but Delbridge endows each with her startling and original interpretation. In this disarmingly unguarded and unapologetic memoir, she shows us what really happened in the "stew of religion and sex" that was 1960s Tuscaloosa.
Whether telling of her father's circumspect "hunting trips," her mother's sudden, tempestuous moves across town in the middle of the night, or coming to terms with her own sexuality on the banks of the river, Delbridge is the real star of this entertaining memoir. Crackling with wit, frighteningly smart, both drop-dead funny and wrenchingly sad, Family Bible is a stunning personal history.
Melissa Delbridge has published essays and short stories in the Antioch Review, Southern Humanities Review, Third Coast, and other journals. She is an archivist in the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University.

posted by danto1 at 3:24 pm (EST) on May 19, 2008

Let me know what your third profile is so I can link to it.

posted by agirlandherbooks at 1:07 am (EST) on Mar 24, 2008

oh, I'm having too much fun with reviews and comments and tags. If I ever finish annotating my collection it will be a kick-ass RA tool!

posted by airdna at 4:13 pm (EST) on Sep 14, 2007

I'm here, finally....oooh, we have 25 books in common so far!

posted by airdna at 4:39 am (EST) on Sep 7, 2007

like your memoir collection. also like that picture of lucy :)

posted by amanaceerdh at 9:27 am (EST) on Sep 20, 2006

I grew up in Atlanta and I am always stunned at the growth each time I return. You've got an interesting collection of books.

-Rus

posted by rdixon98 at 12:01 am (EST) on Sep 12, 2006

Hi Beff - I just saw your comment! I love this too!

posted by suejonesjohnson at 12:08 pm (EST) on Jun 16, 2006

Hey, that's a good idea, too--even better than using Amazon wish lists.

posted by bibliofile at 11:57 pm (EST) on Oct 10, 2005

Hey, two catalogs, with one just for books read--a brilliant idea! I might have to steal it.

posted by bibliofile at 3:59 am (EST) on Oct 9, 2005