Don Noble's Book Reviews
Alabama PR
Now a retired English professor at The University of Alabama, Dr. Noble's specialties are Southern and American literature. He also hosts Bookmark on Alabama Public Television. Don Noble's reviews can be heard most Mondays at 7:45am and 4:44pm. and have been made possible in part through grants from the Alabama State Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities . To listen to the audio version of Dr. Noble's reviews, just click on the book title to be taken to the full page. Audio is found either at the very beginning of the transcript or at the bottom of the page. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Noble's Book Reviews are made possible in part with a grant from The Alabama State Council on the Arts , with the support of The University of Alabama , and from the generous support from our listener s. Thank you!
Location:
Tuscaloosa, AL
Networks:
Alabama PR
Description:
Now a retired English professor at The University of Alabama, Dr. Noble's specialties are Southern and American literature. He also hosts Bookmark on Alabama Public Television. Don Noble's reviews can be heard most Mondays at 7:45am and 4:44pm. and have been made possible in part through grants from the Alabama State Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities . To listen to the audio version of Dr. Noble's reviews, just click on the book title to be taken to the full page. Audio is found either at the very beginning of the transcript or at the bottom of the page. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Noble's Book Reviews are made possible in part with a grant from The Alabama State Council on the Arts , with the support of The University of Alabama , and from the generous support from our listener s. Thank you!
Language:
English
Episodes
“Forgiveness” By: Phillip Kendrick
8/23/2021
“ Forgiveness ” Author: Phillip Kendrick Publisher: Archway Publishing Pages: 195 ( Hardcover) Price: $33.95 Novel Explores the Civil War Through a Young Doctor’s Eyes The d ust jacket copy says that P hillip Kendrick of Mobil e ’s Eastern Shore has published s cientific articles on n u rse anesthesia and pa tient care and has a lifetime interest in the American Civil War . In his Author’s Note, he writes of bicycling often past the Confederate Rest Memorial cemetery in P oint Clear where...
Duration:00:04:03
"The Heathens" By: Ace Atkins
8/9/2021
“ The Heathens ” Author: Ace Atkins Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons Pages: 400 Price: $27.00 (Hardback) Ace Atkins Novel Features Dangerous Road Trip Eleventh in the Sheriff Quinn Colson series , “ The Heathens ” i s as strong as any. After a rambunctious childhood in Tibbehah County, Mississippi– somewhere near Oxford — Colson spen t several tours as an A rmy R anger in the M iddle E ast and returne d to become sheriff in his home town, a steaming pile of despair and corruption. Ten years...
Duration:00:04:02
“Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light: Essays” By: Helen Ellis
8/3/2021
“ Bring Your Baggage and Don’t Pack Light: Essays ” Author: Helen Ellis Publisher: Doubleday Pages: 176 Price: $23.00 ( H ardback) Essay Collection Takes Mostly Comic Look at Women and Aging Helen Ellis , originally from Tuscaloosa , had a wildly creative and comical debut novel in 2000, “ Eating the Cheshire C at , ” then a volume of stor ies , “ American Housewife, ” 2016, then a volume of essays , “ Southern L ady Code , ” only two years ago. It is my understanding that she w r ote a...
Duration:00:03:56
“Fugitives of the Heart: A Novel” By: William Gay
8/3/2021
“ Fugitives of the Heart: A Novel ” Author: William Gay Foreword by Sonny Brewer Postscript by J. M. White Publisher: Livingston Press Pages: 241 Price: $28.95 ( H ardcover) A Posthumous Novel by a Unique Southern Writer There is no way to exaggerate the singularity of Will i am Gay’s life and career. Born in 1939 and raised in Lewis County , Tenn essee , just north o f Huntsville , in a home without electricity or plumbing, after high school Gay served in the N avy where he read constantly...
Duration:00:04:23
"You Want More: Selected Stories" By: George Singleton
7/21/2021
“ You Want More: Selected Stories ” Author: George Singleton Publisher: Hub City Press Pages: 368 Price: $28.00 ( Hardback) George Singleton: Funniest Southern Writer Alive If I were in the habit of giving out stars I would give this book 5 stars, no question. George Singleton has two novels, yes, and they are entirely readable, but the southern comic short story — a satisfying 12-15 pages, with a plot and character development — is his metier and no one is better at it. Hub City Press...
Duration:00:03:59
“Murder Most Fowl: A Meg Langslow Mystery” By: Donna Andrews
7/12/2021
“ Murder Most Fowl : A Meg Langslow Mystery ” Author: Donna Andrews Publisher: Minotaur Books Pages: 320 Price: $26.99 (hardcover) Suspects Abound in Mystery Organized Around “The Scottish Play” It is commonly thought that Americans these days are reading less. That may well be , but without doubt we are publishing more than ever, hundreds of thousand s of books per year, more than anyone can keep up with. Recently “ Murd e r Mos t Fowl ” arrived in the mail. I had never heard of Donna...
Duration:00:04:04
“The One You’re With” By: Lauren K. Denton
7/6/2021
“ The One You’re With ” Author: Lauren K. Denton Publisher: Thomas Nelson Pages: 368 Price: $26.99 ( H ardcover) Secret from the Past Threatens Marital Happiness In this novel , a s in her four pr e vious novels , Lauren Denton shows herself to be a smooth, graceful storyteller. As usual, the story here is dome s tic—a story of family, courtship , marriage, managing career s and raising child r en, but it is more comp l icated than that, with some twists that bring the predictable happy...
Duration:00:04:08
“Nine Days Traveling” By: Lawrence Krumenaker
6/15/2021
“ Nine Days Traveling; Lafayette’s 1825 Alabama Tour; Today’s Historical Road Trip ” Author: Lawrence Krumenaker Publisher: Hermograph Press Opelika AL 2020 Pages: 141 Price: $26.95 (Paper) Following in the Steps of Lafayette in Alabama On the 4 th of July 1917 , at the Picpus cemetery in P aris , at the grave of the M arquis d e L a f ayette , Colonel Charles E. Stanton of the newly arrived American Expeditionary forces proclaimed “ L a fa yette we are here. ” ( The q uote is usually...
Duration:00:03:52
“The Life She Wished to Live: A Biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings” By: Ann McCutchan
6/15/2021
“ The Life She Wished to Live: A Biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings ” Author: Ann McCutchan Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co. Pages: 418 Price: $35.00 ( H ardback) New Biography of “The Yearling” Author Provides Insights into Life, Work At th e time of her death from a stroke on December 14, 1953 at 57 years old, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was one of America’s most famous and celebrated w r iters and the author of 8 books. She published several novels, a cookbook and a memoir but two of her...
Duration:00:04:05
“Nighthope: A Novel” By: Gregory N. Whitis
6/15/2021
“ Nighthope: A Novel ” Author: Gregory N. Whitis Publisher: Page P ublishing, Inc Pages: 331 Price: $19.95 ( Paper) Novel of Catfish and Cartels Keeps Readers Entertained, Educated Gregory Whitis, originally an Iowan, has been the manager of an Alabama catfish farm, a deputy sheriff, and an extension specialist for Auburn University, advising catfish farmers. As we learned in his debut novel, “Blue Green,” catfish farming is demanding, a tricky and dangerous business. In that story , Whitis’...
Duration:00:04:00
"The Photographer" By: Mary Dixie Carter
6/3/2021
“ The Photographer ” Author: Mary Dixie Carter Publisher: St. Martin’s , Min o taur Books Pages: 291 Price: $27.99 Thought- P rovoking Thriller Asks, Is Seeing Believing? A s everyone knows, in this space I usually review books with a strong A labama connection, or at least books that are set in the S outh. T h is novel, “T he Photographer,” takes place almost entirely in an elegant townhouse in M anhattan, but when it was pointed out to me that the author, M ary D ixie C arter , is the...
Duration:00:03:52
"Independent Bones" By: Carolyn Haines
5/17/2021
“ Independent Bones ” Author: Carolyn Haines Publisher: St . M artin’s Price: $26.99 (Hardcover) Pages: 355 New “Bones” Mystery Tackles Feminist Issues “Independent Bones” is the 23 rd in the Haines “ Bones ” series. At first, I thought this book would be set around the F ourth of July but that is not the case. Once again we are in Zinnia, Mi s sissippi, in the Delta, in the autumn. Sarah B ooth Delaney is now happily engaged to the hunky sheriff, Colman Peters, and her partner in detection,...
Duration:00:03:58
"Southern Voices" By Laura Hunter
5/10/2021
“Southern Voices” Author: Laura Hunter Publisher: Bluewater Publications Florence, AL 2020 Pages: 225 Price: $18.95 (Paperback) In 2019, Laura Hunter, a retired educator, published her first book, “Beloved Mother,” set in Appalachia, near Boone, N.C. This was a sprawling novel, covering several generations of mountain families, whites and native Americans, with a bit of Indian metaphysics thrown in. Most late-in-life first novels with small presses don't do much, but “Beloved Mother”...
Duration:00:03:55
“Shared Secrets: The Queer World of Newbery Medalist Charles J. Finger” By: Elizabeth Findley Shores
4/28/2021
“ Shared Secrets : The Queer World of Newbery Medalist Charles J. Finger ” Author: Elizabeth Findley Shores Publisher: Univ of Arkansas Press Pages: 249 Price: $29.96 The Complicated Life of an Award-Winning Author Elizabeth Shores is a hard-working, hard-researching author with two previous volumes, both with Alabama connections : a study of the botanist Roland McMillan Harper and “Earline’s Pink Party ,” which deals with “The Social Rituals and Domestic Relics of a Southern Woman, ” and is...
Duration:00:04:13
“My Little Town; A Pilgrim’s Portrait of a Uniquely Southern Place” By: D.B. Tipmore
4/12/2021
“ My Little Town; A Pilgrim’s Portrait of a Uniquely Southern Place ” Author: D. B. Tipmore Publisher: NewSouth Books Pages: 160 Price: $25.95 ( H ardcover) Reflections on a Decade’s Sojourn in a Small Alabama Town Tipmore , a professional journalist who wrote for a while for the “ Village Voice ” and many other magazines, has a clear, trustworthy style. This is a sincere narrative, not in the least ironic or snarky. As a boy, Tipmore spent some time on a farm, but since then has led a...
Duration:00:04:36
“Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss” By: Margaret Renkl
3/29/2021
“ Late Migrations: A N atural History of Love and Loss ” Author: Margaret Renkl Publisher: Milkweed Editions Pages: 248 Price: $24.00 ( Hardcover) Southern Memoir Weaves Together Stories of Nature and Family “ Late Migrations ” is a collection of 113 short pieces, little essays that run from a half page to 2 ½ pages , based on memories, observations, moments in Renkl’s life and the lives of her family. However, they are not casual anecdotes; each is a small, carved gem. Renkl is a Southern...
Duration:00:04:14
"Madness of the Q" By: Gray Basnight
3/22/2021
“ Madness of the Q ” Author: Gray Basnight Publisher: Down & Out Books Pages: 349 Price: $ 18.95 Satisfying Thriller Based on Discovery of Papyrus Fragmen ts In 2015 Gray Basnight published “ Shadows in the Fire ,” his novel set during the last days of the siege of Richmond during the Civil War. Basnight, a native of Richmond, did a good job with that novel of the past, using a 12-year-old enslaved girl as protagonist and making use of an historically odd but true anecdote—the visit to...
Duration:00:04:00
“Surviving Savannah” By: Patti Callahan
3/10/2021
“ Surviving Savannah ” Author: Patti Callahan Publisher: Berkley Pages: 419 $26.00 ( H ardcover) Novel of Shipwreck and Grief Addresses the Big Questions Patti Callahan H enry had 13 “popular” books and then, perhaps to signify more serious content, published the terrifically successful “ Becoming Mrs . Lewis ” as P atti Callahan. “ Surviving Savannah ” is also a “ Patti Callahan ” novel , and it too is serious business — about death, catastrophe, fate, guilt, G od, depression, survival,...
Duration:00:03:58
“Where I Come From: Stories from the Deep South” By: Rick Bragg
3/2/2021
“ Where I Come From: Stories from the Deep South ” Author: Rick Bragg Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Pages: 231 Price: $26.95 ( H ardcover) Collection of Pieces on Wide-Ranging Southern Subjects Will Please Rick Bragg Fans Not everyon e subscribes to “ Southern Living ” and “ G arden and Gun ” and enjoys Bragg’s short pieces there. So it is a service to the multitudes that these pieces — 58 from “ Sout hern Living, ” 7 from “ Garden and Gun ” and one from “ L ongleaf ” magazine, a foreword to “...
Duration:00:03:32
“The South Never Plays Itself: A Film Buff’s Journey Through the South on Screen” By: Ben Beard
2/22/2021
“ The South Never Plays Itself : A Film Buff’s Journey Through the South on Screen ” Author: Ben Beard Publisher: NewSouth B ooks Pages: 288 Price: $28.95 (Cloth) A Comprehensive Look at Films Set in the South from “GWTW” to “Gump” Readers cannot help but be astonished by the scope of this book, by the sheer number of films Beard has seen, studied and written about. He covers 100 years of filmmaking, perhaps 200 films, set in part or whole in the South. Beard has been a film reviewer for...
Duration:00:03:59