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by D.G. Martin
How about a look at a new list of North Carolina-related books to consider for your reading this fall?
Like the summer reading list that I gave you a couple of months ago, these 10 suggestions will appeal to different kinds of readers. Or, said another way, you are probably not going to want to read every one of them, but I bet that at least one or two of them would be good reads for you. The rest of them are ones you will be glad to know about.
1. You may question the North Carolina connection of Tim Madiganís ìIím
Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers.î But thanks to UNC-TV,
Mr. Rogerís neighborhood has become a part of the North Carolina
landscape and the growing-up memories for most of us. Madiganís
description of how Mr. Rogers became his friend shows how much it means
for us to care about others.
2. Retired UNC-Wilmington professor Melton McLaurinís ìThe Marines of
Montford Pointî tells the story of our countryís first black Marines.
Using the voices of the Marines, the book takes its readers to Montford
Point near Camp Lejeune and gives them a dose of the mixture of
humiliation and pride that were a part of a black Marineís experience
in the 1940ís. (September 21, 23)
3. How is the best way to get to know North Carolinaís Poet Laureate,
Kathryn Stripling Byer? Here is my suggestion: Read her latest
collection of poems, ìComing to Rest.î Even if you are not ìintoî
poetry, donít be afraid of this one. It is warm, personal, and human,
and its poems gently bring a reader into Byerís life and experience.
(September 28, 30)
4. Durham author David Guy is a practicing Buddhist. His latest book,
ìJake Fades: A Novel of Impermanence,î tells a warm, believable story
of how an aging Zen teacher and his admirers deal with the challenge of
the coming time without him.† (October 5,7)
5.† Georgann Eubanksí soon-to-be-published ìLiterary Trails of the
North Carolina Mountainsî will take us on a tour of our mountain
communities and tell us all about the writers who lived and visited
there ó and about the books that were written in or about our
mountains.† (October 12, 14)
6. Zelda Lockhart, who lives in Durham and Hillsborough, has written a
Civil War and post-Civil War era novel, ìCold Running Creek.î In
addition to setting forth a compelling and complicated tri-racial
family saga, this book challenges our set notions of racial
interaction.†† (October 19, 21)
7. Attorney Mike Lassiter spent years traveling across North Carolina
taking photos of the businesses that are disappearing from our
landscape: barber shops, movie theaters, hardware and grocery stores,
filling stations, and drug stores. The result, ìOur Vanishing
Americana: A North Carolina Portrait,î has been a word-of-mouth success
and is finding its way to the coffee tables of many North Carolina
homes. (October 26, 28)
8. North Carolinaís Joe and Terry Graedon are famous across the country
as a result of their Peopleís Pharmacy public-radio programs and
newspaper columns. Their latest book, ìBest Choices from the Peopleís
Pharmacy,î is fun to read and a great source of current and practical
information about good health practices. (November 2, 4)
9. In ìOff the Rim: Basketball and Other Religions in a Carolina
Childhood,î UNC professor Fred Hobson, one of the most respected
scholars of the South, confesses that basketball is his lifeís real
passion. (November 9, 11)
10. If there is one new book about North Carolina that should be on
your North Carolinianís bookshelf, it is William Powellís ìEncyclopedia
of North Carolina.î For ready reference about our state and for the
pleasure of reading good descriptions of history, geography, ideas, and
events that made us who we are, you cannot find a better book.
(November 16, 18)
Maybe you wonder about the dates I have listed with these 10 books. Or
maybe you guessed that all of these books will the subject of
discussion on upcoming North Carolina Bookwatch programs on UNC-TV on
the dates listed on Fridays at 9:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m.
Check out the books that interest you and tune in on Fridays or Sundays!
ï
D.G. Martin is the host of North Carolina Bookwatch, UNC-TVís weekly local literary series.
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