Books, Books, and More Books

I just got back from the Southern Kentucky Book Fest (http://www.sokybookfest.org/index.htm). Held in April in Bowling Green, Kentucky, it's a great festival. I mean, what's better than being surrounded by books and the people who write them and read them? It was a good time to meet new friends and renew acquaintances with old ones. And to buy books.

Since Nancy and I are boarding a train shortly for a week of travel and relaxation, I stocked up on reading material. Here are just some of the eclectic titles (by some of my writer friends, I must admit) I picked up (mostly at the book fest) that you might want to look at.

Sufficient Grace by Darnell Arnoult. One quiet spring day, Gracie Hollaman hears voices in her head that tell her to get in her car and leave her entire life behind -- her home, her husband, her daughter, her very identity. Gracie's subsequent journey releases her genius for painting and effects profound changes in the lives of everyone around her. Ultimately, her quest leads her into the home of Mama Toot and Mattie, two strong, accomplished women going through life changes of their own. As the bonds between these women grow stronger, and the family Gracie left behind come to terms with their own loss, both worlds slowly and inevitably collide, revealing a long-buried secret that they share.

Savannah Comes Undone by Denise Hildreth. Book two of the Savannah series, Savannah's mother has chained herself to a monument of the Ten Commandments in front of a federal courthouse in this lighthearted but lackluster follow-up to Savannah from Savannah. Savannah spends most of her time trying to avoid both her mother and the TV cameras aimed in her mother's direction. The standoff between mom, the courts and the ACLU becomes the subject of two newspaper articles in fulfillment of Savannah's new role as human-interest columnist at the Savannah Chronicle. Nancy a fan of Savannah - the town and the heroine.

Grave Intent by Deborah LeBlanc. During a chaotic gypsy burial service at the funeral parlor of Michael and Janet Savoy, a ritual gold coin is stolen from the corpse of the teenage daughter of an egomaniacal Roma gypsy chief. The theft unleashes a curse on the Savoys, unwitting unbelievers who come to realize their own five-year-old child is doomed to a gruesome death if they can't unravel a foreign culture's arcane mysteries.

Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez with Kristin Ohlson. the story of one Michigan woman's quest to help women in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban the best way she knows how: by opening a beauty school. Indeed, when beautician Rodriguez opens her salon and school, she doesn't realize how desperately Kabul, especially the women of Kabul, need her.

How's that for a potpourri? And what are you reading?

--Brent