Louisiana in Words edited by Joshua Clark. Although there have been plenty of “day in the life” picture books, never before has a book sought to capture a single day in a state with words like this. Created from submissions received from the world over, this anthology offers an authentic diary of Louisiana. One hundred twenty nonfiction selections from known and unknown writers run chronologically from dawn to dawn, each one minute in time. From Tallulah to Thibodaux, Shreveport to St. Martinville, New Iberia to New Orleans, together these minutes provide a mosaic of the landscape, heritage, speech, and traditions of Louisiana unlike anything before them. Joshua Clark will be appearing along with Lee Grue – “my house full of pain -FULL of pain” Jack Saux – “Wynton playfully slaps the man with a magazine and says, ‘If you ain’t from there, you can’t understand” Susan Folkes – “The revolution will not be televised” Gina Ferrara – “It happens again like an Ella Fitzgerald recording that skips” Janis Turk – “In the courtyard of yawning, dusk leans over the balcony falling and holding on like a drunk girl stumbling down the street” Jerre Borland – “like you he has hair like ripe corn silk and serious eyes of brown that hold mysteries” Eileen Decoteau – “maw maw’s shadow dances across the wall” and Christian Champagne – “Dieter walks out, chicken in hand, dissolving into the humid air and foot traffic on Canal Street”.

Judy Conner says about the book – “I have those flying dreams–cruising low over the ground. In Louisiana in Words I can finally hear the voices that rise from the land. Joshua Clark has tapped into the soul songs of Louisiana.”

Having finished A Thousand Splendid Suns a few weeks ago, I have been able to reflect on what I enjoyed and what I learned from Hosseini, the famous international author of last year’s very popular title, The Kite Runner. A native of Afghanistan, Hosseini, who now lives in California, covers approximately thirty years of recent history in his native country, ranging from the Soviet invasion, to the reign of the Taliban, to post Taliban rebuilding, all areas that I would be unlikely to study or explore, including extreme, despicable, overt female oppression. To say that I am thankful to live in the United States is for sure an understatement and a fortunate by-product of this lengthy read. However, the expert and talented way in which the author weaves this fictionalized story between two women, originally a likely dueling pair, who are a generation apart, and linked together by their husband (yes, their mutual husband) and actually become friends and co-conspirators in his murder, out of self defense, makes this novel one of the most meaningful and poignantly beautiful that I have read in some time. The ending warmed my heart and gave me hope that some day world wide violence toward women may actually lessen. Deeply moving and explicitly descriptive language concerning oppression and biases toward women cause this title to be simultaneously hard to read but yet hard to put down. A Thousand Splendid Suns may put Hosseini back at the top again.  -Nan

In his debut novel, The Raw Shark Texts, British writer, Steven Hall, takes the coming of age theme to a whole new level. The protagonist is not the usual awkward teen facing the impediments of high school, but a young guy named Eric Sanderson who knows no more about himself than that. The novel opens to a protagonist who knows nothing about himself but his name, Eric Sanderson.
As he navigates the murky depths of his past, he soon learns that the onset of his amnesia is loosely related to his many failed attempts to move past the tragic loss of his fiance. He also discovers that a supernatural fish called a Ludovician is lurking in the depths of his subconscious waiting to steal his identity again. Through a mix of mind games, puzzles and old-fashioned stealth Eric begins his journey to find himself while eluding the Ludovician.
The novel is quite different from the sort of thing I usually read but I found Hall’s unique voice a refreshing change of pace and the ease of his prose gave way to his imaginative tale and charismatic protagonist. All in all I thought Raw Shark Texts was a great read…it’s a page turner that will definitely keep you at the edge of your beach chair but out of the water. Here are three related book reviews. – Caroline Morrison

When I began reading Ellis Avery’s first novel, The Teahouse Fire, I had no idea where it would take me. Avery’s delicate writing style engaged me immediately, but I found the plot’s many twists and turns in the first few chapters confusing. As I read on, though, I became engrossed in the many levels of Avery’s character development and fell in love with her fictional protagonist, Aurelia Bernard. The novel intertwines aspects of Japanese history with Aurelia’s journey and by blending both, Avery creates a beautiful story that celebrates tradition, culture, family and the malleable nature of the world around us. As I neared the end of the book, I could hardly put it down. – Caroline Morrison

For all fans of Gayden Metcalfe – here she is with Lemuria’s favorite mascot Harper.