The French novelist Pierre Boulle produced more than 20 novels before his death in 1992, and of those, two stand out not only for their literary excellence, but for the movies that would ultimately overshadow the novels themselves.
In an increasingly self-service world, full-service benefits can come at a steep price. Nowhere is that price more steep than in Bentley Little’s newest novel, “The Bank” (Cemetery Dance Publications).
Tandem to veteran horror writer Bentley Little’s new novel, “The Bank,” consider what Little has had to say about High Country best-selling writer Scott Nicholson: “Scott Nicholson is a terrific writer. Like Stephen King, he has an eye and ear for the rhythms of rural America, and like King …
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Albert Hash built his first fiddle out of barn wood in Grayson County at the age of nine. Later in his life, his love of Appalachian music, his powerful fiddle playing and his extreme skill as a craftsman would take him to the Smithsonian, the World’s Fair, Wolf Trap and into the lives of co…
Just as the seasonal throngs escaped for sun and fun to John Grisham’s fictional “Camino Island,” fans will similarly welcome a bit of personal escape in the author’s second installment in the series, “Camino Winds” (Doubleday).
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The Bible has much to say about child rearing, but nowhere better than in Proverbs does the topic sum up Penelope Hession’s new novel, “Constance”: “Even children make themselves known by their acts, by whether what they do is pure and right” (20:11).
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Three questions that many newly homeschooling teachers, nee parents, are wrestling with today are also central to a timely resource that can help with the answers: “How do you inspire someone to follow their interests? How do you challenge them to take those interests a step further? What is…
As attractive as it might be in this time of communal health crises and social distancing to escape solo for even weeks or months into a 1,175-mile hike across North Carolina, for many of us that’s just not feasible. But taken in smaller steps … well, that could be the day-hike balm many of …
Don Winslow’s muscular prose, blistering pacing and compelling characters have powered us through more than 20 crime novels. With each new release swelling in size, 700-page behemoths (click on the titles for reviews of “The Force,” “The Border”) have become standard fare.
Singer, songwriter, musician — novelist?
Maybe I’ve been jaded by the intricacies of Michael Connelly or Don Winslow, but I’ve got to side with the 7 percent of the three-star Amazon reviewers who place Joseph Finder’s “House on Fire” squarely in the middle between “I read until my eyes wouldn’t stay open any longer” and “definitel…
If you have never envisioned reading a book about quilts, prepare to suspend judgment until you’ve opened the second and revised edition of co-author Pamela Weeks’ and Don Beld’s seminal work.
Fans of Robert Dugoni’s novels — and it takes no detective to deduce that those number in the legions — are beating their own paths to the suspense-master’s seventh Tracy Crosswhite book, “A Cold Trail,” since its Feb. 4 publication.
“Jeep” by Ashe County author Penelope S. Hession isn’t a new book, but it’s an important and timely reminder of the world we live in today.
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BANNER ELK — Award-winning writer and assistant professor of English Matthew Wimberley’s debut book of poetry, “All the Great Territories,” will be celebrated during a reading event at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, in Evans Auditorium at the Cannon Student Center.
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We all know where the road paved with good intentions leads, and Mark Powell again takes us there, in his sixth novel, “Firebird.”
Well, you’ve done it again. Here it is just days after Christmas and you’ve managed to buy something for everyone on your list, except for yourself.
Mystery Writers of America grand master Lawrence Block isn’t one to paint himself into a corner, but with the help of a few friends, he’s thricely managed to produce a stunning anthology of short stories by celebrated writers of fiction, each centered on a corresponding celebrated work of art.
Stumbling into the love affair of two people very much in love can feel awkward, almost intrusive. We almost instinctively look away at two lovers on the street, absorbed so much in each other that the world around for them has ceased to exist.
Mitch Albom spent decades as an award-winning sportswriter, so he surely knows a gut-punch when he sees it. Yet apparently he knows also how to deliver one, as he does on the first page of his lingering memoir, “Finding Chika: A little girl, an earthquake, and the making of a family” (Harper).
The calendar says winter is more than a month away, but there’s been snow in the High Country and, likely, that means that somewhere near you there is a warm fire, a comfortable chair and a stack of books waiting to be read.
In 21 novels featuring Michael Connelly’s now-legendary detective Harry Bosch, the touchstone has never wavered: “Everybody counts or nobody counts.”
In John Grisham’s new novel “The Guardians,” truth is sadder than fiction. But that realization comes at the end of the book, in a well-placed author’s note.
Margaret Atwood’s books of fiction, poetry and essays encompass no themes so consistently as those of gender, identity, myth and religion. Exhibit A, “The Testaments,” the Canadian author’s sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale” that recently earned Atwood her second Britain Booker Prize.
For those of us who call the High Country home, or those who already know the region as a cold weather getaway, the idea of snow in the South is as happenstance as winter following summer.
A Stephen King novel for those who don’t like Stephen King’s novels is an appropriate label for the horror master’s latest: “The Institute” (Scribner).
Publisher Capstone Editions offers a pair of publications this fall targeting a young audience and a difficult subject: slavery. Under Capstone’s stewardship, both stories are handled exceedingly well.
We all learn, eventually, that there is a dramatic difference between running away from home and moving on.
With this most recent offering from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child — the Preston and Child of “Relic” fame and dozens of novels since — noted archeologist Dr. Nora Kelly teams with historian Clive Benton to set off on an epic adventure. Well, after about the halfway mark or so. There’s no…
The unflagging inspiration of Henri Nouwen was his ability to share his faith and his love for Jesus even during the lowest points of his life.
Ibi Zoboi’s debut and National Book Award-finalist YA novel, “American Street,” explored magical realism and the voodoo culture in a narrative about a Haitian teen whose mother is detained as they immigrate to America.
Steeped in mythology, fairytale, tradition and folklore, William Ritter’s “The Oddmire, Book 1: Changeling” (Algonquin Young Readers) is a fresh hero’s tale worthy of a readership as vast as the Wild Wood it encapsulates.
As with Colson Whitehead’s 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Underground Railroad,” the past is prologue in this follow-up to that novel, “The Nickel Boys.”
When Mountain Times reviewed David Joy’s “The Line That Held Us” (Putnam) in August 2018, we made it clear that this North Carolina’s author’s mastery of Appalachian noir continued in this, his third novel. Following the haunting releases of “Where All Light Tends To Go” and “The Weight Of T…
An author with the stature of Stephen King has more options — and demands — than most when it comes to publishing his work, which can sometimes make finding a copy of a new release … interesting.
Because it’s never too early to prime the pump for your summer reading, publishing houses have a habit of releasing some of their best and most anticipated books in the days and weeks immediately preceding Memorial Day.
Waiting for a new release from a favorite author can be an excruciatingly pleasant pastime for a dedicated reader. Here, in early spring 2019, are two such examples to consider — one a surprise, and one a fitting finale to a dystopian world.
From beach bum to mountain man, author Ed Robinson brings his fictional creation to the High Country
The magnetic allure of our mountain communities is so attractive that now even fictional creations are migrating here from the Florida coast.
Judging a book by its cover may not be fair, but what about judging a publishing company by the books it puts between those covers?
Few authors use a book’s dedication page to the effect and impact as does Don Winslow.
A definitive retelling of the Civil War as it was fought in North Carolina has been well-documented by the writings of Avery County-based historian Michael C. Hardy.
The notion that grit-lit is a gentlemen’s club is no fallacy.
When was the last time you read a published drabble? Admittedly those short-form stories — precisely 100 words, no more, no less — are a rare literary animal. But if you’re on the hunt, you’ll find one in Richard Chizmar’s newest release,”The Long Way Home” (PS Publishing).
After 40 years and 18 novels, Lawrence Block’s unlicensed New York City investigator Matthew Scudder has been absent for most of the past decade — in fact, since 2011’s “A Drop of the Hard Stuff.”
Does history repeat?
Because Maryann D’Agincourt does not write art fiction in black and white, her fifth offering of the form is the most aptly titled.
Integrating fiction into science is the purview of storytellers able to reimagine our world and take us to places we’ve never been — at least not yet.
The story you’ve never read and the story you’ve read repeatedly are now one and the same with Tachyon Publications’ beautifully imagined release of “The Last Unicorn: The Lost Journey.”
Were you taking odds on what John Grisham’s next novel would be, the safe bet would always be legal thriller.
Into the fray of monster and monster-hunters is there yet room for another vampire novel?
In the 40-plus years since the paperback publication of “Carrie” allowed Stephen King to leave his high school English teaching post at Hampden Academy, the author has ushered more than 60 books to international best-selling status. Which means at this point King can pretty much do as he ple…
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