Booklist and Notes

Booklist and Notes George Brosi Ball, Randy. Time Passages. Rogersville, Tenn.: Appalachian Images Publishing , 1992. 63 pages, illustrated with photographs. Trade paperback. $5.00. In his introduction the author states that "there have usually been two types of books published on our region. One is the type which shows the negative side . . . the other type of regional book frequently published shows our region's natural beauty . . . Hopefully Time Passages will help create a third category, books that depict our region as we see ourselves, as we really are. I have tried to create photo essays here which show what is real, genuine and lasting." Ball accomplishes his goal direcdy without superfluous layers of sophistication. Berry, Wendell. Fidelity. New York: Pantheon, 1992. 201 pages. Hardback in dust jacket. $20.00. "The good and simple truth to which each of Berry's stories testifies is that its author observes people carefully, understands them precisely, and cares about them deeply; bombast, pretension, and narcissism are alien to him." —New Criterion. While Berry's characters are complex and damned by original sin, they all possess a deep love for the land and its people. Berry's writing is anchored to a very well-thought-out and elaborated world view and critique of society which shows through his fiction with varying degrees of subtlety. Byer, Kathryn Stripling. Wildwood Flower. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992. 52 pages. Trade paperback. $8.95. This book was the Lamont Poetry Selection of the Academy of American Poets. The poems are all in the voice of Alma, a turn-of-the century native of the North Carolina mountains. "It is impossible to praise too highly Kathryn George Brosi is the proprietor of a business called Appalachian Mountain Books and publishes a periodical by that same name twelve times a year. He sells books, both new and out-of-print, through the mail and brings a display ofbooksfor sale to regional events. His address is Appalachian Mountain Books, Route 2, Box 238, Whittier, North Carolina 28789. His phone number is 704-586-5319. 72 Stripling Byer's lovely and genuine Wildwood Flower. Here are voices that have been wrung into marvelous poetry by a world whose very dangers hold a dread beauty. Here indeed is the heart's own book."—Fred Chappell. "The fact is that Kathryn Stripling Byer's poems are absolutely necessary to me, to my sense of how to live in this world. Byer is a writer of haunting beauty and great wisdom. Sometimes I feel as if Alma is speaking from somewhere deep inside myself—from deep inside us all."—Lee Smith. Byer, a native of Texas, is poet in residence at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, where she has lived with her husband and daughter for over a decade. Chappell, Fred. More Shapes Than One. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1992 reprint of a 1991 release. 197 pages. Trade paperback. $8.95. Fred Chappell, a native of Canton, North Carolina, who teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is simply a fabulous writer. Anyone who enjoys writing will love Chappell, as he starts "Mankind's Journey Through Forests ofSymbols" with the words, "There was a dream, and a gaudy big thing it was, too, and for six hours it had been blocking Highway 51 between Turkey Knob and Ember Forks. The deputies came out to have a look-see, tall tobacco-chewing mountain boys, and they stood and scratched their armpits and made highly unscientific observations like, "Well, I be dog, Hank . . ." Conley, Robert J. Mountain Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. 218 pages. Hardback in dust jacket. $20.00. "At last a Cherokee love story about two ordinary people . . . that allows one to feel the effects of the Trail of Tears on individual people and their families while weaving in solid historical information about the external forces which forever changed the Cherokee Nation. Mountain Windsong evokes deep feelings and thoughtful reflection. It is a poignant story, powerful and disturbing ." — Wilma Mankiller, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. This novel is the tenth published book by the author, a Cherokee who...