Batter up at the bookshop

New reads for spring about America’s pastime

Barra, a regular Birmingham Weekly contributor and avid baseball fan, provides the following reviews of some of the baseball-related titles that are hitting the bookstores just as major leaguers retur

Literature

Blood, guts, pain, and midgets

Picture book tells the story of Memphis wrestling

By Jesse Chambers

I’ve never been a fan of professional wrestling (excuse me, “wrasslin”), despite its huge commercial popularity, and despite the fact that it's one of the most enduring forms of American pop performan

Literature

Keith Thomson thrills with ONCE A SPY

By Glenny Brock

If you’ve never cared much for thrillers, Keith Thomson’s genre debut could cause you to have a conversion experience. It’s that gripping and good. If you’re already a reader whose criteria for a page

Literature

Getting lit at Southern Voices

Conference brings star writers to Hoover

By Jesse Chambers

If you think Hoover is merely an overgrown suburb with only Barons baseball, Hoover High football and the Riverchase Galleria mall to distinguish it, you should think again. At least one cultural inst

Literature

An aging actor faces The Humbling

Phillip Roth’s novel has lifeless characters, dirty old man and a dildo

By David Feltman

Considering that he’s 77 years old and about to release his seventh novel in 11 years, I think there’s some solid evidence that Philip Roth has sold his soul to the devil. The Humbling (Houghton Miffl

Literature

Seven great books on the World Series

I always watch the World Series with the sound off and with something to read.

By Allen Barra

I’m not compelled to read books on football during Super Bowl week, nor on basketball during March Madness or the NBA finals. But the World Series always make me feel as if I’m connecting with 100 yea

Literature

Annette Gordon-Reed and The Hemingses of Monticello

In THE HEMINGSES OF MONTICELLO, Annette Gordon-Reed presents the institution of slavery through the eyes of enslaved people.

By Glenny Brock

Annette Gordon-Reed has never been to Alabama, but her first visit is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 23, when she will read from and discuss her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Hemingses of Monticello: A

Literature

“Freedom’s Sisters” highlights unsung heroines of the Civil Rights movement

By Glenny Brock

Last fall, as part of the UAB Writers’ Series, Birmingham-born Sonia Sanchez gave a reading at the Spencer Honors House, the massive structure next to the Alys Stephens Center that looks like a church

Literature

Remembering Paul Hemphill

By Allen Barra

If I tell you that Paul Hemphill was bitter about a great many things, that he fed on his bitterness, and that it sustained him, I hope you’ll understand me and not take it the wrong way. [caption

Literature

Alabama novelist Ace Atkins visits the Devil's Garden

Ace Atkins’ latest novel is centered on the real-life murder trial of silent film comic Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle in 1921. Why is this crime and historical novelist drawn so inexorably to material that deals with violence and betrayal?

By Jesse Chambers

Why is Ace Atkins, Alabama-born crime and historical novelist, drawn so inexorably to material that deals with violence and betrayal? “It’s the best storytelling and it's so compelling,” he said durin