Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton

I read this book over the weekend for one of my book clubs, which meets next Tuesday. In fact, this is more than just a book club selection. It's actually a One Book, One Community book for my area. They have a ton of really great things planned during October around the book. The author will appear at several different events, and he'll also give a writing workshop at the community college that I work for -- free! All I can say is if you haven't ever read anything by Clyde Edgerton, don't wait any longer. He's a North Carolina author and is always more than happy to participate in events around the state. His brand of Southern Lit. is a little lighter than that of Faulkner or O'Connor, but no less worthy. It's full of many of the mandatory themes for Southern Lit. -- religion, food, family, and people down on their luck. What's missing from this book that is always prevalent in books by more famous Southern writers is the misery. As much as I like Faulkner, O'Connor, and Capote (just to name a few), you don't usually come away from their books with a light heart. I actually finished Walking Across Egypt with a smile on my face. In fact, I found myself laughing out loud more than once while reading this book.

Like many of Edgerton's books, this one is set in the fictional Listre, North Carolina. The main character is Mattie Rigsbee who is a 78-year old, feisty widow that loves nothing more than to feed everyone she meets. This character reminds me so much of my own grandmother who is now 95 years old and in a nursing home. My grandmother, like Mattie Rigsbee, made it her mission in life to feed anyone who came to her house. I don't mean just a sandwich, mind you. I mean a full course meal, which might include fried chicken, meatloaf (she always had more than one main course), cabbage, fried okra, fried squash, sliced tomatoes, rice, gravy, homemade biscuits, green beans, corn and several different desserts. My grandma is famous for her chocolate pie and egg custard pie. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

In between cooking and taking care of her home, Mattie is busy with her church and family. She has two grown children, but she's still waiting on grandchildren. Mattie takes every opportunity she's presented to remind her children that she isn't getting any younger and neither are they. Her life takes an unexpected turn when she is introduced to Wesley, a young man in the juvenile detention center nearby. Taking her scripture seriously, she decides to "do unto the least of these." She visits Wesley and takes him some of her famous homemade poundcake and a mason jar of sweet tea. Wesley is rough around the edges but can't get this kindness out of his mind.

I won't go into any more detail, but this is a "feel good" story that is at turns both heartwarming and hilarious. The book was made into a movie, which stays pretty close to the original. It was good, but as usual I prefer the book. If you've read the book, leave me a comment telling me your favorite scene. I bet I know what it is!

Author Luncheon

John Hart, author of the best-selling books, King of Lies and Down River will be the featured speaker at the Pfeiffer Friends of the Library event Thursday, April 3. Hart is a native of nearby Salisbury, North Carolina, and both of his novels are set in Rowan County.

About King of Lies From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Hart's stunning debut, an exceptionally deep and complex mystery thriller, compares favorably to the best of Scott Turow. Jackson Workman Pickens, whom most people call "Work," is a struggling North Carolina criminal defense attorney. Work has wrestled with inner demons for most of his life, especially after the death of his mother and the disappearance of his wealthy father, Ezra Pickens, a highly successful lawyer who took him into his practice. Trapped in a loveless marriage and haunted by poor emotional choices and his sister's psychological trauma, Work finds himself under suspicion when his father's corpse surfaces more than a year after Ezra was last seen alive. Work's quest for the truth behind his father's demise opens old wounds and forces him to face the consequences of his own decisions. Few readers will be able to resist devouring this tour-de-force in one or two sittings—or clamoring for more John Hart.

About Down River From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Hart surpasses his bestselling debut, The King of Lies (2006), with his richly atmospheric second novel, which offers a tighter plot, more adroit pacing and less angst. Five years earlier, Adam Chase was arrested for murder, largely on the basis of his stepmother's sworn testimony against him. He was acquitted, but nearly everyone, including his father, still thinks he did it, and Adam's deep bitterness has kept him away from home ever since. Now, at the request of a childhood friend, he's back in Salisbury, N.C., where all the old demons still reside and new troubles await. The almost Shakespearean snarl of family ties is complicated by a very modern struggle between economic progress and love for the land, between haves and have-nots. Throughout, Hart expertly weaves his main theme: that by their freedom of choice, humans are capable of betrayal but also of forgiveness and redemption. This book should settle once and for all the question of whether thrillers and mysteries can also be literature.

Hart is currently working on his third book, and the movie rights for the first novel have been sold.

Literary Events This Week at Pfeiffer

New Student Book Club

Please join us this Wednesday, September 19 at 12:00 noon in the Reading Room (second floor) of the G. A. Pfeiffer Library for the first meeting of the Pfeiffer student book club. Those in attendance at this first meeting will choose a name for the club, elect officers, determine future meeting dates and decide how books will be chosen. Following the first meeting, we will apply to be recognized as an official Pfeiffer club, which will make us eligible for funding.

As our service project, we will also support First Book, which is a literacy-based organization that provides free books for low-income children in our area.

Please join us for lunch (pizza, dessert and drinks provided!) on Wednesday and help launch your new club. If you are interested and can't make it Wednesday, please contact me and let me know what is the best time for you to meet. You may email me at lisa.shores@pfeiffer.edu or call ext. 3352 for more information.

Cultural Hour
Friday, September 21

Heather Ross Miller will be the speaker for the cultural hour this Friday at 10:00 AM in the Chapel. She has published numerous books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She retired from Washington and Lee University as the first Thomas Broadus Distinguished Professor of English and is currently teaching a poetry course at Pfeiffer. She lives in Badin. Please join us Friday for this special program.

Literary Events this Fall

University of North Carolina at Charlotte
www.uncc.edu
September 10 -- Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea, 7 PM, Robinson Hall
October 9 -- Kathy Reichs and Jim Tabor, "Dead Bones Talk and Silent Stones Speak", 8 PM, Robinson Hall
October 16 -- James McBride, The Color of Water, 7 PM, Cone Center

Carolina Mountains Literary Festival
September 14 and 15
Burnsville, NC
Book signings, author readings, writing workshops, etc.
(there is a fee for the writing workshops)

Rowan Public Library Summer Reading Challenge
Sponsored by the Friends of RPL and Libretto Book Club
October 16 at 6:30
Waterworks Visual Arts Center, 123 E. Liberty St., Salisbury
A reception will follow discussion of the following books:
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World by Kati Marton
Family History by Dani Shapiro
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
(You may attend even if you haven't read all the books) (free)

Novello Festival of Reading
www.novellofestival.net
"A festival celebrating books and learning, presented by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County."
If you've never attended Novello, you need to give it a try. It is packed full of author readings, book signings, food tastings, and so much more! It begins on Thursday, September 27 and goes through October 27. Many of the events are free (but tickets are required), including the popular Carolina Writer's Night on Tuesday, October 16 at 7:00 PM.

Lenoir-Rhyne College
Visiting Writers Series: In Their Own Words
www.lrc.edu/visitingwriters
Among others, the following authors of note will speak at 8:00 PM on the following dates:
Nov. 1 -- Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes, Tis, Teacher Man (free)
Nov. 29 -- Tracy Kidder, author of Pfeiffer's 2007-2008 Freshman Seminar summer reading selection, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World (free)

Appalachian State University
Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series
www.visitingwriters.appstate.edu
November 8 at 7:30 PM -- Robert Morgan will discuss his nonfiction work, Boone: A Biography (free)

Davidson College
www.davidson.edu
February 26 at 8 PM -- Michael Chabon will discuss The Yiddish Policeman's Union (free)


Many of these events may qualify for cultural credit.