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By Amanda, May 14, 2011

I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive
By Steve Earle

An abortionist, a whore, and a dope dealer walk into a bar…

Is this the latest dumb joke making the rounds? Nope. This is the lineup of main characters in Steve Earle’s new book, “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive.” It’s set in the slums of San Antonio and in the beginning, the book feels contrived – how many times do we have to listen to musicians venerate drug use?

In addition, almost immediately it becomes apparent that Doc, the main character, not only smokes dope, but also performs abortions (prior to Roe v. Wade in the 1960s) to support his habit. Living and working out of a boarding house run by closet lesbians, Doc treats the menagerie of hookers, pimps, and other unfortunate youth who show up at his door looking for help. (Rush Limbaugh just had an aneurysm.) Add in Hank Williams as a ghost and the good times can begin. A book with such a Burroughsesque beginning should not be so enjoyable. 

And yet, buried under the miles of hard living, baggage, and dirt, the novel’s heart begins to beat. After an encounter with then President Kennedy and “Yah-kee” at the San Antonio airport, something special begins happening on the South Presa Strip. Hookers stop turning tricks, dope fiends stop buying dope, and even Doc manages to kick his habit. Turns out there is redemption for the wicked if only they visit the Yellow Rose Guest House.

This may be the best book I’ve read so far this year, even though it is sneaky about its greatness. The characters are hard to love and the setting calls for a shower after every chapter, but there is no pretense. Doc and friends are unapologetically who they are and they understand that change is a necessary, and hopefully desirable, part of life. Earle has been writing great story songs for years, but it can be difficult to turn a three-minute song into a full-length novel (just ask any Saturday Night Live writer…Night at the Roxbury, anyone?) Here, Earle succeeds beautifully, even though, or maybe because, life is messy.  

Earle is has released a CD of the same title.  I’ll take a listen to it and letcha know how it sounds…

Yee-haw, y’all

Amanda

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By Beth, May 11, 2011

Miss Mapp
by E.F. Benson

This is absolutely one of the funniest books I’ve ever read, on a par with Kingsley Amis’ Lucky Jim.  It’s a British comedy of manners set in the 1920′s about the residents of a small English village and their constant attempts to one-up each other.  It reminded me of a meaner, snarkier Jane Austen.  If you like this, you’re in luck–it’s part of a series.  The author is also well-known for his horror stories.

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By Bryan, May 10, 2011

Help us welcome new podcastee, Lisa! The crew discusses our favorite short story collections and we debut a new segment, Tickle My Fancy.

Popmatic Podcast May 2011 (list) – Check out all items mentioned in this episode from Nashville Public Library

Lee Marvin (WorldCat list)

Trailers From Hell – Movie Trailers

Olsen Twins – When Does a Dream become a nightmare? , Gimme Pizza Slow – YouTube

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By Beth, May 4, 2011

In Zanesville
by Jo Ann Beard

This is a pitch-perfect addition to one of my favorite genres: growing up in the 1970′s. Read this, Jill McCorkle’s Ferris Beach, and Margaret Sartor’s Miss American Pie, and you’ll feel like you’re fourteen again (in a good way). The author’s autobiography The Boys of My Youth, which came out in 1998, is also fantastic.

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By Bryan, May 1, 2011

Most of the world celebrates May first as International Worker’s Day. Here are some sleeper novels that offer diverse perspectives on United States labor history that I have found in the stacks recently.

Lonely Crusade
by Chester Himes
From one of the godfathers of hardboiled crime fiction comes this story of an African American man who reluctantly takes of job as a union organizer at an airplane factory during World War II.

Blood on the Forge
by William Attaway
Three African-American brothers leave their home in the Kentucky hills to work in the steel mills of Pittsburgh prior to World War I in this grim realistic novel of Northern migration.

Night Rider
by Robert Penn Warren
This early, under-appreciated novel by Warren provides a fictionalized account of the Black Patch Tobacco Wars which took place on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee in first decade of the twentieth century.


Joe Hill
by Wallace Stegner
If Robert Penn Warren is associated with the American South, Wallace Stegner is associated with the American West. Joe Hill is his fictionalized biography of America’s most famous (executed) cartoonist, song writer, and anarchist. Mr. Hill is also the inspiration for Stephen King’s son’s nom de plume.

Haymarket: A Novel
by Martin Duberman
Duberman trains his scholarly eye on the lives Albert and Lucy Parsons, an ex-Conderate interracial couple made famous by their participation in the Haymarket riots, an event which would define labor relations in the United States for decades.

Sometimes a Great Notion
by Ken Kesey
Hippie guru Kesey’s second novel brings us the Stamper family, a spirited clan that will bust a union and fight the current of a river rather than change the way they do business.

In the United States, we celebrate labor day on the first Monday in September.