Rev. Dr. Jeff Garrison
Patrick F. McManus, Kerplunk! (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007), 227 pages. There is a favorite used bookstore in Wilmington, North Carolina that I often stop in when I’m home. This time I was looking to pick up another copy of Guy Owen’s The Ballard of the Flim-Flam Man to give to a cousin, … Read more Reviews of Three Very Different Books
I am in North Carolina, taking a few days off and sitting inside watching it rain… Here’s my last post of the year as I review two recent books I’ve read. I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year’s Eve and a prosperous 2020 (and please, no more eye jokes)! John Kasich, It’s Up to … Read more Two Very Different Book Reviews
Merry Christmas everyone. Today was beautiful in South Georgia, a nice day for a walk with the dog, after opening present, playing a new board game (Ticket to Ride: Rails and Sails), and continually snacking on ham. For the past few days, we’ve experienced a deluge (6 inches of so of rain). But yesterday afternoon, … Read more Christmas Evening 2019
Granddaddy Faircloth Christmas Day, 1966 Jeff Garrison I’m now ten years older than you were when I snapped that photo, a nine year old boy on Christmas morning with his new camera, a Kodak Instamatic. It took some persuasion for you to get up and step outside, but my grandmother coaxed and with the camera … Read more Granddaddy Faircloth
A little over a month ago, I attended the closing session of the Pat Conroy festival. Most of the events were held in Beaufort, SC, but the closing one was held in Bluffton, which is just across the river a bit from Savannah. It featured four South Carolina authors talking about place. Afterwards, I picked … Read more Two Books by John Lane and a poem of mine
Jeff Garrison A talk given at the St. Andrew Society for the City of Savannah’s Annual Banquet November 30, 2019 The title for my talk this evening is “A Glorious Defeat.” By the time I’m done, I hope you understand what I’m talking about. Alistair noted in my introduction that I’m from North Carolina. … Read more St. Andrew’s Talk
Every day, Garrison Keillor sends out a new edition of “The Writer’s Almanac.” He always begins each day’s post with a poem. Today’s poem was by Charles Simic and titled “Nineteen Thirty-eight.” Thinking about his poem written about the year of his birth, I recalled a piece I wrote a few years ago on the year … Read more 1957
Bonnie Jo Campbell, Once Upon a River (New York: W.W. Norton, 2011), 348 pages. I enjoyed this novel even though it was hard to get through the opening part which included an incestuous rape of Margo, a teenage girl. I almost put the book down. However, Campbell never glamorized the sex scenes in the … Read more Once Upon A River
Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (New York: Knopf, 1978), 720 pages including notes and index. Some plates of photos and artwork. The world, or at least Western Europe, seemed to be coming apart in the 1300s. England and France was involved in a 100-year war. Whenever they took a break … Read more Looking way back: 3 Reviews of History Books
Not Guilty by C. Lee McKenzie Published October 2019 This book grabbed my attention in the first chapter and kept me engaged throughout. I didn’t want to put it down, wanting to figure out how the protagonist, Devon, gets through his dilemma. A high school junior with the hope of playing college basketball, Devon is … Read more Not Guilty