Author Archive
I took this photo of author Emily Giffin in August 2006 at an all-day Book Club Conference sponsored by the Memphis Public Library and Mid-South Reads.
I had tried to get a good shot from my seat in the front row while Giffin stood at the podium discussing her new book.
To my consternation, she stopped in mid-sentence, gave me an annoyed look and asked that I not take the photo until she posed for it. She explained that she hated to be photographed grimacing or with her mouth open. She then posed prettily, but because I was flustered, I snapped a picture which cut off most of her head.
However, after her talk, Giffin graciously let me take another photo with head attached. Later, I wrote : “By rights 34-year-old Giffin should appear frazzled, harried and careworn. She’s the mother of twin boys 2 1/2 years old, and she recently visited 17 cities in five weeks promoting her third novel, “Baby Proof.” Instead, she looks young and impeccably chic, and comes across as articulate and charming.”
Two years later, Giffin, a former lawyer, originally from Illinois, lives in Atlanta and has a new daughter, Harriet, as well as a new book on the New York Times best-sellers list. 
“Love the One You’re With,” (St. Martin’s, $25) was described by a reviewer in our “Books in Brief” column on June 1 as “a satisfying, light, chick-lit read about the pain of self-discovery.”
I don’t disagree with this assessment, but readers should be aware that there’s a darker quality and a bit more complexity to Giffin’s book than one might expect from a work in this genre.
I liked the slightly snarky, sarcastic tone that Giffin sometimes employs, especially evident when she exploits the Yankee vs. Southerner conflict generated by her characters’ backgrounds. Read the rest of this entry »
Former Commercial Appeal columnist, Rheta Grimsley Johnson, greeted a receptive standing-room-only crowd last night at the opening of the Memphis Public Library’s Adult Summer Reading program. Admirers packed the largest meeting room at the Central Library and waited patiently in line to have Rheta inscribe copies of her new book “Poor Man’s Provence: Finding Myself in Cajun Louisiana.” (NewSouth Books: $23.95)
She seemed glad to be back in Memphis, opening her comments with the quote: “It’s nice to be remembered in a place you can’t forget.”
Rheta began working for The Commercial Appeal in 1980 at its Greenville, Miss., bureau. She started writing a column for The Commercial Appeal in 1982 and left for The Atlanta Journal Constitution in 1994. Upon her departure, she commented: “”I think when you start recognizing the names on the angry letters, maybe you’ve been there too long. I’ve had a real good run in Memphis. I enjoyed it. I just wanted to try something different.”
She explained that she went into journalism because she thought it was a profession that would never require her to speak in public or wear panty hose. Unfortunately, she said, only one of those things was true.
However much she might despise speaking in public, she’s good at it, and the room rang with laughter as she recounted entertaining tales of her adventures in journalism. Read the rest of this entry »
A front page story by reporter Mike Lollar on April 25 prompted 86 comments on commercialappeal.com.
Mike wrote that Memphis is included in a big new coffee-table book, “Dream Destinations: The World’s 100 Greatest Places to Vacation,” published by LIFE Books.
Some other cities in the list are Montezuma, Mexico; Snowmass, Colorado; Giverny, France; Orlando, Florida; and Denali, Alaska.
Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau president Kevin Kane told Mike that he “wasn’t a bit surprised” by the designation, but apparently some other folks were.
For instance, a columnist in New Orleans took umbrage. Here’s the beginning of August Lind’s story which ran in the May 9 Times-Picayune:
The city that Life forgot; Austin and Memphis are Life Books ‘Dream Destinations,’ but New Orleans isn’t
Even though Louis Armstrong sang about New Orleans being “the land of the dreamy scenes” and “a Garden of Eden,” the Big Easy did not make the cut for “Dream Destinations: 100 of the World’s Best Vacations.”
But then, not many American cities did. Not Chicago. Not Boston. New York City did, which is totally understandable. But Memphis? Life Books’ editors, who searched out these widely varied destinations, must have had an Elvis “I’m All Shook Up” moment when they made the call on this one.
Do you think New Orleans is a better choice for a “dream destination” that Memphis? Or do you agree with the 86th person who commented on Lollar’s original story: “Memphis – my hometown. I don’t need LIFE books to tell me how I feel about it or to make me feel better about it! It’s my hometown and I love it!!!
The movie “The Ruins,” based on Scott Smith’s 2006 best-selling novel, will be in theaters on April 4. That gives you a little time to read the book before you see the movie. After watching the trailer for the movie, I’m a bit afraid that Smith’s absolutely riveting and wickedly spooky book might turn into just another cheesy horror flick.
In the novel, two young American couples visiting Cancun make friends with a German whose brother has gone off to join an archaelogical dig in the area. Searching for him, the small group find themselves in the jungles of Yucatan at a deserted Mayan site where they encounter something sinister and terrifying. The story becomes one of survival as the characters react in different ways to the life-or-death situation.
In the book, there’s a slow and suspenseful unveiling of a menace that will be difficult to reproduce on film. The good news, though, is that Scott Smith wrote both the book and the screenplay, and this double duty worked well for his last film venture. His screenplay for “A Simple Plan” based on his 1993 novel was nominated for an Oscar in 1998.
Also, Carter Smith, the director of “The Ruins,” said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, that “the movie is significantly different from the book. There’s definitely lots of changes, so it’ll be a new experience for readers.”
My advice is to read the book now (it’s in paperback), and then wait for the Beifuss review before you see the movie.
If you’re a Food Network junkie or can’t get enough of “Top Chef,” you’ll relish “Deep Dish” by Mary Kay Andrews, the Atlanta author who wrote “Savannah Breeze” and “Hissy Fit.” She was in Memphis Tuesday, March 4, for a signing at Davis Kidd, and you can read about her experiences in her blog http://www.marykayandrews.com/blog/2008_03_01_archive.asp
“Deep Dish” is a romantic comedy which pits Regina Foxton, the host of “Fresh Start,” a cooking show on Georgia PBS against Tate Moody, the star of a hunting, fishing, cooking program called “Vittles” in a reality TV “Food Fight.” I liked the way Andrews respectfully pays homage to all those Junior League and church circle cookbooks that line the shelves of Southern cooks. (From my own collection, the most dog-eared and food-spattered are “Out of Our League” by the Greensboro, N.C. Junior League and “Bountiful Blessings” by the Munford Presbyterian Church.
Here’s a link to an interview with the author from the Atlanta Journal Constitution which includes the book’s recipe for “Reggie’s Simply Sinful Tomato Soup Chocolate Cake.” http://www.ajc.com/living/content/living/food/stories/2008/02/26/trocheck_0228.html
On Tuesday (2/26/08), listeners who were tuned to National Public Radio’s Morning Editon heard the bell toll at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis. For insight into the yellow fever epidemics of the 19th century, NPR turned to Memphian Molly Caldwell Crosby, author of “The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, the Epidemic that Shaped Our History.”
At Elmwood, every time a yellow fever victim was buried, the cemetery keeper's young daughter, Grace would ring the bell. In a recounting of the terrible 1878 outbreaks of the disease in Memphis, Crosby remarks "We are standing over 1,400 bodies right here. This was a large mass grave. The gravediggers were burying over 50 people a day."
Listen to this fascinating program at the NPR Web site http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19241319. You can also read an excerpt from Crosby's book there.
The Commercial Appeal's Fredric Koeppel reviewed Crosby's book, "The American Plague" when it came out in 2006. He begins: “Imagine a city turned into a charnel house. Streets are silent and empty except for stacks of coffins waiting for the dead to be carried from their dwellings, if anyone is alive to carry them.”
For his complete review: Read the rest of this entry »
When I read a Grisham novel, I like to visualize possible local settings and imagine which actors might play certain characters in the movie version.
Grisham told Charlie Rose in an interview last month that the chance of “The Appeal” becoming a movie was 50/50. “This is book No. 21,” Grisham said. “I’ve only had 8 movies.”
It’s noteworthy that three of the eight had scenes that were filmed in Memphis. (Remember the 1993 auction of opulent furniture and set decorations from “The Firm” at the old International Harvester plant in Frayser.)
I think Grisham’s book might eventually make it to a theater near you. There’s plenty of potential for cinematic excitement in the story of two small town lawyers battling evil corporations and corrupt politicians. Also Mississippi is one of 39 states that elects judges, and this timely issue (see Sandra Day O’Connor’s article in the Feb. 24 Parade) is central to Grisham’s plot.
“The Appeal” has no Memphis scenes and takes place mostly in south Mississippi, but with the proper incentives and lobbying, perhaps the redoubtable Linn Sitler could lure moviemakers to the Memphis area to re-create the book’s settings.
SCOUTING THE LOCATIONS
“The Appeal” begins with a verdict in a Hattiesburg courtroom. Two local lawyers win $41 million from a Manhattan-based chemical company for their client whose husband and son died of cancer caused by polluted water. Read the rest of this entry »
