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#1 (& a Recap) Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: The Which-Way Tree
It’s difficult to choose the best ‘best read.’ One of my criteria, (to add once again to the list I outlined at the beginning of this countdown), is that if the book sticks with me in ways that feed my imagination and my own writing…if my world feels larger for having read the book…it has →
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#2 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: Fire Sermon
I gotta say I’m really proud of the title I gave my review for this book: “Praying with Fire.” See what I did there? OK, don’t let my humor keep you from Jamie Quatro’s Fire Sermon. Your own sense of propriety and tolerance for carnal mysticism might put you off this novel, but to me it →
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#3 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: Amity and Prosperity
The changing landscape of rural America. Big economic forces impacting big-hearted, sympathetic characters. New ways to look at the Great Divide. Interesting places and hints of God. Great writing. These are the things that make for a great Heartlands Read. Throw in fracking and you’ve got Eliza Griswold’s gripping and sometimes-terrifying book, Amity & Prosperity: One →
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#4 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: He Held Radical Light
Christian Wiman’s He Held Radical Light: The Art of Faith, the Faith of Art might qualify as the most beautiful book I read all year. Wiman wrote a memoir that reminded me about the compelling nature of calling and vocation, not only for the poets he so clearly loves, but for every person of faith. There’s →
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#5 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: There, There
It was Gertrude Stein who famously said of Oakland that “there is no there there.” In his debut novel, There There, Tommy Orange begs to differ. A pow wow in Oakland draws together a diverse group of Native Americans for a dramatic and violent encounter. But this is really about the stories and journeys that bring →
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#6 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: Heartland
Yes, Sarah Smarsh was clearly making a shameless bid for a Top Ten spot on the Heartlands list with the title of her memoir: Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth. But the editorial staff here at Heartlands can’t be won over by gimmicks. It takes good writing to →
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#7 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: The Thin Light of Freedom
History books are always going to find a way to my reading stand. One of the reasons is that I had one of the country’s greatest historians as a professor back in the day. Ed Ayers told the story of the United States, particularly of the American South, with an eye for conflicts, resilience, and →
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#8 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: Chesapeake Requiem
Tangier Island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay has been getting a lot of attention in recent years. CNN did a report that got the mayor, Ooker Eskridge, an audience with the President. A social media storm naturally followed. And now Earl Swift has written a magisterial account of a year on the island. →
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#9 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: The Sarah Book
In my last post, we began the countdown of the Heartlands Best Reads of 2018. Check out that post for the criteria. The Sarah Book is a crazy book, continuing author Scott McClanahan’s life goal of making West Virginia look even more offbeat than most folks already believe it to be. It’s scandalous, shocking, heart-breaking, and laugh-out-loud →
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#10 Heartlands Best Reads of 2018: Turtles All the Way Down
What does it take to be a Heartlands Best Read of 2018? —Alex has to have read the book. This is a big limitation right from the get-go, but, hey, it’s reality. —Excellent writing. Good stories, good prose, good poetry. You won’t get there on the ideas alone. —A strong sense of place. —Preference is →
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