Book reviews published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Memoir explores journey through chaosMargaret Robison, who grew up in Cairo, Ga., is portrayed in a cruelly absurd way by her son in his book "Running With Scissors." Now she tells her own story of a violent marriage, mental illness, an exploitative psychiatrist and her creative journey. Read the story.
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'Chinaberry' rich in Appalachian tradition
James Still, in this posthumous novel about a dirt-poor Alabama boy, creates a world in the Texas flatlands that is filled with outsize people and the stuff of legend. Read the story.
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Psychologist takes on popular culture
"My religion is kindness," the Dalai Lama said, but it might as well be Mary Pipher talking. This author of the best-selling "Reviving Ophelia" now turns her astute and compassionate gaze on her own practice of psychotherapy in an effort to explain it to us. "Letters to a Young Therapist: Stories of Hope and Healing" is filled with stories from her own life and her clients' lives. Read the story.
Paris memoir crafted from Facebook
Scholar Mary Bly came out to her Fordham University colleagues in 2005 as romance writer Eloisa James. Now, her two personas join as she describes her family's year in Paris -- pulled together from Facebook entries. Read the story.
Southern childhood shaped in race's crucible
Gene Cheek's memoir set in in Winston-Salem, N.C., in the 1960s ambles along like a country song at first, telling a story of drinkin', fightin' and a mama's true love. But "The Color of Love: A Mother's Choice in the Jim Crow South," is also about the cruelty of segregation. Read the story.