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Man v. Flesh
Andre Dubus III's "Garden of the Last Days" (W. W. Norton, 2008, $24.95) is a brick of a book. At 500-plus pages, it's America on parade: g-strings and neon, alcohol and testosterone, easy cash, patriotism and dumb sentiment.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Thai House
At the new Thai House, the food is exotic and elegantly showcased in a venue awash in muted color, exposed brick and imported furniture. But there is something beyond the ambiance. Perhaps it's the warmth of the proprietors or the comfort of a steaming cup of Tomkha, but in the midst of spicy food, Eastern music and hand-carved teakwood, the Thai House offers the familiarity of a diner, but the cuisine is almost certainly better than that local greasy-spoon.
No Safety Here
I wanted to like this book. I wanted to like this book about sticky Louisiana summers, lifelong friendships, severe Southern mamas and the vapid allure of Los Angeles.
Romantic Devastation
A few weeks ago, I was in snowy Park City, Utah, at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. While there, I attended the premiere of "Ballast," a made-in-Mississippi movie that rallied the efforts of a 35-member Mississippi cast and a mostly Mississippi crew, including Producer Nina Parikh and Production Manager Todd Stauffer.
From Blues to Hip-Hop
When I heard about Ali Neff's book on the Clarksdale hip-hop scene, I was relieved that someone had finally decided to talk about something other than the blues. Someone was willing to engage the Delta on contemporary, relevant terms; someone was ready to listen to the young people.
Jihad, Defined
Casual readers may view "How to Win a Cosmic War" (Random House, 2009, $26), the second book by acclaimed religious scholar Reza Aslan, as a defense of Islam. In part, this is an accurate assessment.
Jannie Johnson
Jannie Johnson teaches children in the same one-room Madison County schoolhouse that her grandfather built 85 years ago. Inspired by her late father, herb doctor Seth Ballard Sr., and the philosophy engraved on his tombstone—"do right and go straight"—Johnson decided to meet a need: to ensure that neighborhood kids received education despite segregation.
More Glory, Less Grease
Grant Nooe knows food. He knows saté from sauté and semifreddo from shabbu-shabbu. With a handful of ingredients and a grill, he can fly you to the moon (or at least to Asia), but mostly, Nooe is a down-to-earth guy. He speaks frankly, maintains eye contact, gestures when excited. And he gets excited when he talks about food, particularly that food we've known longest—southern home-cookin', in all its greasy glory. Except that Nooe's mission is to help southern food change its image—more glory, less grease.
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