November Book Display

South Carolina Country Roads: Of Train Depots, Filling Stations & Other Vanishing Charms

Venture off the beaten path to forgotten roads, where a hidden South Carolina exists. Time-travel and dead-end at a ferry that leads to wild islands. Cross a rusting steel truss bridge into a scene from the 1930s. Behold an old gristmill and imagine its creaking, clashing gears grinding corn. See an old gas pump wreathed in honeysuckle. Drive through a ghost town and wonder why it died. When's the last time you saw a country store's cured hams hanging from wires? How about a vintage Bull Durham tobacco ad on old brick? Tom Poland explores scenic back roads that lead to heirlooms tomatoes, poke salad, restaurants once gas stations, overgrown ruins and other soulful relics.

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The Jon Boat Years: And Other Stories Afield with Fine Friends, Fair Dogs, a Shotgun, and a Fly Rod

Delightful tales of hunting and fishing, family, friends, dogs, and precious time well spent. Nationally recognized and award-winning writer Jim Mize captures the true essence of sport and living life to the fullest in this collection of stories about his outdoor escapades. In tales spanning more than five decades, Mize invites readers into carefree days hiking through the Colorado Rockies with a fly rod and leisurely casting poppers to bludgill on small southern ponds. Cold days shivering in a duck blind or deer hunting trips lost in fog all make for fine memories. And then there are the dogs. Meet boot-eating Labs, setters with fine noses, and a Brittany spaniel that loved to bounce through frosted kudzu. humorous stories entertain and return readers to their own turkey hunting or creek-fishing excursions. Black-and-white line drawings from artist Bob White illustrate stories filled with laughter, quiet contemplation, and wonder. Mize reminds the young and old that the pleasure of the pursuit matters most.

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Carolina Writers at Home

From Beaufort to Boone and a dozen places in between, Carolina Writers at Home is a rich collection of true stories showcasing the houses where some of the most notable contemporary Southern authors--including Jill McCorkle, Nikky Finney, Allan Gurganus, Clyde Edgerton, and Michael Parker have forged their writing lives. The homes in these essays range from the classic bungalow and mid-century modern ranch house to wilder locales: a church, a trailer, and a sparsely-inhabited barrier island. Alongside the essays, Rob McDonald's evocative photographs capture the writers in their habitat, preserving their distinct personalities as well as the particular character of the house and place they inhabit. From the simple pleasures of Cassandra King's writing room, to the hilarious and sometimes terrifying intrusions of curious wildlife in George Singleton's realm, this unique anthology invites the reader to step inside some of the South's best loved writers' private worlds and see whant makes their houses truly their own. It shows how collections of objects can transform a simple house into Daniel Wallace's ark or Josephine Humphreys' museum, creating a sheltering place for a creative mind at work. [This book] pays homage to those who have taken inspiration form the beauty and singularity of the Carolina landscape and turned it into the written word. 

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Forbidden Island: An Island Called Sapelo

On the fifth anniversary of his wife's death, birthday balloons snag Slater Watts 15th-story office window, freed when a killer knifes a mother in an alley. Watts can't save her, and a woman dies in his arms yet again on July 2. Watts, a journalist, who's sick of Atlanta, crime, his job, and memories of his wife's death, sees the balloons as a wake-up call and decides to quit his job. But his editor gives him the most exciting assignment he's ever had, literally changing his life. Go to lawless, wild Forbidden Island off the Georgia-South Carolina coast and profile a murderous voodoo priest who rules the island like a god. Watts sees the assignment as a chance to get the voodoo priest to break his dying daughter's coma. Watts meets Tyler Hill, a woman with dark secrets who believes her runaway daughter lives on Forbidden Island. Hill convinces Watts to take her to the island. Watts and Hill make a horrifying discovery that threatens everything and redemption or destruction for all, even the island. -- from publisher description.

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Fishing with Beanpole: On His Humorous Pursuit of Fish

If you have already read Hunting With Beanpole, then you and Beanpole have met. If not, I'll introduce you to him. Beanpole is a curious fellow in all meanings of the word; he's different, inquisitive, and gullible. These characteristics breathe life into a story when you add ingredients such as bad weather, tall tales, and natural phenomenon. Beanpole's family contributes to his adventures. His Grandpa, Grumpy, spins yarns on his front porch while vigilant for revenuers. Nell keeps Beanpole straight and his son, Butterbean, provides Beanpole an opportunity to pass on his wisdom, such that it is. By the end of this book, you will realize that your fishing buddies all have a little bit of Beanpole in them, or if not, you will wish they did. The world is a richer place once you have met Beanpole.--from back cover.

South Carolina Encyclopedia Guide to South Carolina Writers

The South Carolina Encyclopedia Guide to South Carolina Writers expands the range of writers included in the landmark South Carolina Encyclopedia. This guide updates the entries on writers featured in the original encyclopedia and augments that list substantially with dozens of new essays on additional authors from the late eighteenth century to the present who have contributed to the Palmetto State's distinctive literary heritage. Each profile in this concise reference includes essential biographical facts and critical assessments to place the featured writers in the larger context of South Carolina's literary tradition. The guide comprises 127 entries written by more than seventy literary scholars, and it also highlights the sixty-five writers inducted thus far into the South Carolina Academy of Authors, which serves as the state's literary hall of fame. Rich in natural beauty and historic complexity, South Carolina has long been a source of inspiration for writers. The talented novelists, essayists, poets, playwrights, journalists, historians, and other writers featured here represent the countless anonymous individuals who have shared tales and lore of South Carolina"-- provided by publisher.

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Greenville's Grand Design

Greenville's Grand design relates a story of courage, vision, and change. It details how a deteriorating downtown, in a community whose principal industry had failed, was reinvented to become one of the most livable cities in North America. The themes are supported with lavish photography documenting the assets and attractions that make Greenville a place of grand design. 

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The Winter of Our Discount Tent: A Humorous Look at Flora, Fauna, and Foolishness Outdoors

According to Jim Mize, nature has no mercy - just a sense of humor - and in this hilarious romp through the woods, he proves why readers praise him as an amusing combination of Marlin Perkins and Lewis Grizzard. The way Jim tells it, such overlooked creatures as fleas, flying squirrels, and chipmunks become curiosities of hilarious proportions. In the opening section, Jim waxes comic about carnivorous plants, insects that make people nervous, and birds with bad names. He points out, for instance, that all plants are edible. It's just that some of them will kill you. He also notes potential uses for kudzu - erosion control, livestock fodder, and hiding the neighbors' house as a prank while they're on vacation. From the quirks of nature, Mize graduates to greasy kid stuff. He tells parents how to referee while paddling a boat, raise kids that people like, and survive the two hobbies no child can resist - rock collecting and entomology. And Jim has plenty of musings about hunting and fishing. Outdoors people are sure to chuckle as he ponders the purpose of carp (fish so ugly they have to spawn in muddy water), the perplexities of orienteering (Getting lost has never been much of a problem for me; the problem is getting found.) and the procedure for getting crappie to bite at night (Lay your rod down, hold a cup of scalding coffee in one hand and a floppy sandwich in the other, and, if possible, try to balance the open thermos on one leg. Then just wait. Bait is optional.). Saving some of his most laugh-provoking observations for his final section, Jim answers age-old questions about why women fish better than men, why people give homes to shoe-chewing puppies, and where to take spouses for a special occasion (he recommends steering clear of restaurants that proudly accept Bass Pro Shop credit cards). Jim's entertaining insights are guaranteed to make you laugh out loud in renewed appreciation of the great outdoors. 

Literary South Carolina

More than seventy years have passed since someone has undertaken the enormous task of capturing South Carolina's literary heritage in a book about Palmetto State Writers. "Literary South Carolina" explores the contributions of more than 300 authors, from colonial times to the present. From William Gilmore Simms to Julia Peterkin, from DuBose Heyward to Benjamin Brawley, from Pat Conroy and James Dickey to Percival Everett and Josephine Humphreys, this extraordinary, illustrated volume presents three centuries of literary achievement in South Carolina. A section on contemporary authors includes contact information for these writers.

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