‘Bodies, Bodies'"The Swimming Pool" by Holly LeCraw (Doubleday, 2010, $25.95) starts with this uninviting, ethereal opening line: "Bodies, bodies."
The Reel OxfordEvery year, Oxford, Miss., holds a festival that reels filmmakers and movie buffs into a uniquely authentic southern experience. One can see firsthand William Faulkner's and other extraordinary Mississippi artists' inspirations. Faulkner and those Mississippi creative whizzes found their voices …
For the Love of ReadingSometimes, it is relaxing to be caught up in the thrill of someone else's love story rather than the drama of your own. Love stories are not only written for individuals who find themselves in the adrenaline-rushing realms of attraction …
Films of LoveAh movies. The perfect snuggle-up time on the couch (or just to please your significant other). Dripping full of drama, heart-breaking (and love-making) tear-jerkers that can make even the most hardened heart pump full of love (and blood). Veg out …
Melding Realty with FictionAs you know, it's cold outside. So why not stay inside (where it's warm) with a few good books?
39 Steps to MysteryI didn't see any birds, and a psycho didn't attack me, but I did look through a rear window to see the footprints of 39 steps at New Stage Theatre in Jackson. Well, maybe not exactly, but I did see …
Baring it AllTony B gazes at the viewer with intent and mystery. His bare body is turned at a sideways stance as if he is trying to conceal a secret. Mary B poises her arms in a ballerina pose over her head, …
Jackson Jewish Film Festival: A Multicultural CelebrationLike most art forms, there's something about a film that brings people together. Lessons about love, life and relationship always strike a chord, no matter your religious, familial or ethnic background. Some things are just universal.
Art Disguised as MemoirTom Sancton has had an interesting career as a journalist. He is a former Time magazine reporter and editor, contributor to Vanity Fair, Fortune, and Newsweek, and author of a bestselling book about the investigation of Princess Diana's death.
Indie Films Headed Our WayEvery now and then, you'll still hear some misguided soul complain, "There's nothing to do in Jackson." While it's unclear what Jackson these people are talking about (Jackson, Tenn., perhaps), there's yet another thing to add to your to-do list …
King FreakOn a Sunday evening in fall 2009, Patrick Grogan painted his face and arms black and walked into a service at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans. Earlier that day, he had noticed that …
Affected by WarAs he watches Confederate soldiers march into his war-torn town, quarry owner Michael Morkan turns to his son, Leighton, and says wearily "One doesn't have to fight in a war to be a part of it."
Coming HomeBefore I read "Uptown" by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant (Touchstone, 2010, $14.99), I assumed the book would be about the dramas that normally unfold in big cities and corporate America. I guessed an office affair gone wrong or perhaps …
Memphis Boys Make Music HistoryLincoln "Chips" Moman is one of the most successful record producers in history. A music visionary with a knack for matching songs with artists, he was the genius behind Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" and "Kentucky Rain," Dusty Springfield's "Son of …
Confident MenI can't decide whether Jeff Sharlet's "C Street: The Fundamentalist Threat to American Democracy" (Little Brown, 2010, $27) is pulp nonfiction about a scholarly topic, or scholarly nonfiction about a pulp topic. It's hard to write a book that hinges …
On a Sunday evening in fall 2009, Patrick Grogan painted his face and arms black and walked into a service at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans. Earlier that day, he had noticed that …