📍Localize your tbr📚
or, Holiday Weekend Book Recs
Collecting Dust is...One part Nostalgia. One part strange magic. All inspired by photos of real objects begging to tell a story if only we will pay attention.
As we approach the July 4th weekend, I thought I’d share my summer reading list. I’ve been enjoying digging into Southern authors lately, and this group of books is comprised of all North Carolina authors. There’s no real theme connecting them, but most of them are set in NC, and like many Southern books, they contain layers of secrets. If you’re overwhelmed by your tbr pile, it might be a fun change up to look for things closer to home!
I’ve mentioned before one element of Grady Hendrix’s books I enjoy is that he sets several of them in my hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. It’s like finding little Easter eggs that add an extra layer of enjoyment. It’s also just fun to know how many great authors there are in (or from) your community. *Do you have any local authors you love?
Here’s the list:
The Kudzu Queen by Mimi Herman: First, I can’t get over how gorgeous this cover is. Second, who doesn’t want to learn about the kudzu craze that started it all? I couldn’t help thinking how silly and snake oil-esque the whole thing was, and I kept waiting for the tide to change against this plant most now see as a nuisance, but alas this book is before that time. Either way, it was a fun read.
Key Features: slow pace, young protagonist, NC historical ⏳, the author’s debut book✨
Bright and Tender Dark by Joanna Pearson: touted as a “literary mystery” this book is set in Chapel Hill and set around the year 2000. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m excited for the nearby setting and since I love books by Tana French, another mystery author touted as “literary mystery.”
Key Features: Set on and around UNC’s campus. “Literary” aka slow burn🔥. Multiple points of view/epistolary elements surrounding a crime 🕵🏽. The author’s debut book✨
When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash: Another book by a well known and reliably good North Carolina author I have yet to try! (Published in 2021, but still his most recent book)
Key features: ordinary man against all odds crime novel. Coastal NC setting. The past coming back to haunt a character 🌊
Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb: I read his first book, The Violin Conspiracy, last year, and it was a page turning good time. This is another in a series of musical themed mysteries, and I can’t wait. (Love this niche) He’s from Greensboro, NC.
Key Features: music themed mystery where history plays a key role in the present crime 🎼. Fast paced.
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl: This book has been on my shelf for years since I picked it up at my favorite book warehouse on a whim, and when I saw she has a new book out, I decided to read this first before trying the new one that also sounds intriguing. She originally hails from Asheville, NC.
Key Features: Lots of literary and musical allusions, 🎤a young protagonist, murder and intrigue in “literary” packaging. The author’s debut book✨
Extra Bits of Nostalgia
1. Found this in my tin of random coins from around the world. I think my dad brought it home from his travels with the Navy. Will I have any use for an Italian phone coin when we go next summer?
2. While doing a major cleaning of my daughter’s room this past weekend, I found my old cell phone from Japan (circa 2009). Their phones were ahead of what we had here at the time (the Blackberry being the most high-tech then). This little red number became a toy when I had kids; I just had to snap a photo before finally tossing it ;( . I loved the keitai strap craze…and kept wanting it to come to the US (I was able to hang some keychains on my Motorola Razr upon my return 🤣).
*Second photo is my cat, Leia, who had a blast with all the newly emptied bins.
On the writing front, I am finalizing a piece of historical fiction from the world of my novel (kind of a prologue) for a contest, pushing through revisions of my novel in progress, and am deciding on the final state of the short story I want to share here very soon.
I hope you’re having a relaxing summer so far. If you enjoy Collecting Dust, please share with a fellow Dust Bunny.
Take Care,
Jacqueline