This week’s Bookshelf is about four intriguing literary events taking place this winter.
Disappearing act: Connie Converse was a little-known folk singer in Greenwich Village in the early ‘60s. Despite her talent, she failed to make it in the music industry so she gave it up and moved to Michigan to pen a novel and work a series of academic jobs. Shortly after turning 50 in 1974, she drove off into the sunset in her VW bug, leaving behind a few cryptic letters, and was never heard from again.
Credit: Penguin Random House
Credit: Penguin Random House
Converse is the subject of “To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music and Mystery of Connie Converse” (Penguin Random House, $32), a 2023 biography by New Yorker contributor Howard Fishman, the current recipient of the Carson McCullers Center fellowship.
The book takes the reader along on Fishman’s obsessive quest to learn more about the enigmatic musician.
“I think whatever it was that made her (as) reclusive and private as she was is anyone’s guess,” he told the Cleveland Review of Books. “There are clues in her letters and diaries, but there is no hard evidence. … I think it’s safe to say that at some point something, or maybe some things, happened to her that made her withdraw as a person, and kept her withdrawn for her known life.”
Fishman will discuss Converse and his research Jan. 7 at the Decatur Library. Presented by the Georgia Center for the Book, the event is free but requires registration. For details, go to georgiacenterforthebook.org.
Credit: Grand Central Press
Credit: Grand Central Press
Raised by wolves: Neko Case’s appearance at the Tara Theatre on Feb. 1 is sure to be a hot ticket. The singer-songwriter will discuss her new memoir, “The Harder I Fight the More I Love You” (Grand Central Publishing, $30).
An outlier in the genre of music biographies, the book forgoes the typical rise-to-fame story arc to focus on the early life experiences that shaped her. Steeped in poverty, Case had a hardscrabble childhood in the rugged terrain of rural Washington state, where she was often left alone to fend for herself.
Presented by A Cappella Books, the event features Case in conversation with Virginia Prescott, who hosted GPB’s “On Second Thought.” Tickets are $30 and include a signed copy of the book. For details, visit acappellabooks.com.
Credit: Hanover Square Press
Credit: Hanover Square Press
Alternate perspective: In Atlanta author Daniel Black’s 2022 epistolary novel “Don’t Cry for Me,” a 62-year-old man dying of cancer writes a series of letters to his estranged gay son, reflecting on their lives and expressing regrets.
“The result is so much more than a father’s plea for forgiveness,” wrote Leah Tyler in her review for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s a historical account of the Black struggle in America. … And it’s an evolving portrait of a father whose willingness to expand his definition of a ‘man’ may have come too late.”
Now Black gives the son his say in “Isaac’s Song” (Hanover Square Press, $28). Set in the ‘80s, Isaac has just begun to embrace his true self and establish a home in Chicago when the AIDS epidemic and Rodney King attack upend his life, sending him back to his family in Arkansas where he makes a surprising discovery that could affect his future.
Black discusses and signs his new book Jan. 16 at Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur. Book purchase is required to attend. For details, visit eagleeyebooks.com.
Credit: UGA Press
Credit: UGA Press
Historically significant: Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn was once considered to be one of the wealthiest Black neighborhoods in the world, and it’s still a major influence on the city’s culture. It’s history, people and architecture are the subject of “Civil Sights” (UGA Press, $29.95), penned by commercial real estate developer and historic preservationist Gene Kansas.
A big part of the book’s charm is architect Clay Kiningham’s delightful, fine line illustrations of the neighborhood’s historic buildings.
The book will be the topic of a panel discussion at the Atlanta History Center on Feb. 19 featuring Kansas; Jacqueline Jones Royster, former chair of liberal arts and technology at Georgia Tech; and attorney Edward W. Bowen Jr. AJC senior editor Mike Jordan moderates. Tickets are $12. For details, go to atlantahistorycenter.com.
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She may be reached at Suzanne.VanAtten@ajc.com.
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