local & Southern authors

 

Reader’s Advisory Roundtable is under new management!  Please join me in welcoming Melanie L. from Hoover as the new RART moderator!

In attendance today:

Holley W, O'Neal
Melanie L, Hoover
Erika W, Powderly
Tyawanna M, Five Points West
Kenyata R, Birmingham Public Library
Tiffany M, Irondale  
Shannon H, Hoover
Nia, Bessemer
Royce W

The next meeting will be held at the Hoover Library on Wednesday, February 12^th at 9:30am.  A hybrid option will be available.  This will be an introductory/reorganization meeting to get to know Melanie and for her to get to know you.  I look forward to joining you as a participant!

Today, we met to discuss local and Southern authors 😊

Magic City: How the Birmingham Jazz Tradition Shaped the Sound of America by Burgin Mathews

Magic City is the story of one of American music’s essential unsung places: Birmingham, Alabama, birthplace of a distinctive and influential jazz heritage. In a telling replete with colorful characters, iconic artists, and unheralded masters, Burgin Mathews reveals how Birmingham was the cradle and training ground for such luminaries as big band leader Erskine Hawkins, cosmic outsider Sun Ra, and a long list of sidemen, soloists, and arrangers. He also celebrates the contributions of local educators, club owners, and civic leaders who nurtured a vital culture of Black expression in one of the country’s most notoriously segregated cities. In Birmingham, jazz was more than entertainment: long before the city emerged as a focal point in the national civil rights movement, its homegrown jazz heroes helped set the stage, crafting a unique tradition of independence, innovation, achievement, and empowerment.

Miracle Strip by Matthew Layne

MIRACLE STRIP is a hybrid of the written and spoken word. Each piece of the collection has an embellished QR code which, when scanned, transforms you from reader into listener. In the campfire tradition of storytelling, the first line of the book invites you to "tell me your story, and I will tell you mine," and like a couple of backwoods adventurers, you and the poet travel together through intricate memories of the deep south and the ghosts who haunt its environs as you journey through MIRACLE STRIP.

Thief Liar Lady by D. L. Soria

“Happily Ever After” is a total scam, but at least this time the princess is the one controlling the grift—until her true love arrives and threatens to ruin the whole scheme. Intrigue, magic, and wit abound in this Cinderella fairytale reimagining.

Ever After (1998, PG-13, romance)

This updated adaptation of the classic fairytale tells the story of Danielle (Drew Barrymore), a vibrant young woman who is forced into servitude after the death of her father. Danielle's stepmother Rodmilla (Anjelica Huston) is a heartless woman who forces Danielle to do the cooking and cleaning, while she tries to marry off her own two daughters. But Danielle's life takes a wonderful turn when she meets the charming Prince Henry (Dougray Scott).

Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams

A teenager on the run from his past finds the family he never knew existed and the community he never knew he needed at an HBCU for the young, Black, and magical. Enroll in the debut of a fresh fantasy series unlike anything you've seen before. The 2^nd book in this series, Bones at the Crossroads, is due out July 2025.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow

Opal is a lot of things―orphan, high school dropout, full-time cynic and part-time cashier―but above all, she's determined to find a better life for her younger brother Jasper. One that gets them out of Eden, Kentucky, a town remarkable for only two things: bad luck and E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth century author of The Underland, who disappeared over a hundred years ago. Opal has been obsessed with The Underland since she was a child. When she gets the chance to step inside Starling House―and make some extra cash for her brother's escape fund―she can't resist. But sinister forces are digging deeper into the buried secrets of Starling House, and Arthur’s own nightmares have become far too real. As Eden itself seems to be drowning in its own ghosts, Opal realizes that she might finally have found a reason to stick around.

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

In the early 1900s, a young woman embarks on a fantastical journey of self-discovery after finding a mysterious book in this captivating and lyrical debut.

The Sprite and the Gardener by Joseph Whitt and Rii Abrego

Long, long ago, sprites were the caretakers of gardens. Every flower was grown by their hand. But when humans appeared and began growing their own gardens, the sprites’ magical talents soon became a thing of the past. When Wisteria, an ambitious, kindhearted sprite, starts to ask questions about the way things used to be, she’ll begin to unearth her long-losttalent of gardening. But her newly honed skills might not be the welcome surprise she intends them to be.

Living the Gimmick by Bobby Mathews

When retired pro wrestler Alex Donovan sees his best friend, former world champion ‘The Wild Child’ Ray Wilder, gunned down in the street, he’s drawn back into a world of spandex, spangles, and spotlights in order to find the killer. As Donovan digs deeper into Ray’s life, he realizes that the list of people who wanted Ray dead seems endless. Battling his aging, failing body, Donovan feels honor-bound to avenge Ray’s death when no one else seems to care. His guilt over escaping the wrestling business to build a new life when Ray couldn’t — or wouldn’t — drives him to find the killer, no matter if it’s friend or foe.

Magic City Blues by Bobby Mathews

When low-level legbreaker Kincaid takes on a new assignment, he discovers it’s not really a step up — it’s a setup. The deal was supposed to be this: Protect Abby Doyle, the daughter of Birmingham, Alabama’s most dangerous crime lord. But when Abby’s fiancé is found murdered, Kincaid is forced to team up with BPD detective Laura D’Agostino to find the killer and protect Abby at all costs … even from her own father.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus, a flying demon feeding on human energies, and becomes part of a secret society of so called “Legendborn” students that hunt the creatures down. Books #2 and #3 in the series are Bloodmarked and Oathbound.

Dumplin’ by Jule Murphy

Self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson (dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom) has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . . until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Clover City beauty pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all. Books #2 and #3 in the series are Puddin’ and Pumpkin.

The Best Friend Bracelet by Nicole B. Collier

At Hurston Middle School, best friendship is a big deal. And Zariah Brown makes the best best friendship bracelets in town. Business is booming; Zariah can hardly keep up with orders. The problem is, Zariah doesn’t have a best friend of her own. As the entire seventh grade gears up for their big Pajama Jam weekend, it seems as if everyone else is paired up except her. So Zariah pours her heart and soul into making the ultimate friendship bracelet, using a set of beads gifted to her by a mysterious woman. But the bracelet turns out to be a tiny bit . . . magical. In fact, anyone who puts it on instantly becomes Zariah’s best friend. Now all she has to do is find the perfect best friend and get the bracelet on them. Easy, right? It turns out finding the ideal friend isn’t so simple, and things quickly spin out of control. Will Zariah ever find her true BFF, or is she destined to be alone forever? 

Wildseed Witch series by Marti Dumas

Hasani’s post-seventh-grade summer to-do list is pretty simple: get a bigger following for her makeup YouTube channel and figure out how to get her parents back together. What she does NOT expect is that an emotional outburst will spark a latent magical ability in her. Or that the magic will be strong enough to attract the attention of witches. Or that before she can say #BlackGirlMagic, she’ll be shipped off on a scholarship to a fancy finishing school for talented young ladies. Les Belles Demoiselles is a literal charm school. Here, generations of young ladies from old-money witch families have learned to harness their magic, and alumnae grow to become some of the most powerful women across industries, including politicians, philanthropists, CEOs, entrepreneurs—and yes, even social media influencers. Needless to say, admission to the school is highly coveted, very exclusive . . . and Hasani sticks out like a weed in a rose bouquet. Books #2 and #3 in the series are Charmed Life and Fortunes & Frenemies.

Distracted by Alabama: Tangled Threads of Natural History, Local History, and Folklore by James Seay Brown, Jr.

A gateway to Alabama for the omnivorous mind, Distracted by Alabama is a collection of twelve captivating essays about Alabama and the South by Samford University writer and scholar Jim Brown, a former president of the Alabama Folklife Association.

Southern Wonder: Alabama’s Surprising Biodiversity by Scot Duncan

Although Alabama is teeming with life, the state’s prominence as a refuge for plants and animals is poorly appreciated. Even among Alabama’s citizens, few outside a small circle of biologists, advocates, and other naturalists understand the special quality of the state’s natural heritage. R. Scot Duncan rectifies this situation in Southern Wonder by providing a well-written, comprehensive overview that the general public, policy makers, and teachers can understand and use. Readers are taken on an exploratory journey of the state’s varied landscapes―from the Tennessee River Valley to the coastal dunes―and are introduced to remarkable species, such as the cave salamander and the beach mouse. By interweaving the disciplines of ecology, evolution, meteorology, and geology into an accessible whole, Duncan explains clearly why Alabama is so biotically rich and champions efforts for its careful preservation.

Southern Rivers: Restoring America’s Freshwater Biodiversity by Scot Duncan

Southern Rivers, by award-winning nature writer and biologist R. Scot Duncan, is a thoroughly crafted exploration of the perilous state of the Southeast’s rivers and the urgent need to safeguard their vitality. The region’s rivers are the epicenter of North American freshwater biodiversity and are the top global hotspot for important aquatic animals including mussels, turtles, snails, crayfish, and fish, many of which have made important contributions to southern life and culture.

Other authors to know:

Sonya Sanchez
Angela Davis
Zora Neale Hurston
S.A. Cosby
Jesmyn Ward
Tayari Jones
V.E. Schwab
Rachel Hawkins
Patty Henry

Looking for even more?  Click here to take advantage of the excellent database made available by the University of Alabama libraries!  

The Southern Book Prize titles are nominated by the bookseller members of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance and chosen from books that have received enthusiastic reviews from Southern booksellers.  Click here to see the finalists and even have a chance to vote!

NOT AVAILABLE IN THE JCLC:

The Immortal series by Virginia (V.E.) Duncan

Kait Peters is a normal Mortal living a normal life until an accident on a rain-slicked road exposes her to a deadly parasite—and a hidden world. Jackson Cunningham is the enigmatic stranger who helps Kait on that fateful night. But he's also an Immortal, infected with a parasite bestowing superhuman abilities at a terrible price. It’s his fault Kait was exposed. Duty-bound to observe her for signs of infection, he must also conceal from her the existence of the underground world of Immortals. Jackson and Kait must fight to protect each other and those they care about. As they grow closer, they must also navigate the web of lies and half-truths keeping them apart. Book #2 is titled, Hunting Grounds.

Descriptions pulled from Amazon and Rotten Tomatoes.