The Big Beautiful By Pamela Duncan The Dial Press, pp. 389 The “big beautiful” in the title of Graham, N.C., author Pamela Duncan’s new novel represents the expanse of ocean and the sea of possibility, yet it also literally encapsulates The Big Beautiful‘s protagonist, Cassandra Moon. Not your typical chick-lit heroine who is 20-something and […]
Alice Osborn
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Michael Chitwood’s poetry of Southern realism and universal mortality
From Whence: Poems Michael Chitwood Louisiana State University Press, 62 pp. Tar Heel poet Michael Chitwood’s subjects are sown in the South, but we can find these people and places anywhere in small-town America. In his world, the men gather in barbershops and labor in construction and the women instruct as teachers and heal as […]
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Robert Alden Rubin’s Love Poetry Out Loud
Love Poetry Out Loud Edited by Robert Alden Rubin Algonquin Books, 200 pp. Love is a slippery thing. How do you tell that special person you love him or her above all others and that no one else matters? Should you compare her to a rose or to the moon and stars? Been there, done […]
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Thanksgiving brings families to the table, quirks and all
Long Island, N.Y.We’re 11, not an even number, but a number that’s enough to fill two dishwashers and washing machines with dirty plates and linens. Our hostess, the indomitable Bonnie Ross, my mother-in-law, decided not to strain herself this holiday, and instead encouraged her guests to bring key dishes while she prepared the free-range turkey. […]