Caddo readers pick 'West with Giraffes' as One Book One Parish title
Caddo Parish readers have voted “West with Giraffes” by Lynda Rutledge for Shreve Memorial Library’s “One Book One Parish” celebration in October, and I’m moving this novel right up on my to-read list.
“West with Giraffes” is fiction inspired by the true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America. It has gotten rave reviews since its release last year. With an eccentric cast of characters, some real and some fictional, the book tells the story of Woodrow Wilson Nickel’s 12-day journey to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. It is part adventure, part historical saga and part coming-of-age love story.
Library patrons chose from three titles, with “West with Giraffes” narrowly beating “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid and “There There” by Tommy Orange. Copies of “West with Giraffes” are available for checkout at Shreve Memorial branches, and programming for One Book One Parish will take place in October at various branches. For more info, see www.shreve-lib.org.
Don’t forget: Centenary Book Bazaar around the corner
It is my duty as a book lover to remind you that the 35th annual Centenary Book Bazaar will be from 4 to 9 p.m. Sept. 9, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 10 in the college’s Fitness Center. The book sale, sponsored by the volunteer Centenary College Muses, raises money for projects on campus. The variety and quality of books is astounding—and the prices are inexpensive. Plus, it feels like a ginormous reunion of readers—people you know and those you’d like to know. If you like books, don’t miss this sale.
New Liz Talley novel available for pre-order
Get ready, North Louisiana, for another peek behind the curtains of local society in Liz Talley’s next novel, “If The Dress Fits.” Coming out in late October, this is the sequel to “Deconstructed,” in which a Shreveport woman confronts her cheating husband with the help of a feisty sidekick, a novel that has more than 11,000 ratings on Amazon.
“If The Dress Fits,” now available for pre-order on Amazon, brings Cricket Crosby back …and licensed to snoop after a private investigator course. Unfortunately, her new best friend, Ruby Balthazar, gets caught up in Cricket’s first big case. When a local investigator hires former debutante Cricket to go undercover at PTA meetings and cotillion parties, she accidentally casts suspicion on Ruby, a former Long Pines Correctional inmate turning her life around. When Ruby is arrested in the theft case, her dreams of a fashion career begin to unravel and Cricket or Ruby need to find the real thief. In typical lighthearted Talley fashion, she tosses in an incontinent cat, a dognapping and a hot tow truck driver (a great character readers met in “Deconstructed”).
I’ll read anything Talley, a former North Louisiana teacher, writes and have pre-ordered this upcoming book. I like her smart (and sometimes smart-alecky) style and her eye for detail and humor. Plus, her books—romance and women’s fiction—are filled with glimpses of fictional people I think I may have met somewhere in the Ark-La-Tex.
Fall reading ahead
Our summer reading season draws to a close, which always makes me a little sad. But book clubs are kicking back into high gear and children are reading at school, and I have a big stack of books to tackle. (At the top of my stack: Jamie Ford’s “The Many Daughters of Afong Moy,” which I’ll write more about later.) I spoke this week to a book club about my nonfiction title “Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society,” co-authored with Lisa Wingate, NYT bestselling author who wrote the huge novel, “Before We Were Yours,” that inspired our book. Next week I’ll Zoom with a group of 500 students in Kentucky to discuss these two books and why stories matter. I’d love to hear what you’re reading this fall. Email me or stop by my Facebook author page.
Columnist Judy Christie is the author of 18 novels and nonfiction books and is working on a new novel. She co-authored “Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society” with Lisa Wingate. For more about Christie, see www.judychristie.com or follow her on Facebook: www.facebook.com/JudyChristieAuthor.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Judy Christie: One Book One Parish title selected
