Silver Sparrow Events: Flyin’ West

Posted on July 8, 2011 by TayariJones
 

  • Saturday, July 9th, 7pm– Tempe, Arizona
    Changing Hands Bookstore
    Reading and Signing
  • Monday, July 11, 7pm– Albequerque, New Mexico
    Bookworks Bookstore
    Reading and Signing
  • Tuesday, July 12, 6:30– Durango, Colorado
    Maria’s Bookshop
    Reading and Signing
  • Wednesday, July 13, 6:30pm– Telluride, Colorado
    Between The Covers Bookstore
    Reading and Signing
  • Thursday, July 14, 7:30pm– Denver, Colorado
    The Tattered Cover
    Reading and Signing

    •  

    Posted in Book Tour | 1 Comment

    Do Silver Sparrows Perch In Your Family Tree?

    Posted on July 6, 2011 by TayariJones

    Yesterday, I was on the Diane Rhem show discussing Silver Sparrow.  I have been a fan of Diane Rhem for years.  (A 2003 interview with Maxine Clair on the show helped me figure out how to write the first chapter of The Untelling).  So you can imagine how pleased I was to be invited to appear on the program.  Diane is a wonderul interviewer. I felt so comfortable, as though I was in her living room.  You can tell that she loves books.

    The highlight of the program was the second half of the hour when listeners called in.  The phone completely lit up as soon as we started talking about secret families, the subject matter of Silver Sparrow.  At the start of the show, Diane said to me, “I don’t know anyone in this situation.”  I said, “Not that you know of.”  And almost as though I had planned it, all of the callers wanted to tell the story of the silver sparrows perching in their family trees.

    One woman said that her father had another daughter who was her same age– just like the characters in Silver Sparrow.  But the caller’s story contained an interesting twist.  She and her sister shared the same name.  Another caller from Salt Lake City said that he has three fathers– his biological father, the man who signed his birth certificate, and his step father.  Another person told a very complicated story of a set of siblings who are confronted by another set of siblings at the father’s funeral.

    Diane said to me: This is most extradorinary.  I said, the matter of secret families and unacknowledged children is extraordinary– how can you deny your own children?  But the sheer volume of calls shows that this situation is sadly mundane.

    Listen to the interview here.

    Posted in Book Tour | 1 Comment

    What I’m Reading on the Plane: Shifting Through Neutral by Bridgett M. Davis

    Posted on July 1, 2011 by TayariJones

    This lovely coming of age by Bridgett M. Davis is one of my favorites. I love coming of age stories.  This one is set in Detroit, so all you Michiganders should check it out.  I was knocked out when I first read it a few years ago, and I decided to read it again.  Rae is a character you will fall in love with.  It’s a great book club pick, but also a great read if you happen to be on a really long book tour and need to lose yourself in a terriic story.

    Posted in Bookshelf | 1 Comment

    Silver Sparrow Events: June 26-28

    Posted on June 24, 2011 by TayariJones

    Sunday, June 26, 6pm– Harvey, Louisiana
    Barnes & Noble, 1601 Westbank Highway
    Author Meet and Greet

    Monday, June 27, 6:30 pm– Baltimore, Maryland
    Enoch Pratt Free Library
    Poe Room, 400 Cathedral Street
    Reading and Signing

    Tuesday, June 28, 7:30pm– Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Free Library of Philadelphia
    Reading and Signing with Danielle Evans

    Posted in Book Tour | 2 Comments

    What I’m Reading on The Plane: The Grace of Silence by Michele Norris

    Posted on June 22, 2011 by TayariJones

    Michele Norris’s engrossing memoir is about the stories our families leave untold.   This book is about the way that ordinary people resist prejudice with a quiet dignity. It also makes the case for women who put their pride aside to feed thier families.  There’s no shame in taking care of the people you love. THE GRACE OF SILVENCE is a tough book in sections, but always inspiring and really well written.  These are stories to be passed down through the generations.

    But it from an indie.

    Read an excerpt.

    Posted in Bookshelf | Leave a comment

    Chee and Jones on the Pleasures and Challenges of Difficult Stories

    Posted on June 21, 2011 by TayariJones

    Over at the Algonquin Blog, Alexander Chee and I engage in some #realtalk about writing, publishing, race, and the pleasure of difficult stories. (excerpt below)

    TJ: My favorite novels are about difficult subjects. Beloved, anyone? I am drawn to these stories because I like to be emotionally challenged by a novel. I like to walk away with a new understanding of something that troubles me. I read to grow and I think I like to write for the same reason.

    The most difficult literature really pokes at the seams of an accepted morality. There are a lot of books that seem to grapple with difficult topics like, say, racism. But you will notice that the racists are often extreme cartoon characters which don’t encourage the reader to see himself.

    I like to write a novel with a conflict that leaves me stumped. I like to feel like I am trapped in a maze and I write to find my way out.

    AC: “Bigamy” strikes me as just that kind of a maze. It is such a charged word, but it also has a fusty, old-fashioned quality to it. It’s “racy” and yet not. What I love about the novel is how it makes bigamy the floor, or the background, and moves off toward the very human stories of the people involved. What were some of the keys to understanding it this way for you as you wrote it? How did you, in other words, get past the cliches around this charged topic?

    TJ: The thing is that I don’t really know of many cliches around the topic of secret families, because it is something that is spoken about so seldomly. The only cliche I can think of is that the man dies and everyone shows up at the funeral and pandemonium ensues! I had to just remember that everyone in the story loves everyone else in the story and it wasn’t my job to avenge anyone. That I just had to remember that every person in this love quadrilateral has a legitimate point and need. They all want a family. They want to be included and secure. And that’s not racy. It’s human.

    the full interview here.

    Alex offers further reflections on his excellent blog

    Posted in The Writing Life | Leave a comment

    Silver Sparrow Events: Michigan

    Posted on June 14, 2011 by TayariJones

    Thursday, June 16, 7pm– Lansing, Michigan
    Schuler Books
    Reading and Signing

    Friday, June 17, 7pm– Suttons Bay, Michigan
    Brilliant Books
    Reading and Signing

    Monday, June 20, 7pm– Ann Arbor, Michigan
    Nicola’s Books
    Reading and Signing

    Thursday, June 23, 5pm– Petoskey, Michigan
    McLean & Eakin Booksellers
    Reading and Signing

    RSVP to silver.sparrow.events[at]gmail.com

    Posted in Book Tour | Leave a comment

    By Popular Demand: More Fancy Hat Photos

    Posted on June 13, 2011 by TayariJones

    About two weeks ago, I posted about the amazing experience I had at Mama Fancina’s Fancy Hat Luncheon on Amelia Island.  So many people got in touch and said they wanted to see MORE HATS. And everyone wanted to see Ms. Jennie Blue– the grande hostess who made it all happen.  Well, ask and you shall receive. For the fancy hat motherlode, click on the mosaic below. (And that’s “Jay Bee” in the center in all her fabulousness.)  And to read the original post on the most extravagant bookclub ever, click here.

     

    Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

    Dispatch from Atlanta: Alas, Poor Paschal’s

    Posted on June 12, 2011 by TayariJones

    Yesterday, on my last day in Atlanta, I took a ride through Southwest Atlanta.  This quadrant of the city is my home and the setting for all my novels so far and I like to take a quiet tour just to say thank you to the place that has nurtured me and my creativity.

    Atlanta has undergone many changes over the last twenty years.  In my second novel, The Untelling, I wrote about a neighborhood in the West End that is in the middle of gentrification.  It’s a tricky this, this turning over of neighborhoods.  But what I was seeing this time was neighborhoods in that same zip code that are not being “renewed.”

    Paschal’s Motor Inn has been declared a historic landmark.  After all, it was a regular meeting place for the titans of the Civil Rights Movement.  Dr. Kind, Andy Young, etc regularly met there to discuss plans and just to enjoy the legendary fried chicken dinners.  During segregation there were no other places that black folks could go and be treated with respect.  After segregation ended, Paschal’s  went into a decline as did the neighborhood.  I think this is because that many black folks failed to realize that places like Paschal’s were nice places, not just places we went because we were not welcome elsewhere.

    Paschal’s is a location that looms large in my imagination.  You will find it mentioned several times in Silver Sparrow.  It’s where Gwen goes on that fateful date with her ex-husband. (“If it’s good enough for Dr. King, it’s good enough for us.”  It’s also where Raleigh and James go to enjoy jazz and cocktails.  To see it now, you wouldn’t have the slightest clue that this used to be a special place.

    I am pleased to note that there is a new Paschal’s restaurant– a lovely red-brick building about a mile a way from the old site.  Pearl and I sometimes go there for brunch.  But sill, it doesn’t ease the sting of driving by the historic building and see it boarded up and to see the buildings around it in similar states of disrepair.

    Much of the southwest side of Atlanta is in a state of neglect that breaks my heart.  It’s a shame and I don’t know what can be done about it.

     

    Read the NYT Obit of James V. Paschal

    Posted in Travels & Rambles | 3 Comments

    What I’m Reading on The Plane: We The Animals by Justin Torres

    Posted on June 7, 2011 by TayariJones

    I was so delighted to get an early copy of this buzed-up novel by the amazing young writer Justin Torres.  I met him a few years ago at Breadloaf and was knocked out by his reading.  And since then he has been racking up all kinds of awards.  So far, this novel is a very short book that packs quite a punch. Cannot wait to finish it.

    Pre-Order it from an indie.

    Posted in Bookshelf | 2 Comments