Murder farm
One of the biggest stories that shocked America 100 years ago—about a farm in Georgia where Black people were essentially enslaved and at least 11 men were murdered—is pretty much […]
Ecological wonder
“To tell you about the beauty, I must also speak of threat,” writes Greg Wrenn in Mothership: A Memoir of Wonder and Crisis. A complex exploration into personal and ecological […]
Pandemic dwellings
Drawing inspiration from The Decameron and One Thousand and One Nights, Fourteen Days is a “collaborative novel,” which brings to mind thoughts of exquisite corpses and shared Google Docs with […]
Another world
Charlottesville’s own rom-com queen Jenny Gardiner loves—like, totally loves—a chance encounter. Whether it’s a Las Vegas waitress literally falling for a prince on an Italian train platform, erstwhile lovers coming […]
Many angles: Lisa Speidel’s new book talks about happy sex and more
When Lisa Speidel joined the Sexual Assault Resource Agency in the early 1990s, she had no idea her work in sexual assault prevention would lead to a career in sex […]
Taking covers: Your social distancing reading list
With the cancellation of the Virginia Festival of the Book, and recommendations to practice social distancing, there’s never been a better time to pick up some extra reading material. While […]
Write here: A year in books from Charlottesville authors
It was a prolific year for local authors. Popular favorites like Rita Mae Brown, John Grisham, and Ann Beattie added new titles to their extensive catalogs. Several UVA professors published […]
Killer obsessions: Rachel Monroe explores women’s attraction to true crime
By Benjamen Noble When Rachel Monroe began writing Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession, she had a driving question that fueled her—why are we, as a […]
Riding lessons: A cyclist learns a lot about himself—and America—on an epic tour
On six-week jaunts over several years, Charlottesville’s Chris Register crisscrossed the country on his bike, interviewing people for his book series Conversations With US: Two Wheels, Fifty States, Hundreds of […]
Essential voices: VA book fest panel looks at music as a change agent
About 100 miles outside of Berlin, Germany, author Tim Mohr stood in a snowy field gripping an axe in his hands. He’d borrowed a friend’s car to get there, and, […]