BOOKS
Sweetwater Blues Raymond Atkins (Mercer University Press)
I have become a huge
fan of Ray Atkins. It all began last year when I dove headlong into his novel Camp Redemption. I mean, I love details. I love imagery. Even more
than that, I love references to growing up in the South. Like Camp Redemption, Sweetwa- ter Blues is filled with all of those things and much more, and it makes for one of the best books I have read all year long. It’s amazing how strongly one bad decision
can affect a person’s life forever. Such was the case with Palmer Cray, a teenager who, along with his best friend since childhood, Rodney Earwood, took a wild, high-speed, alcohol fu- eled ride in Palmer’s ‘69 Camero on Gradua- tion Day. In what seemed like an instant, the Camero was airborne, flying into a huge tree, and Palmer was in prison for the murder of his best friend. The story is told both as narrative and in
journal entries by Cray, whose living night- mare began on that summer evening and nerver quite ended. Filled with interesting characters (Cheddar
in particular), and details of his stay in Sweet- water Prison, the novel follows Palmer’s jour- ney as he serves his time, and returns to the outside world, where he discovers that life on the outside is nothing much like it was prior to that fatal Graduation Day. Atkins was voted Georgia’ Author of the
Year, and when you read Sweetwater Blues, you will see exactly why. There’s only one author I can think of that I have to read everything he writes, and that
is Stephen King. I have been reading him since he wrote Carrie back when I was in High School. (Again, the devil’s in the de- tails!) Now there is a second author that I am stalking. Raymond Atkins is that good. Take a trip to Sweetwater for a visit. Just keep your distance. There are a few disreputable charac- ters living in sing-sing.
-Michael Buffalo Smith
Let’s Walk the French Quarter A Visual Tour Kerri McCaffety (Pelican)
One the most
visually stunning books to cross my desk this year is Let’s Walk the French Quarter, an informative and beautiful book from photo journalist Kerri McCaffety, whose work film
director Francis Ford Coppola called “sensual and rich.”
With the often breathtaking phots accom-
panied by walking directions and commen- tary, Let’s Walk serves as both a visitors guide and a history lesson of the historic French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. From the jazz halls of Rampart Street, through the leg- endary restaurants and bars, and into the raised cemetery, onward into Jackson Square and the architectural perfection of St. Louis Cathedral, it is a journey as historic as it is beautiful - absolutely beautiful.
- Michael Buffalo Smith
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