Chapter 8 - Savannah Book Festival, Part One

This year my husband, David, is overseas working so I wanted to have another person go with me to the SBF. My youngest daughter, Claire, made herself available on Saturday and so we went.

If you've never been to the festival it is a three day palooza of authors starting with an Opening Address speaker on Thursday night and closing on Sunday with a speaker as well. My favorite part is all day on Saturday when various authors come to discuss their books. The Saturday event is free and takes place within a few square block of a very walkable city. As always, I prepped before I went. I try to read the books of the authors I am interested in seeing so I have familiarity with their works.

Here are the books by the authors I went to see as they told about their books.

Tell Me a Story by Cassandra King Conroy - Cassandra King details her life with writer Pat Conroy, who was a consummate storyteller and the king of modern Southern literature. At times funny, insightful, and heartbreaking, this intimate memoir of their life together is sure to appeal to many Conroy and King fans.

Curious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep - Harper Lee sat in on this Alabama trial with the plan to write a book about it as her friend, Truman Capote did with In Cold Blood. As we know, she never did and the story told in this non-fiction book gives us some clues as to why.

The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith - Think of the early days of cinema, the time when "moving pictures" were only about 14 minutes in length and this book will take you there. The story is about a director, Claude Ballard, who makes a one hour cinematic masterpiece. What happens when all your dreams go up in smoke?

The Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center - This story is about a young female firefighter who leaves Texas to support her estranged mother in New England. Once she gets there she has to prove herself to the fire department she has joined. This is a terrific relationship read.

Nathalie Dupree's Favorite Stories & Recipes - I picked up this book at the Festival (I always buy one or two there to support Savannah College of Art and Design who sells there.)

Have you read any of these books? Have you ever been to the Savannah Book Festival? I'd love to hear!

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