What to Read Next?: Suggested Reading from Library Staff

This column features recent and forthcoming titles from southeastern authors or books set in the region. Place any of these titles on hold online or call any Henderson County Library for assistance.

One of NC Humanities virtual book club picks this year is Doc Watson:  A Life in Music by North Carolinian Eddie Huffman. This biography will be engaging for anyone interested in Doc Watson or the evolution of old-time, traditional, and folk music over the past 90 years.

For a literary biography, check out A Matter of Complexion: The Life and Fictions of Charles W. Chesnutt by Tess Chakkalakal. Chesnutt was a poor teacher raised in rural North Carolina during Reconstruction who became the first professional African American writer to break into the all-white literary establishment.

Whispering Winds of Appalachia by John Ellington is a Gold Medal Winner of the Southern Fiction Independent Publisher Book Award and Southern Fiction Reader's Favorite Book Awards. This book is for fans of heartfelt literary fiction that addresses the agony of irreversible choices and their consequences.

For those working on the 2025 Henderson County Library Reading Challenge, the following titles fit a few of the challenge categories.

Book covers with a stack of newspapers or red thorns would fit into the “No humans were harmed” category. Consider Southern News, Southern Politics by Rob Christensen. He was chief political reporter at North Carolina's capital newspaper, the News and Observer, for decades. Christensen shows how influence and messaging affect the politics of a state and a region for generations.

In Emily Carpenter’s immersive Southern Gothic thriller, Gothictown, Billie Hope is offered an inexpensive but spacious Victorian home in Juliana, Georgia. Plus, she’ll get a business grant to open a new restaurant in a charming riverside community laden with opportunity. It seems like a dream come true…or a devil’s bargain.

For “Almost Famous”, read a book from a celebrity book club or list.
Kate Fagan is a sportswriter from South Carolina. Her latest book The Three Lives of Cate Kay is a Reese Witherspoon book club pick. Fagan’s story is framed as Cate Kay's unpublished memoir even though she was raised Annie Callahan and currently goes by the name Cass Ford. Each name and life shows how she deals--or doesn’t deal--when tragedy strikes.

For “Tell me it isn’t true?”, read a book based on a true story.
The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry, was inspired by a true story and enhanced by vivid descriptions of characters and settings in South Carolina and London. This is a tale of a woman drawn to her imaginary world, who fiercely loved her family, as well as an exploration of the hard choices that tear families apart and the love that sustains them.

Lastly, the “Hot off the press” challenge is met by reading a book published in 2025.
Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez tells the story of The Kingdom of the Happy Land, a community established in the late 1800s by freed slaves near Hendersonville. Save the date for April 14^th when the author will speak at the Main Library.

Reading challenge accepted!

- Daniel Hay,
Branch & Collection Coordinator