A little over a month ago, I read my first book by Ron Rash and was so infatuated with his wonderful writing that when I noticed this book at NetGalley I was quick to request a copy and was ecstatic to receive an approval.

CONVERSATIONS WITH RON RASH was interesting and educational. I enjoyed getting to know about his background, thoughts on writing, books and writers he admires, his successes and his spoken thoughts about politicians in his country.

One of the stories Rash related that resonated with me was about how his grandfather inspired him.
"My grandfather couldn't read or write. And when I was five years old, I asked him to read The Cat in the Hat, not knowing he couldn't read. He turned the pages and made up a story. It was a different story from the one my mother had read from the book, which was fascinating. But then, the next time I asked him to read it the story was different. The cat got into more trouble. It just kind of gave me this moment where words seemed like they were magical-almost like they were fluttering around and changing places. The idea of language kind of being this magical thing has stayed with me all my life."

Rash frequently spoke about using nature in his writing. "Nature is the most universal of languages. So, if you set work out in nature metaphors and similes, I think you've got a chance of your work being more universal."

As a reader, I love this quote by Rash -
"I believe that a novel is an act of communion between the author and the reader; it's a shared consciousness, very intimate. The reader is taking these blotches of ink I've written and bringing them to life."

This book would appeal especially to fans of Ron Rash, anyone looking for tips on good writing, and examples of well orchestrated and interesting interviews.
4****

Special thanks to NetGalley, University Press of Mississippi, Editors Monika Gehlawat, Mae Miller Claxton and Rain Newcomb, and Ron Rash for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Please accept my apologies for taking quotes from the unfinished advance reader copy I was given.
Posted on
Goodreads July 26, 2017

From my spring reading roundup 2017 in (Boone, N.C.) Mountain Times featuring "Conversations with Ron Rash":

While it’s undeniable that spring is in the air in the High Country, it’s equally true that the warm and sunny months of summer are a few months off. With that in mind, Mountain Times has assembled a spring reading list — a variety of books and authors you may have missed between the rush of the holiday season and the urge to get out in your garden. Take your pick among them, and before you know it you’ll be well-prepped for our next project: the Mountain Times summer reading list.

Fiction

“Fever Dream” by Samanta Scheweblin

Samanta Scheweblin was named one of the 22 best writers in Spanish younger than 35 by Granta, and debut novel “Fever Dream” (Riverhead Books) shows us why. A haunting, deceptively thin book, Scheweblin’s novel has been called a “ghost story for the real world.” Amanda lies dying in a rural clinic while David, a young boy, sits beside her. They are not mother and son, but together they conjure a desperate and cautionary tale. The ending of this one will not fail to surprise. Strange and psychological, “Fever Dream” comes to us in English translated by Megan McDowell.

“The Red Sphinx” by Alexandre Dumas

“The Red Sphinx” (Pegasus Books) is not a new novel, but falls into the category of “who knew?” As in, who knew — at least in contemporary times — that Alexandre Dumas had written more than one sequel to “The Three Musketeers?” Dumas published his well-known masterpiece in 1844, and shortly after wrote the sequel, “Twenty Years After.” Near the end of his career, Dumas again went to the well and drew inspiration from “The Three Musketeers” and wrote “The Red Sphinx,” a novel that picks up a mere 20 days after his signature novel ends. Part of the reason that “The Red Sphinx” has languished in publication is that Dumas never finished it. In this volume, Pegasus Books takes the 25 finished chapters and combines it with a completed novella, “The Dove,” detailing the final exploits of Moret and Cardinal Richelieu. And, so we have “The Red Sphinx,” with its nearly 800 pages newly translated by Lawrence Ellsworth.

“No Man’s Land” by Simon Tolkien

Say the name Tolkien and most bibliophiles get all tingly, and with “No Man’s Land,” (Nan A. Talese) there is certainly reason for the feeling as Simon Tolkien draws on the World War I real-life experiences of his grandfather, J.R.R. Tolkien. A journey tale, “No Man’s Land” follows Adam Raine from a young boy plagued by hard luck through the challenges of losing his mother, a difficult relocation to a coal mining town and the world of a nobleman who never lets him get above his rank. Yet, Adam finds love and earns a scholarship to Oxford and seems to be on a path to a better life — until the World War breaks out and everything is threatened. Different from anything his grandfather wrote, you'll nevertheless note that writing talent is a family affair for the Tolkiens.

“The World To Come: Stories” by Jim Shepard

In his fifth collection of short stories, Jim Shepard presents 10 tales, and a book full of original voices. “The World To Come: Stories” (Knopf) showcases Shepard’s unique talent of condensing a full novel into three dozen pages, with each outcome a satisfying read. From chronicling English Arctic explorers to the story of crew members in danger on a World War II submarine, Shepard continues to showcase his gift of writing fiction that brings the long ago and far away to our present reality. Shepard has been called the “best living writer of short fiction currently publishing in America.” “The World to Come” helps make the case.

“The Refugees” by Viet Thanh Nguyen

From the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen (“The Sympathizer”) comes another powerful book, this one of short stories, “The Refugees” (Grove Press). Timely and unpredictable, these stories offer two distinct worlds and center on the hardships of immigration — from a young Vietnamese refugee experiencing culture upheaval when he comes to live with two men in San Francisco, to a wonderfully tender, yet harsh, story of a woman whose husband is on the throes of dementia and begins to confuse her with a former lover. Thanh Nguyen humanizes the refugee experience in small bites that offer a place at the table for all of us.

“New York 2140” by Kim Stanley Robinson

In the vein of “it had to happen,” Kim Stanley Robinson’s “New York 2140” (Orbit) follows the lives of several apartment dwellers in a building in Manhattan after global warming has pushed all the world’s coastlines underwater. From the pen of Robinson, winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards, all of the “what-ifs” and “whys” are covered — from the science behind the tides to the economic fallout. The novel is tied tightly together in an ending that is worth the journey of the author’s meticulous prose and more than 600 pages of story that explores how skyscrapers may have become islands, but for the residents of one building, life goes on.

Poetry

“A Sunday In Purgatory” by Henry Morgenthau III

Wonderfully accessible, “A Sunday In Purgatory” (Passager Books) is part memoir, part cultural exploration, but all written by a man who has reached his centennial year. Henry Morgenthau III’s poetry is insightful and, at times, heartbreakingly honest — “Unexpectedly I caught sight/ of an old guy the other day,/ in a mirror. A crippled derelict/ stumbling forward/ in a slow syncopated hobble./ I tried to turn away from/ that unsightly image of myself” (“Unsightly Image”). For sure, you will see Morgenthau, and yourself, differently by the end of the book of verse written with precision and nuance.

“It’s Good Weather for Fudge: Conversing with Carson McCullers” by Sue Brannon Walker

So, what if you were a former Alabama state poet laureate who wanted to imagine a conversation with Carson McCullers in celebration of that famous author’s centenary birth anniversary in 2017? What you would come up with would be Sue Brannon Walker’s “It’s Good Weather for Fudge: Conversing with Carson McCullers” (NewSouth Books), a poetic tribute to the author of “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” and other works. Walker shows expert knowledge of McCuller’s canon, but diffuses the literary journey with pleasant inroads into the life of the author. Fans of McCullers’ works will want this essential companion piece.

Nonfiction

“Days of Awe and Wonder: How to Be a Christian in the 21st Century” by Marcus J. Borg

Two years after the liberal theologian’s death, Marcus J. Borg still has something to offer those who wish to explore progressive Christianity. “Days of Awe and Wonder” (HarperOne) includes never before published selections of the author’s work in an anthology that demands an open mind and the questioning of assumptions in the context of contemporary society.

“The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today’s America” by Mark Sundeen

In this work of immersive journalism, Mark Sundeen profiles the quests of those in search of a life more simple than the demands of a 24/7, electronic, Twitter-driven society. “The Unsettlers” (Riverhead Books) offers a chronicle of those who have opted out of mainstream culture — and how difficult that journey can be.

“The Life and Work of John C. Campbell” by Olive Dame Campbell and edited by Elizabeth M. Williams

A pioneer in the study of Appalachian mountaineers, John C. Campbell traveled with his wife, Olive Dame Campbell, throughout the region to interview and write about the people who live there. Campbell wrote the definitive work on the area, “The Southern Highlander and His Homeland,” a work still cited today by major scholars studying the region. Editor Elizabeth McClutchen Williams’ work, “The Life and Work of John C. Campbell” (University Press of Kentucky), now offers the first critical edition of Oliver Dame Campbells’ unfinished overview of her husband’s life. Using the first-account resources of diaries and letters, this exhaustive volume provides unique insights into the life of the educator.

“Conversations with Ron Rash” edited by Mae Miller Claxton and Rain Newcomb

There is no better author of Appalachian fiction than Ron Rash, and this volume, “Conversations with Ron Rash” (University Press of Mississippi) offers honest and in-depth profiles of the author. Rash’s connection to Watauga County, N.C., is well-documented, but in this volume, dozens of interviews explore how that connection ultimately came to fruition in “Serena” and other prize-winning novels and volumes of poetry. Rash shares much through these interviews, including much about the writing process itself. Editors Mae Miller Claxton and Rain Newcomb have done a fine job assembling interviews from the beginning of Rash’s writing career (“The Night the New Jesus Fell to Earth") through 2015’s “Above the Waterfall.” The passion and exactitude of the author is on fine display here in a volume essential for anyone studying Rash’s career and works.

I received a free electronic copy of this biography from Netgalley, Ron Rash and Mae Miller Claxton, and University Press of Mississippi in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work with me.

This is an exceptional collection of interviews with author Ron Rash covering several years and all of his books. He is an excellent southern (Appalachian) author, one of my favorite genres. I managed to miss him, back in the days of busy life/small town/ children- but I am making up for lost time. Thank you, Netgalley, for bringing me to read Ron Rash. He will go on my favorites list.