Judging by vibes alone, one might conclude that Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben have little in common. Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine media brand and Elle Woods style don’t immediately bring to mind the high-octane thrillers dreamed up by Coben. But between her wildly successful Reese’s Book Club and his many bestsellers, there is one thing they… The post Web of Lies first appeared on Chapter 16.| Chapter 16
Bluebird Dreams of Red Fox And then as the eastern sky colors like the skin of an over-ripened peach, you appear — as if I conjured you — pirouetting under my hemlock perch with your death-kiss-is-beautiful kind of allure — gangly, untamable, too proud — and then you belly-creep home. I know about your fatal… The post “Bluebird Dreams of Red Fox” first appeared on Chapter 16.| Chapter 16
Moving to Tennessee, 1944 after Mary Morris Goodbye to cousins, grandparents, coal tipple and craggy mountains, smoke from smoldering slag heaps. We have packed the car with pillows, blankets, tucked the dog into his box, called the movers for the couch and chairs. Hello to towering peaks of ancient Cherokee lands, to clear rivers… The post “Moving to Tennessee, 1944” first appeared on Chapter...| Chapter 16
Don Cusic’s Chet Atkins: Mr. Guitar makes the case for the East Tennessee-born musician, producer, and record-label executive as the emblematic guitarist of the 20th century, an era of innovation by guitarists as diverse as Robert Johnson, Elizabeth Cotten, and Jimi Hendrix. Some of the most important music made in the second half of the… The post Lifelong Devotee of the Guitar first appeared on Chapter 16.| Chapter 16
The possibility of alternate universes poses the ultimate version of the question about the glass being half-full or half-empty. The optimist eagerly explores parallel lives where, with slight changes to history, happiness and prosperity abound; the pessimist knows without looking that everything could be much worse. In Ruben Reyes Jr.’s new novel, Archive of Unknown… The post The Ways We Were first appeared on Chapter 16.| Chapter 16
Soon, the green at Bicentennial Mall and spaces inside the Tennessee State Library & Archives and Tennessee State Museum will be swarmed by organisms i…| chapter16.org
Like many of the American musicians who helped create rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, The Everly Brothers were instantly influential, popular almost from the beginning of their careers, and doomed to be misunderstood in the light of 1960s rock. Their country-rock synthesis was partly a product of the technological and songwriting capacities of Nashville,… The post Musical Pioneers first appeared on Chapter 16.| Chapter 16
Nancy Johnson’s second novel, People of Means, like her debut, The Kindest Lie, juggles two narrative voices beautifully to tell the story of two strong women called to action in ways that threaten to upend all of the successes — personal and professional — they worked so hard to achieve. The novel is a story… The post Two Strong Women first appeared on Chapter 16.| Chapter 16
On one level, Bruce Holsinger’s novel Culpability depicts the manifold ways that AI has disrupted our lives. At work, with friends, and even in our homes, smart machines have altered interpersonal dynamics and revolutionized conceptions of authenticity, selfhood, and community. Holsinger’s characters feel detached from the past and from fundamental truths that guided previous generations.… The post A Prison House of Blame first appeared on Chapter 16.| Chapter 16
In his latest novel, Songs for Other People’s Weddings, David Levithan delivers an often funny, sometimes sad, but always entertaining story about what it’…| chapter16.org
Narrow the Road, the fourth novel from James Wade, opens in a failing cotton farm in Depression-era East Texas. William Carter, 15, has been left in charge of …| chapter16.org
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: This interview originally appeared on March 24, 2025. *** Almost two years ago, Yolanda Pierce moved to Nashville to become dean…| chapter16.org
In the preface to Ali: A Life, Jonathan Eig creates three snapshots from the night before the February 1964 heavyweight-championship fight between Cassius Clay…| chapter16.org
A reader gets a straight shot of Cheryl McKissack Daniel’s bravado in the title of her memoir, The Black Family Who Built America: The McKissacks, Two Centur…| chapter16.org
Sometimes a debut shouts, insisting: “I’m new, I’m here, and I’m something to behold!” Other debuts enter the scene as if they’ve always been there…| chapter16.org
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: This review originally appeared on June 23, 2o23. *** Nature’s Messenger: Mark Catesby and His Adventures in a New World, the …| chapter16.org
FROM THE CHAPTER 16 ARCHIVE: This interview originally appeared on May 15, 2023. The post has been updated with new publication and event information. *** It…| chapter16.org
Stephanie Niu’s I Would Define the Sun The poems in Stephanie Niu’s debut collection, I Would Define the Sun, revel in expansive spaces of mystery: the …| chapter16.org
The Promise Land Community in Dickson County, Tennessee, was established after the Civil War by formerly enslaved men and women who sought to establish a new l…| chapter16.org
In Kerry Madden-Lunsford’s middle-grade novel Werewolf Hamlet, something terrible is happening to Angus Gettlefinger’s 17-year-old brother, Liam. He’s tu…| chapter16.org