Saturday, March 11, 2017

What is David Joy reading?

Featured at Writers Read: David Joy, author of The Weight Of This World.

His entry begins:
Last time we did this, I gave you a novel, a collection of essays, and a book of poetry, and that’s a tradition I’d like to continue this go ’round, because I think far too often all we hear about are novels. I’m going to trade out a collection of essays for a collection of short stories, but the idea’s the same.

We’ll start with a novel and I’m going with Steph Post’s Lightwood. If you’re just hearing Steph’s name, you’re late to the party. Her debut novel, A Tree Born Crooked, was absolutely wonderful, and this sophomore effort sets her firmly amongst the list of the best Southern crime writers working today. This is the story of Judah Cannon, a reformed convict just out of prison trying to make a go at the good life with his childhood friend and newly discovered love, but who soon finds himself swirling in a downward spiral of drugs, money, and revenge. Post’s writing shines with...[read on]
About The Weight of This World, from the publisher:
Critically acclaimed author David Joy, whose debut, Where All Light Tends to Go, was hailed as “a savagely moving novel that will likely become an important addition to the great body of Southern literature” (The Huffington Post), returns to the mountains of North Carolina with a powerful story about the inescapable weight of the past.

A combat veteran returned from war, Thad Broom can’t leave the hardened world of Afghanistan behind, nor can he forgive himself for what he saw there. His mother, April, is haunted by her own demons, a secret trauma she has carried for years. Between them is Aiden McCall, loyal to both but unable to hold them together. Connected by bonds of circumstance and duty, friendship and love, these three lives are blown apart when Aiden and Thad witness the accidental death of their drug dealer and a riot of dope and cash drops in their laps. On a meth-fueled journey to nowhere, they will either find the grit to overcome the darkness or be consumed by it.
Visit David Joy's website.

The Page 69 Test: Where All Light Tends to Go.

My Book, The Movie: Where All Light Tends to Go.

The Page 69 Test: The Weight of This World.

Writers Read: David Joy.

--Marshal Zeringue