ETSU Alumni Bookshelf

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Book Smart: Your Essential List for Becoming a Literary Genius in 365 Days

Jane Mallison

Like taking a private class with an engaging literature professor, Book Smart is your ticket for literary enlightenment all year long and for the rest of your life. Whether you're a passionate turner of pages or you aspire to be better-read, Book Smart expands your knowledge and enjoyment with a month-by-month plan that tackles 120 of the most compelling books of all time.

Throughout the year, each book comes alive with historical notes, highlights on key themes and characters, and advice on how to approach reading. Here is a sampling of what you can expect:
- January: Make a fresh start with classics like Beowulf and Dante's Inferno
- April: Welcome spring in the company of strong women like Jane Eyre, Anna Karenina, and Vanity Fair's Becky Sharpe
- August: Bring a breath of fresh air to summer's heat with comedic works from Kingsley Amis and Oscar Wilde
- October: Get back to school with young people struggling to grow up in classics like Little Women and recent bestsellers such as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
- December: Celebrate year's end with big prizewinners such as The Remains of the Day and Leaves of Grass
Critical Regionalism: Connecting Politics and Culture in the American Landscape

Douglas Reichert Powell

The idea of "region" in America has often served to isolate places from each other. Whether in the nostalgic celebration of folk cultures or the urbane distaste for "hicks," certain regions of the country are identified as static, and culturally disconnected from everywhere else. This title explores this trend and offers alternatives to it.
Rock Big and Sing Loud: Short Stories from Southern Appalachia

Tamara Baxter

The past decade has been an exciting time for American fiction in general and Southern Appalachian fiction in particular. Rock Big and Sing Loud by Tamara Baxter is a significant addition to this surge of new writing. Writing truly about the world of eastern Tennessee Baxter also writes about the world at large, about humanity. Her narratives can make you laugh or break your heart, and sometimes they do both at once. She has given us the stories of some of the most afflicted and addicted, the most failed and failing, individuals on the planet, and also some of the strongest and most enduring people we are ever likely to meet. These stories take us to places we did not expect to go, and just when we think we have seen what is strangest, most absurd, most alien and outrageous, we recognize something of ourselves. - Robert Morgan, author of Gap Creek and Brave Enemies
Fiske WordPower

Jane Mallison

The Exclusive System to Learn-Not Just Memorize-Essential Words A powerful vocabulary opens a world of opportunity. Building your word power will help you write more effectively, communicate clearly, score higher on standardized tests like the SAT, ACT, or GRE, and be more confident and persuasive in everything you do. But in order to truly increase your vocabulary, you need a system that works. With most guides, you end up only memorizing the new words for a short time, often not even long enough to use them in tests. Fiske WordPower is different. Using the exclusive Fiske system, you will not just memorize words, but truly learn their meanings and how to use them correctly. This knowledge will stay with you longer and be easier to recall-and it doesn't take any longer than less-effective memorization. How does it work? This book uses a simple three-part system: 1. Patterns: Words aren't arranged randomly or alphabetically, but in similar groups that make words easier to remember over time. 2. Deeper Meanings, More Examples: Full explanations-not just brief definitions-of what the words mean, plus multiple examples of the words in sentences. 3. Quick Quizzes: Frequent short quizzes help you test how much you've learned, while helping your brain internalize their meanings. Fiske WordPower is the most effective system for building a vocabulary that gets you clear and successful results.
Tybee Island

James Mack Adams

Tybee Island is a tiny piece of land, only-two-and-a-half miles long and two-thirds of a mile wide; however, its strategic location near the mouth of the Savannah River assigned to it an important role in the birth and history of the state of Georgia. Over this coastal community five flags have flown, representing Spain, France, England, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America. Using numerous vintage photographs from the archives of the Tybee Island Historical Society, Tybee Island guides the reader through over two hundred years of history. Although much of its history is linked to nearby Savannah, Tybee is singular among Georgia’s coastal islands, and has a history and lore that is uniquely its own. This visual journey begins with the building of Georgia’s oldest and tallest lighthouse, and continues through Tybee’s involvement in the Civil War. Also covered are the island’s later roles as a military installation, a popular coastal resort, and a residential community. Vintage photographs recall earlier days on Tybee, when the island was known as “Ocean City,” “Savannah Beach,” and, to some, “the best kept secret on the East Coast.”
The Great Shaking: An Account of the Earthquakes of 1811 and 1812

Jo Carson

A bear who was there describes three earthquakes in Missouri, in 1811 and 1812, and their aftermath.
The Last of 'the Waltz Across Texas' and Other Stories

Jo Carson

"Jo Carson's first book of fiction which proves to be a deft storytelling with keen imagination and sense of humor. Carson's well-developed characters work within the context of family, friends and community as they cope with the raw edges of life itself. Jo Carson says survival 'is not always funny, and sometimes it hurts, but whatever so human an animal as we are has to do to stay whole is the stuff of it, and we laugh and laugh hard, or we come to pieces.'"--AMAZON
You Hold Me And I'll Hold You

Jo Carson

When a great-aunt dies, a young child finds comfort in being held and in holding, too.
Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet: Selections from the People Pieces

Jo Carson

“The pieces all come from people. I never sat my desk and made them up. I heard the heart of each of them somewhere. A grocery store line. A beauty shop. The emergency room. A neighbor across her clothesline to another neighbor. I am an eavesdropper and I practiced being invisible to get them.” – Jo Carson, from the Preface.
Pulling My Leg: Story

Jo Carson

When a joking uncle collects hammer, pliers, and screwdriver to help a child with her loose tooth, the tooth amazingly comes out by itself.