One of my brilliant professors in the English MA program at East Carolina University told me once: “There are no bad books, just bad times to read some books.” He told me that he wasn’t sure he believed that, but that he understood the idea. I’d soon find this out in my MFA program when…
Month: June 2026
History Pie Literary Society: In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
For Book #3, it seemed time to go with a nonfiction selection, and it’s hard to do much better than In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson. I was a latecomer to Larson’s work, but he has become one of my favorite authors, and I’ve…
Captain Otway Burns Tells Largely Forgotten Story of North Carolina Legend
Captain Otway Burns: Tar Heel Privateer, Legislator and Naval Hero of the War of 1812 tells of the remarkable life of a man who wreaked havoc on British shipping, cast key votes to establish counties, helped build Fort Macon, and constructed the first steamboat built in North Carolina. “It’s hard to describe this guy…