River City Reads

Can’t get the creative juices flowing? Unstuck features 52 simple, creativity-generating projects that can fit into any lifestyle. Arranged in order of time commitment—from 30 seconds to several hours—the 52 projects can be done randomly or one per week for an entire year of creativity building. Also included are 12 artist profiles that illuminate what other successful creative people do to stay inspired and productive, along with blank journaling pages to sketch, scribble, and jot down your experiences and ideas. Roll the dice (made from the “custom inspiration dice” template in the book) and see where your creative energy takes you!

Join us to hear Noah Scalin read his latest book, Unstuck at Chop Suey on December 3rd from 5-7 pm.

Welcome Brian Burns new book, Lewis Ginter, Richmond’s Gilded Age Icon. A great fall read that digs deep into Richmond history. 

Check out the latest River City Reads Book, Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler. This great, page turning mystery is our exciting summer pick. Check out the review, pick up a  copy and join us on August 18th, location to be determined but will be announced soon, for a reading from the book with the author.

Here’s what the River CIty is Reading currently, Finding Thalhimers by Elizabeth Thalhimer Smartt.

Finding Thalhimers traces the author’s obsessive quest to find the true story of her father’s family and their beloved department store. Riveting and poignant, this multigenerational narrative weaves together history, biography, and memoir into an unforgettable portrait of an ambitious American retail family.

Guided by unwavering principles and visionary leadership, the Thalhimers store watched American history unfold, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement, from the arrival of ready-to-wear fashions to the rise of “big box” stores. Five generations of Thalhimers grew the business from a modest dry goods shop into a twenty-six-store chain. When the author reached the age of sixteen, the empire began to crumble when her father lost his job and the store became Hechts, and now Macys. The wrecking ball hit Thalhimers’ headquarters on her grandfather’s 90th birthday, striking an emotional chord for the author and her family.

Intertwining a genealogical treasure hunt with a powerful and unusual family history, Finding Thalhimers tells a true story both celebratory and bittersweet. Its words packed with every ounce of the author’s passion for carrying on her family’s legacy, this is a book to be embraced and treasured as much as the Thalhimers store once was.

Check out what the River City is Reading for October and November, The Patterns of Paper Monsters by Emma Rathbone, a Charlottesville local. You can find it at Chop Suey, Richmond Public Library and other fine literary retailers.  Keep an eye on our events page, we will be having a River City Reads event in November.

Check out what the River City is Reading for August and September: Belle Boggs‘ Mattaponi Queen. You can find it at Chop Suey, Richmond Public Library and other fine literary retailers.  Keep an eye on our events page, we will be having a River City Reads event in September.

Photo Courtesy of Buttons Boggs

…is the story of two very different people separated by time and place, but brought together by lightning:  Becca, who grows up believing in magic and running after her father, and Buckley, who grows up being beaten into the red clay roads of Arkansas, longing for the father he never knew.  In a strange twist, they are both touched by lightning, their lives intersecting, as they try to understand what it means to be singled out by the heavens.

Told in alternating threads, separated by excerpts from The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors, it is a hopeful tale, reassuring us that even the hardest times are obstacles we must overcome to get to the place where we belong.  A story rich with eccentric characters, from a squash-nosed reverend to a hard-nosed snare-drumming beauty, THE HANDBOOK is full of surprises.  Spanning two decades, it’s a sometimes sad, sometimes funny epic about survival.

Please check out Michele Young Stone’s site and book for the full story.

The River City emerges as a hot spot for unseemly noir.

With a forward by Tom Robbins.

Brand-new stories by: Dean King, Laura Browder, Howard Owen, Yazmina Beverly, Tom De Haven, X.C. Atkins, Meagan J. Saunders, Anne Thomas Soffee, Clint McCown, Conrad Ashley Persons, Clay McLeod Chapman, Pir Rothenberg, David L. Robbins, Hermine Pinson, and Dennis Danvers.