Connect
Sponsors
Currently Reading
-
Terms
The Book Lady's Blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Reviews and articles posted here are property of The Book Lady's Blog and are not to be posted elsewhere without permission. Please contact me if you wish to post any of my work, or any excerpt thereof, in any other location or format.
Miscellaneous
Meet Bookrageous!
Technical Stuff
Design Credits
Jul
14
The Book Lady’s Buzz: Jay Varner’s NOTHING LEFT TO BURN proves that truth really is stranger than fiction.
2010 at 5am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
How’s this for a family legacy? Jay Varner’s grandfather is a serial arsonist. His father–the arsonist’s son—is the town fire chief. And he, descendant of both these men, covers the fire beat for the local paper. Varner explores his family’s history and their obsession with fire in his memoir Nothing Left to Burn, and I am all kinds of hot and bothered waiting to read it.
Here’s the full description from the publisher:
Nothing Left to Burn is a remarkable memoir that looks into the life of a family that has spent years harboring secrets, both dark and volatile. It eloquently tells the story of a son’s relationship with his father, the fire chief and a local hero, and his grandfather, a serial arsonist.
When Jay Varner, fresh out of college, returns home to work for the local newspaper, he knows that he will have to deal with the memories of a childhood haunted by a grandfather who was both menacing and comical and by a father who died too young and who never managed to be the father Jay so desperately needed him to be. In digging into the past, he uncovers layers of secrets, lies, and half-truths. It is only when he finally has the truth in hand that he comes to an understanding of the forces that drove his father, and of the fires that for all his efforts his father could never extinguish.
I started hearing buzz about Nothing Left to Burn at BEA, and I’m not going to lie, I did a little happy dance when the galley arrived a few weeks ago. If my hunch about this book is right, I’m going to need to shop around for flame-proof panties before Varner’s reading at Fountain Bookstore this fall.
Check out the smokin’ book trailer.
(I’m sorry. I’m helpless in the face of a silly pun.)
Nothing Left to Burn is coming September 21, 2010 from Algonquin Books, mark your calendars or, hell (yes, another flame reference!), go order it from your local indie now.
No related posts.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rebecca Schinsky. Rebecca Schinsky said: Grandfather was an arsonist; father was the fire chief; he writes the fire beat for the paper. What a legacy! http://bit.ly/dChas2 [...]
Oooh, smokin’! I am personally a fan of the memoir and true crime just because it means more to me to know that it really did happen. A fictional account of something similar would have less of an impact. This is exciting!
Sandy´s last [type] ..This Body of Death – Elizabeth George audio
oohh. i love reading memoirs!!
thanks for putting this book on my radar! and yes, i’m going to mark up my calendar now.
dw´s last [type] ..Review- Taroko Gorge
Just yesterday I added this book to my list. I can’t wait to read it come September!