It was the Great Depression in Orangeburg, South Carolina when A.D. Miller was 19 years old. He handed a note to a white girl, telling her he’d like to know her better. He was caught and thrown in jail for his actions, accused of attempted rape. This is the beginning of Adam [...]

If you’re looking for a series of short stories that will completely absorb you, the kind that keeps you up later than you intended thinking “I’ll read just one more,” then I’ve got your book.
Eight Dogs Named Jack is filled with everything from street rats and made men to hardworking honest people. Set in the [...]

A Cartload of Scrolls by James P. Lenfestey is not your average book of poetry. Whether you consider yourself an avid or reluctant reader of poetry, you’ll find great joy in discovering Lenfestey’s eight-line verses crafted after the style of ancient Chinese poet Han-Shan. How do I know this book will please even the [...]

Set in the less-than-perfect Philadelphia of the ’60s and ’70s, Joseph Bathanti’s book The High Heart reads as both a collection of short stories and a novel. Each story of Fritz Sweeny, the only son of two unconventional parents, stands alone as a short. But placed all together, you come away with a [...]

A handful of times in my life I have finished a book and turned it over to start again. Sometimes I want to carry the book around with me even after I’ve closed the pages, just to look at the cover and remember. I finished reading I’jaam - An Iraqi Rhapsody by Sinan [...]

Lucy and Harry haven’t always been the placid elderly couple everyone thought they saw. 50 years had passed since they were the victims of the Halifax Explosion, a horrific accident that occurred in 1917 off the coast of Nova Scotia in the Halifax Harbour. That tragic day, two ships collided which ignited massive [...]

What a perfect way to kick off the new location of carp(e) libris - by adding an artistic facet to the blog. I am including art books for reviews and giveaways here now, and Essential Elements is a beautiful beginning to our new chapter.

Essential Elements showcases the work of Andrew Stevovich, an Austrian-born artist [...]

Downriver by Jeanne Leiby is a collection of hard-edged stories placed in the setting of downriver Detroit, Michigan. Each of the 15 stories gives a glimpse into industrial-gray neighborhoods filled with hardworking people struggling to survive. The true-to-life characters all hold onto a hope of something better in their future while striving to [...]

The Meat and Spirit Plan is an abstract novel brilliantly written by Selah Saterstrom, author of The Pink Institution. The nameless main character gives her story in edgy snapshots, which catches you up in the rhythm of an often disturbing and bumpy ride. The style reminds one of the free flowing way our [...]

“Rio San Pedro“, published by Alondra Press, is the adventurous memoir of an American alligator hunter living in the Guatemalan rain forests during the 1950’s. Henry Hollenbaugh finds himself illegally hunting the “alligator” (Central American crocodile) to support himself while living in the remote jungles surrounding the San Pedro River. The book takes [...]