Pride Among the Pines Book Club

November 2022

11/2/2022

This month we're discussing Another Appalachia by Neema Avashia. We will be meeting on November 11th at 7:30 pm in an online video chat. You can find the link in the sidebar to the right (or the bottom of the page if you're on a phone browser)!

Neema Avashia was born and raised in the Kanawha Valley to Indian immigrant parents who moved to Appalachia in the early 70s so her father could work in the chemical industry. She was lucky enough to grow up on a street with loving neighbors, and to have an extended network of aunties and uncles who became family over the course of their years together.

Much of her writing pertains to the unique experience of growing up as a member of a tight-knit Indian community in a state where they comprised less than half a percentage point of the overall population. She also writes opinion pieces and commentary regarding her experiences as a Civics teacher in the Boston Public Schools for the last 16 years.

So, what's the book about?

When Neema Avashia tells people where she’s from, their response is nearly always a disbelieving “There are Indian people in West Virginia?” A queer Asian American teacher and writer, Avashia fits few Appalachian stereotypes. But the lessons she learned in childhood about race and class, gender and sexuality continue to inform the way she moves through the world today: how she loves, how she teaches, how she advocates, how she struggles.

Another Appalachia examines both the roots and the resonance of Avashia’s identity as a queer desi Appalachian woman, while encouraging readers to envision more complex versions of both Appalachia and the nation as a whole. With lyric and narrative explorations of foodways, religion, sports, standards of beauty, social media, gun culture, and more, Another Appalachia mixes nostalgia and humor, sadness and sweetness, personal reflection and universal questions.

via GIPHY

If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in-store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!

Buy Online!

Paperback
Audiobook

We are open to the public for in-store shopping Mon-Sat from 11am-7pm & you can pickup your orders at the register. However, you can also pickup your book using the pickup basket at the front door or the drive thru window. We offer free media mail shipping for orders $30+ and free local delivery, as well (within Boone town limits). Getting your book to you as conveniently as possible is important to us!

Finally, you can RSVP & add this event to your personal calendar--do that here! We hope to see you at our next meeting!

Reviews & Interviews

‘Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place’
-- The Daily Yonder
Divisions and Distances in “Another Appalachia” -- Southern Review of Books
Author Neema Avashia on identity, relationships, and coming up queer and Indian in Appalachia -- Rural Assembly
Neema Avashia describes 'Another Appalachia' -- The Reckon Interview
Growing up in "Another Appalachia" is more relatable than you think: "I keep finding myself here" -- Salon

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July 2022

5/26/2022

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This month's book club selection is Fun Home by Alison Bechdel! We will be meeting on Friday, July 8th at 7:30 pm in an online video chat. You can find the link in the sidebar of this blog (look to the right)!

Alison Bechdel is an American cartoonist. Originally best known for the long-running comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For, in 2006 she became a best-selling and critically acclaimed author with her graphic memoir Fun Home. Fun Home has also been adapted into a Tony Award-winning musical. Bechdel has been named a MacArthur Fellow and Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont, among many other honors.

So, what's the book about?

In this graphic memoir, Alison Bechdel charts her fraught relationship with her late father.

Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the Fun Home. It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.

via GIPHY

If this sounds like something you would like to read, you can get your copy of the book from the store for 15% off when you order with us: in store, online, over the phone (828.386.1219), or via email. Our booksellers will be happy to help you get the book in the format that you prefer!

Buy Online:

Paperback

Reviews & Interviews

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic - NYT
Mars Reviews Fun Home - The Lesbrary
The Alison Bechdel Interview - The Comics Journal

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