100 years measures up to a shining example for Ruth Houstonby Rob Neufeld             One hundred years of experience, recalled with immediate clarity, has led Avery County native Ruth Greene Houston to come to certain conclusions about how a humane society works.            Having left her childhood behind at…See More

Immerse yourselves in WNC’s best literature, 2013by Rob Neufeld             The focus for this season’s pick-fest is on books by Western North Carolina authors who have struck out, this year, in new directions and harnessed powerful urges.             If you love books, you come to love authors, and follow them as if they are personal projects.            So, to begin: Guests on Earth by Lee Smith (Algonquin Books hardcover, 345 pages, $25.95)             All the promotion about this novel is…See More

Join us on Friday, December 20th at 6 p.m. as Gary Carden offers up Appalachian Christmas tales at City Lights Bookstore.  Carden will talk about old rituals still practiced and some of his own childhood memories of Christmas in the mountains, including some of the leaner years during WWII when rationing was at its peak.  He will also talk about some of the stories featured in Eliot Wiggington’s Foxfire Christmas.  Gary Carden is an award-winning Appalachian author, playwright and folklorist.…See More

WNC BOOK DISCUSSION CALENDAR, DECEMBER 2013Sunday, December 1ROYAL BOOK CLUB: The ROYAL Book Club meets to discuss “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak at Spellbound Books, 50 N. Merrimon Ave. Suite 107, Asheville, 4 p.m. Call 708-7570.Monday, December 2WAYNESVILLE BOOK CLUB: The Waynesville Library Book Club discusses a novel at…See More

Julia Nunnally Duncan will sign her fiction and poetry books at McDowell Arts Council Association (MACA) gift shop on Friday, Dec. 13, from 4-6 p.m. Part of the proceeds from sales go to support MACA.See More

Join us on Saturday, December 21st at 6:30 p.m. at City Lights Bookstore  to hear The Shepherd of the Hills String Band play some favorite songs of the holiday season.  The 21st marks winter solstice and the last Saturday before Christmas so come by and help us celebrate this special time of year. While taking in the concert, if you have a few names to check off the shopping list be sure to grab one of our holiday catalogs and take advantage of our holiday catalog sale. Select a book in the…See More