Reading Roadtrip: 50 Books for 50 States: Texas

In this magisterial, intimate novel, debut writer Lakiesha Carr captures the essence of Black womanhood, richly articulating the private lives of a cast of women from East Texas, illuminating the grief that is carried inside them, as well as the bonds of love that both define them and give them strength. A middle-aged colon hydrotherapist feeds the slots at a secret parlor, fighting memories of gendered violence with plastic cups of Crown Royal. A mother attempts to bleach her infant son's skin in response to watching police brutality and the cold truth that no amount of success can erase Blackness. A young woman comes home and spends several days with Mama Eloise, Lena, Peaches, Aunt Bee, and the other women in her family, jopining with them to conduct spiritual combat with the ghosts of their past abusers. She, like the others who populate Lakiesha Carr's dazzling debut, needs healing, strength, and it is with these older women, those who come before her, that she will find it. A masterful and commanding writer, and a singular new voice, Carr composes a portrait of generations of interconnected women confined by the pressures on their lives and by their alienation from their roots. Deeply affecting, tender and vulnerable, An Autobiography of Skin offers a raw and tender view into the interior, private life of Black womanhood. It lays bare how pain, how trauma, is carried inside the body, inside flesh and skin. And, it reveals that healing may be found inside us, ultimately celebrating Black life, and the places where love, mercy, gratitude, and freedom can be found

Charlie Garner has a bad feeling. His ex-wife, Meg, has been missing for over a week and one quick peek into her home shows all her possessions packed up in boxes. Neighbors claim she's running from bill collectors, but Charlie suspects something more sinister is afoot. Meg was last seen working at the local donut shop, a business run by a shadow group most refer to as 'The Saucer People'; a space-age, evangelist cult...Along with his brother Felix...Charlie uncovers strange and frightening details about the compound...When the body of their key informer is found dead with his arms ripped out of their sockets, Charlie knows he's in danger but remains dogged in his quest to rescue Meg.

It all starts when an elderly substitute teacher at Baldwin High School is found dead in the faculty lounge. After a bit of a stir, life quickly returns to normal--it's not like it's the worst (or even most interesting) thing that has happened within the building's walls. But when, a week later, the spontaneous scattering of his ashes on the school grounds catches the attention of some busybody parents, it sets in motion a year that can only be described as wild, bizarre, tragic, mundane, beautiful, and humorous all at once. In the midst of the ensuing hysteria and threats of disciplinary action, the novel peeks into the lives of the implicated adults who, it turns out, actually have first names and continue to exist when the school day is done. We meet: a former punk band front man, now a middle-aged principal who must battle it out with the school board to keep his job; a no-nonsense school nurse willing to break the rules, despite the close watch on their campus, when a student arrives at her office with a dilemma. Oh, and there's also a teacher make-out session in a supply closet during a lockdown. As these people continue to manage the messiness of this school year, there is the looming threat of what will become of their beloved Baldwin High. Ultimately, at the heart of this unconventional workplace novel is a story of the power of human connection and of the joy of finding purpose in what it is we do every day.

1989, Lamesa, Texas. A small west Texas town driven by oil and cotton--and a place where everyone knows everyone else's business. So it goes for Tolly Driver, a good kid with more potential than application, seventeen, and about to be cursed to kill for revenge. Here Stephen Graham Jones explores the Texas he grew up in, and shared sense of unfairness of being on the outside through the slasher horror Jones loves, but from the perspective of the killer, Tolly, writing his own autobiography. Find yourself rooting for a killer in this summer teen movie of a novel gone full blood-curdling tragic.

Once a trailblazer in the field of medicine, Dr. Tucia Hatherley hasn't touched a scalpel or stethoscope since she made a fatal mistake in the operating theater. Instead, she works in a corset factory, striving to earn enough to support her disabled son. When even that livelihood is threatened, Tucia is left with one option--to join a wily, charismatic showman named Huey and become part of his traveling medicine show. Her medical license lends the show a pretense of credibility, but the cures and tonics Tucia is forced to peddle are little more than purgatives and bathwater. Loathing the duplicity, even as she finds uneasy kinship with the other misfit performers, Tucia vows to leave as soon as her debts are paid and start a new life with her son--if Huey will ever let her go. When the show reaches Galveston, Texas, Tucia tries to break free from Huey, only to be pulled even deeper into his schemes. But there is a far greater reckoning ahead, as a September storm becomes a devastating hurricane that will decimate the Gulf Coast--and challenge Tucia to recover her belief in medicine, in the goodness of others--and in herself.

In segregated High Cotton, Texas, in 1964, the racial divide is as clear as the railroad tracks running through town. It's also where two girls are going to shake things up. This is the last summer of thirteen-year-old Corky Corcoran's childhood, and her family hires a Haitian housekeeper who brings her daughter, America, along with her. Corky is quick to befriend America and eager to share her favorite new "grown-up" novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. America's take on it is different and profoundly personal. As their friendship grows, Corky finds out so much more about America's life and her hidden skill: she can run as fast as Olympian Wilma Rudolph! When Corky asks America to play with her girls' softball team for the annual church rivals game, it's a move that crosses the color line and sets off a firestorm. As tensions escalate, it fast becomes a season of big changes in High Cotton. For Corky, those changes will last a lifetime.

July 3. 1932. Shivering and in shock, Evie Grace Devlin watches the Starlite Palace burn into the sea and wonders how she became a person who would cause a man to kill himself. She'd come to Galveston to escape a dark past in vaudeville and become a good person, a nurse. When that dream is cruelly thwarted, Evie is swept into the alien world of dance marathons. All that she has been denied-a family, a purpose, even love-waits for her there in the place she dreads most: the spotlight. Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a sweeping novel that brings to spectacular life the enthralling worlds of both dance marathons and the family-run empire of vice that was Galveston in the Thirties. Unforgettable characters tell a story that is still deeply resonant today as America learns what Evie learns, that there truly isn't anything this country can't do when we do it together. That indomitable spirit powers a story that is a testament to the deep well of resilience in us all that allows us to not only survive the hardest of hard times, but to find joy, friends, and even family, in them.

Carly Castillo has only ever known Albacore Avenue. Abandoned as a child by her Filipina mother and Mexican-American father, Carly returns each morning from her nursing shift to the house she shares with her grandmother, Magdalena. But when Magdalena slips into dementia, Carly begins to imagine a life elsewhere. Jess Rivera, her boyfriend and all-star shortstop turned seaman, treasures the salty, familiar island air. Years ago, he had a chance to leave Galveston for a bigger city with more possibilities. But he didn't then, and he sure as hell won't now. Deftly moving through these characters' lives and those of the individuals who circle them--Mercedes, Jess's undocumented cousin; Kristin, Magdalena's daytime nurse; Luz, the wife of Carly's best friend; Schafer, Jess's coworker out on the gulf--Garza presents a mosaic depiction of everyday survival in Southern Texas. As word spreads of a storm gathering strength offshore, building into Hurricane Ike, they each must make a difficult decision: board up the windows and hunker down, or flee inland and abandon their hard-won home.

When twenty-seven-year-old Linh Ly's recently divorced mother begins dating a coworker, Linh is determined to make sure he is worthy of her mother. She's seen the kind of men her mother ends up with--she grew up watching her unreliable and volatile alcoholic father as her mother worked two jobs to make ends meet. Linh is certain that her mother can't do this on her own, but what begins as genuine worry quickly turns obsessive. Following her mother and spying on her dates becomes part of Linh's routine, especially after a university shooting at Linh's work that leaves her feeling adrift--at least her mom's dating life gives her something to focus on. Linh doesn't exactly have a life of her own (dating or otherwise) and figures the best course of action is action--not how she handled the shooting: curl up in a ball and wait it out. Linh is slowly forced to reconcile the image of her mother from her childhood with the woman she's getting to know as an adult. Growing up Vietnamese in the middle of Texas with a broken household taught Linh a certain guarded way of living--one she never quite left behind.

When forced to work on a project with your nemesis, it's best to stick to the science. Further research could trigger explosive results. Like an avenging, purple-haired Jedi bringing balance to the mansplained universe, Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project--a literal dream come true after years scraping by on the crumbs of academia--Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward. Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. And sure, he caught her in his powerfully corded arms like a romance novel hero when she accidentally damseled in distress on her first day in the science lab. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school--archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away. Now, her equipment is missing, the staff is ignoring her, and Bee finds her floundering career in somewhat of a pickle. Perhaps it's her occipital cortex playing tricks on her, but Bee could swear she can see Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas... devouring her with those eyes. And the possibilities have all her neurons firing. But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there's only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?

A freewheeling, small-town attorney takes on a national murder trial when an out-of-town client is accused of killing a federal judge in Texas. In the town of Marshall sits the Federal courthouse of the Eastern District of Texas, a place revered by patent lawyers for its speedy jury trials and massive punitive payouts. Marshall is flooded with patent lawyers, all of whom find work being the local voice for the big-city legal teams that need to sway a small-town jury. One of the best is James Euchre. Euchre's new client is Amir Zawar, a firebrand CEO forced to defend his life's work against a software patent infringement. Late one night, after a heated confrontation in a preliminary hearing, Judge Gardner is found murdered in the courthouse parking lot. All signs point to Zawar, he has motive, he has opportunity, and he has no alibi. Moreover, he is an outsider, a wealthy Pakistani-American businessman, the son of immigrants, who stands accused of killing a beloved hometown hero. Zawar claims his innocence, and demands that Euchre defend him. It's the last thing Euchre wants, Judge Gardner was his good friend and mentor but the only way he can get definitive answers is to take the case. With the help of a former prosecutor and a local PI, Euchre must navigate the byzantine world of criminal defense law in a town where everyone knows everyone, and bad blood has a long history. The deeper he digs, the more he fears that he'll either send an innocent man to death row or set a murderer free.

Sonny Lamb is an affable, if floundering, rancher with the unfortunate habit of becoming a punchline in his Texas hometown. Most recently, he bought his bull at auction, saving it from being sold to a slaughterhouse. But when a fire breaks out at a neighbour's farm, Sonny makes headlines in another way: Not waiting for help, he bolts to the farm and heroically saves the family's daughter and her horse, riding the animal out of their burning barn. Within days of the event, he attracts the notice of a mysterious man named L.D., who arrives at his door and asks if he'd like to run as a Republican for his district's representative seat. Though Sonny has zero experience and doesn't consider himself political in the least, he decides to throw his hat in the ring. And he wins. As Sonny navigates life in politics, from running a campaign to negotiating in the capitol, he must learn the ropes, weighing his ethics and environmental concerns against the pressures of veteran politicians, savvy lobbyists, and his own party. In tracing Sonny's attempt to balance his marriage and morality with an increasingly volatile professional life, Lawrence Wright has crafted a hilarious, immensely clever rollercoaster ride about one man's pursuit of goodness in the Lonestar State.

On a struggling Texas plantation, six enslaved women slip from their sleeping quarters and gather in the woods under the cover of night. The Lucys--as they call the plantation owners, after Lucifer himself--have decided to turn around the farm's bleak financial prospects by making the women bear children. They have hired a "stockman" to impregnate them. But the women are determined to protect themselves. Now each of the six faces a choice. Nan, the doctoring woman, has brought a sack of cotton root clippings that can stave off children when chewed daily. If they all take part, the Lucys may give up and send the stockman away. But a pregnancy for any of them will only encourage the Lucys further. And should their plan be discovered, the consequences will be severe. Visceral and arresting, Night Wherever We Go illuminates each woman's individual trials and desires while painting a subversive portrait of collective defiance. Unflinching in her portrayal of America's gravest injustices, while also deeply attentive to the transcendence, love, and solidarity of women whose interior lives have been underexplored, Tracey Rose Peyton creates a story of unforgettable power.

The hurricane of 1900, America's worst natural disaster, left the island city of Galveston in ruins. Thousands perished, including all ninety-three children at the Sisters of the Incarnate Word orphanage--except six-year-old Hester, who miraculously survived. Oleander City is the tale of this little girl and the volatile collision between the American Red Cross, the Ku Klux Klan, and one of the most famous boxing matches in American history. The bout, organized to raise money for the recovery effort, featured the enigmatic veteran "Chrysanthemum Joe" Choynski, the most successful Jewish boxer in America, and Jack Johnson, a young hometown hero known as "the Galveston Giant." The storied battle forged a bond between the two legendary fighters and put Johnson on the path to become the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. Meanwhile, Clara Barton and the Red Cross minister to the sick and hungry as mounted vigilantes use the chaotic situation to settle old scores. After witnessing a terrible crime, Hester finds sanctuary with the ladies of the Red Cross, in a heartrending convergence of these historic figures.

It was 1970 when thirteen-year-old runaway Kit Walker was abducted by Manny Romero, a smooth-talking, low-level criminal, who first coddled her and then groomed her into his partner-in-crime. Before long, Kit and Manny were infamous for their string of gas station robberies throughout Texas, making a name for themselves as the Texaco Twosome. Twenty years after they meet, Kit has scraped together a life for herself and her daughter amongst the pecan trees and muddy creeks of the town of Pecan Hollow, far from Manny. But when he shows up at her doorstep a new man, fresh out of prison, Kit is forced to reckon with the shadows of her past, and her community is sent into a tailspin.

Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's desperate for money--it's not easy to find steady, safe work when you can't provide references, you can't stay in one place for long, and you're paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you. When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house's horrors don't drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them. The job calls to Eric, not just because there's a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it'll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running.

It's 1999 in Southeast Texas and the Evans women, owners of the only funeral parlor in town, are keeping steady with... normal business. The dead die, you bury them. End of story. That's how Ducey Evans has done it for the last eighty years, and her progeny--Lenore the experimenter and Grace, Lenore's soft-hearted daughter, have run Evans Funeral Parlor for the last fifteen years without drama. Ever since That Godawful Mess that left two bodies in the ground and Grace raising her infant daughter Luna, alone. But when town gossip Mina Jean Murphy's body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead instead, it's clear that the Strigoi--the original vampire--are back. And the Evans women are the ones who need to fight back to protect their town. As more folks in town turn up dead and Deputy Roger Taylor begins asking way too many questions, Ducey, Lenore, Grace, and now Luna, must take up their blades and figure out who is behind the Strigoi's return. As the saying goes, what rises up, must go back down. But as unspoken secrets and revelations spill from the past into the present, the Evans family must face that sometimes, the dead aren't the only things you want to keep buried.

Hurricane Harvey is about to hit Houston. Meanwhile, single mom Jia Shah is already having a rough week: her twelve-year-old son, Ishaan, has just been suspended from school for getting in a fight. Still reeling from the fallout of her divorce--their move to Houston, her family's disapproval, the struggle to make ends meet on her own--now Jia is worried about Ishaan's future, too. Will her solo parenting be enough? Doesn't a boy need a father? And now their apartment complex is under a mandatory evacuation order. Jia's sister, Seema, has invited them to hunker down in her fancy house in Sugar Land, and despite Jia's misgivings--as Seema's husband, Vipul, has been just a little too friendly with her lately--Jia concedes it's probably the best place to keep Ishaan safe during the hurricane. With Jia's philandering ex scrutinizing her every move, all too eager to snatch back custody of Ishaan, she can't afford to make a mistake. When Vipul's brother and his wife show up on Seema's doorstep, too, it's a recipe for disaster. Grandma, the family matriarch, has never been shy about playing favorites among her sons and their wives. As the storm escalates, tensions rise quickly, and soon someone's dead. Was it a horrible accident or is there a murderer in their midst? With no help available until the floodwaters recede in the morning, Jia must protect her son and identify the culprit before she goes down for a crime she didn't commit--or becomes the next victim...

Annie McIntyre has a love/hate relationship with Garnett, Texas. Recently graduated from college and home waitressing, lacking not in ambition but certainly in direction, Annie is lured into the family business, a private investigation firm by her supposed-to-be-retired grandfather, Leroy, despite the rest of the clan's misgivings. When a waitress at the café goes missing, Annie and Leroy begin an investigation that leads them down rural routes and haunted byways, to noxious-smelling oil fields and to the glowing neon of local honky-tonks. As Annie works to uncover the truth she finds herself identifying with the victim in increasing, unsettling ways, and realizes she must confront her own past-failed romances, a disturbing experience she'd rather forget, and the trick mirror of nostalgia itself if she wants to survive this homecoming.

When Juni Jessup and her sisters Tansy and Maggie put all their beans in one basket to open Sip & Spin Records, a record-slash-coffee shop in Cedar River, Texas, they knew there could be some scratches on the track, but no one was expecting to find a body deader than disco in the supply closet. Family is everything to the Jessups, so when their uncle is arrested by Juni's heartbreaking ex on suspicion of murder, the sisters don't skip a beat putting Sip & Spin up for bail collateral. But their tune changes abruptly when Uncle Calvin disappears, leaving them in a grind. With their uncle's freedom and the future of their small business on the line, it's up to Juni and her sisters to get in the groove and figure out whodunit before the killer's trail--and the coffee--goes cold. Music and mocha seem like a blend that should be "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," but caught up in a murder investigation with her family and their life savings on the line, Juni wonders if she might be on the "Highway to Hell" instead.

When two cattlemen who are near retirement attempt to deliver their last two thousand cows in hopes of one final payday, they must stop their boss's lawyer who is plotting to steal the workers' cash.

Kelton presents two stories of his beloved West Texas, cowmen, and cow country in this 'OMNIBUS EDITION.' In 'Pecos Crossing, ' Johnny Fristo and Speck Quitman have been cheated out of six-months' wages by their rancher boss and intend to get it. In 'Shotgun, ' rancher Blair Bishop has to contend with a rival cowman whose herd is encroaching on Blair's land, and a recently released ex-con who has a score to settle with Blair.