Since we know many of our Duke University community are either returning from summer breaks or joining us for the first time, we thought we’d welcome you with books about the state you live in. You’ll find books about some aspect of North Carolina, novels set in North Carolina, and books written by people from North Carolina. Check out our Collection Spotlight rack near our Perkins Library Service Desk on the first floor of Perkins. Here’s a selection of some of the titles you’ll find:
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, who is from Asheville. In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it. This novel is set in the fictional North Carolina town of Bascom.
To Hate Like This is to be Happy Forever: A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry by Will Blythe. As one of our staff member explained when she picked this book, “When I first moved to North Carolina, I kept thinking, why is everyone so crazy about basketball? And then I read this book, and I started to understand.”
Weird Carolinas: Your Travel Guide to the Carolinas’, Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets by Roger Manley. You think Duke is weird! Haunted places, oddities, North Karolina Kultur! This book also includes South Carolina, and fun facts on legends and pseudo history of the upper South.
These Same Long Bones by Gwendolyn Parker. It’s set in Durham, more specifically in the “Hayti” black section, on the eve of integration and is told from the point of view of a leader in the black community. It’s a powerful family story and a great glimpse into Durham history.
Talkin’ Tarheel: How Our Voices Tell the Story of NC by Walt Wolfram. Introduces the reader to the unique regional, social, and ethnic dialects of North Carolina.