This book was sent to Traveling With T for review as part of Suzy Approved Book Tours.

Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy

Summary: New York Times best-selling writer Pat Conroy (1945-2016) inspired a worldwide legion of devoted fans numbering in the millions, but none are more loyal to him and more committed to sustaining his literary legacy than the many writers he nurtured over the course of his fifty-year writing life. In sharing their stories of Conroy, his fellow writers honor his memory and advance our shared understanding of his lasting impact on twentieth- and twenty-first-century literary life in and well beyond the American South.

Conroy’s was a messy fellowship of people from all walks of life. His relationships were complicated, and people and places he thought he’d left behind often circled back to him at crucial moments. The pantheon of contributors includes Pulitzer Prize winners Rick Bragg and Kathleen Parker; Grammy winners Barbra Streisand and Janis Ian; Lillian Smith Award winners Anthony Grooms and Mary Hood; National Book Award winner Nikky Finney; James Beard Foundation Award winners Nathalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubart; a corps of New York Times best-selling authors, including Ron Rash, Sandra Brown, and Mary Alice Monroe; Conroy biographers Katherine Clark and Catherine Seltzer; longtime Conroy friends Bernie Schein, Cliff Graubart, John Warley, and Walter Edgar; Pat’s students Sallie Ann Robinson and Valerie Sayers; members of the Conroy family; and many more.

Each author in this collection shares a slightly different view of Conroy. Through their voices, a vibrant, multifaceted portrait of him comes to life and sheds new light on the writer and the man. Loosely following Conroy’s own chronology, the essays in Our Prince of Scribes wind through his river of a story, stopping at important ports of call. Cities he called home and longed to visit, along with each book he birthed, become characters that are as equally important as the people he touched and loved along the way.

 

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Ok, so I have a major confession: I’ve never read a Pat Conroy book.

Now that ya’ll are finished throwing books at me and trying to take my book lover card away.. allow me to explain.

I recall vividly seeing the movie ads for The Prince of Tides. Seeing Nick Nolte and Barbara Streisand. But the movie was too grown up for me. I was just a kid. Also I was obsessed with movies like The Cutting Edge ( that was where I kept seeing the ads for The Prince of Tides.) And for years- I actually did not know that the movie was based on a book.

As i grew up and my reading taste evolved- I can’t explain why I’ve never read a Pat Conroy book. Probably too many books, too little time. But still.. as much as I love Southern Lit- I mean he’s the KING of Southern Lit, I hope to one day read a book by him.

So, why am I reading this book?

When authors that I deeply admire and love for their books or joy of life (or both!) are writing stories about how Pat touched their lives- how he inspired them, helped them, became a friend to them.. well that’s just a bookish love letter that I can not ignore. In fact, before asked to be part of Suzy Approved’s Book Tours blog tour, my friend and guide for all things Southern Lit, Erin from Deep South Magazine, had put this book on my radar by putting it as a DSM Fall/Winter Reads and having Patti Callahan Henry’s contribution to Our Prince of Scribes, Sublimely Conroy, posted about in Deep South Magazine.

 

What I liked:

The cover. After reading the stories of Pat, I can say that this photo did Pat justice. It captured his spirit, his joy for life.

The authors included. Some are authors on my auto buy list. Some are authors I’ve had the pleasure to meet and hear speak. All are incredibly passionate about the stories they share about Pat.

 

Bottom line: This book is part love letter to Pat- the many ways he helped, touched people’s lives, inspired authors…. and a way for readers to get to see a deeper, dare say more personal side of Pat as the authors contributing to this book share their stories on how Pat touched their lives.

 

*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review as part of Suzy Approved Tour’s blog tour for Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*

 

 

*Have you added Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy to your TBR list?*

 

Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T