Louisiana Books with Introspective Journeys
Stories of family, belonging and nature
The High Heaven
In Joshua Wheeler’s debut novel, “The High Heaven,” we follow the protagonist, Izzy, after her parents are killed on the night of the first Apollo mission. This novel explores Izzy’s life, along with the eccentricities of New Mexico to Texas to New Orleans. Despite the surrealist turns that the novel takes, Wheeler deeply embeds his novel in the history of the Sun Belt and the country, as he flexes his muscles as a nonfiction writer and journalist, to the point where he shares a bibliography of texts he uses in order to keep the story true to life. “The High Heaven” is a deeply entertaining, exciting and introspective novel. Wheeler teaches at Louisiana State University. 304 pages, $28
No One Is Daddy
In “No One Is Daddy,” Dylan Krieger takes the reader on an emotional, spiritual and postmodern ride. The reader sees various power structures submit, and strength through the acknowledgement of powerlessness. The reader really gets a taste of Krieger’s voice and her book in the poem titled “millennial reign,” which early on reads, “Y2K killed my cat. i am the dispossessed millennial / trash all the bar graphs in time magazine warned you about.” “No One Is Daddy” is a wild and beautiful ride. Krieger is based in South Louisiana and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University. 104 pages, $18
Café Lafitte in Exile: Queer New Orleans and the Story of America’s Oldest Gay Bar
In “Café Lafitte in Exile: Queer New Orleans and the Story of America’s Oldest Gay Bar,” Frank Perez and Jeffrey Palmquist tell the story of New Orleans’ gay community through the perspective of its most famous gay bar. Like all great histories, the book starts this story long before the bar was constructed, with indigenous culture and their perspective on multiple genders and sexual roles versus the colonial perspective of queerness, before getting to the construction of the bar in 1953. From there, Perez and Palmquist use oral histories and newspaper records to tell the story of Café Lafitte in Exile. 208 pages, $32.95
Into the Lost World: A Journey into Louisiana’s Bayou Country
“Into the Lost World: A Journey into Louisiana’s Bayou Country” is a photo book from acclaimed photographer Andy Crawford, containing over 150 color photographs of plant and wild life Crawford witnessed in his years as a photographer and kayak tour guide. There’s also a map and explanations of the swamps’ importance. This book is a love letter to Louisiana and a must have for anyone who interested in the beauty of rural Louisiana. 160 pages, $29.99
