The Cracker Queen: A Memoir by Lauretta Hannon ($24, Gotham). Hannon tells the stories of her tumultuous upbringing in backwater Warner Robins, her father’s death when she was 17 and those of entertaining characters like Crazy Aunt Carrie, The Goat Man, her own Mama smuggling cigarettes to chain gangs, and the more unsavory part of Savannah. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll want a beer to wash it all down.
Sylly Syliva by Christy Waehner ($25.95, Blurb). This coffee table-sized book tells the story of two Dobermans and their uplifting presence in the Waehner home. Beautiful color photos. There’s also a hardcover version. www.blurb.com.
The Burden of Speech: Poems by Travis Wayne Denton ($14.95, C&R Press). Pop iconography dots the humorous and moving debut collection by Denton, who is editor of Atlanta-based literary magazine, Terminus, and associate director of the Poetry at Tech program at Georgia Tech.