One often takes for granted what one has. I have read so many very, very good books written by Atlanta area authors that I tend to forget how good we have it. Then I’ll read a particularly excellent one and the realization of the quantity of our superb local talent hits home.

This happened recently with a reading of Susan Rebecca White‘s A Place at the Table. (White, an Atlanta native, is on the faculty of Emory’s Creative Writing Program.) The ‘local’ part is inescapable: a substantial part of the novel takes place right here in Decatur during the 1970s and there is a key relationship within the book inspired by that of Scott Peacock (formerly of Watershed) and Edna Lewis. The ‘quality’ part is equally apparent. White’s three main characters are thoughtfully complex and, as their lives intertwine, more layers are added.

A book release celebration for A Place at the Table is being held at the Decatur Library this Sunday at 7:30pm.

Also of note Sara Shepard, author of all those Pretty Little Liars books, is coming to Decatur this week. Whoohoooo!

This Week:

Annalee Newitz, author of Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, Wednesday, May 29th at 7:15pm, Decatur Library, sponsored by Georgia Center for the Book, free.

John Scalzi, author of The Human Division, Thursday, May 30th at 7pm, Eagle Eye Book Shop, free.

Susan Rebecca White, author of A Place at the Table, Sunday, June 2nd at 7:30pm, Decatur Library, sponsored by Georgia Center for the Book, free.

Mary Hood, author of Stories Waiting to be Heard: Selected Fiction from the Six Decades of the Georgia Review, Monday, June 3rd at 7:15pm, Decatur Library, sponsored by Georgia Center for the Book and the Georgia Review, free.

Junie B. Jones Bus Tour, Wednesday, June 5th at 4pm, Decatur Library, sponsored by Little Shop of Stories and Georgia Center for the Book, free.

Summer Crush Tour with Sara Shepard (author of Pretty Little Liars: Crushed), Katie Sise (author of The Boyfriend App), and Sarah Strohmeyer (author of How Zoe Made Her Dreams (Mostly) Come True and Smart Girls Get What They Want), Wednesday, June 5th at 7pm, Little Shop of Stories, free.

Charlie Lovett, author of The Bookman’s Tale, Wednesday, June 5th at 7:15pm, Decatur Library, sponsored by Georgia Center for the Book, free.

Ryan Klee at Lenz Marketing forwards an announcement from the Decatur Book Festival, regarding the launch of a new event  that’s both outside the city limits and DBF weekend.  It’s being called “the festival’s latest expansion.”

The kick off event for this expansion will be the first DBF Book Club Bash at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 16 at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, 5342 Tilly Mill Rd., Dunwoody.

The evening is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required. Several hundred metro Atlanta book club members have already signed up to attend, and there is still room for more before capacity is reached, although space is going fast.

The Bash will include an authors panel of popular local authors talking about how they relate to book clubs and to fans in general: Emily Giffin (“Love the One You’re With”), Joshilyn Jackson (“The Girl Who Stopped Swimming”) and Susan Rebecca White (“Bound South”). There will also be discussion among book club leaders about what goes into making a good book club, and information from bookstores and libraries on how they can help book clubs. Refreshments will also be served.

In order to attend, you must be a member of a metro Atlanta book club, and you must register at this page on the Decatur Book Festival website: http://www.decaturbookfestival.com/Community/bookclubs.php