WEEREAD: Foote, A Mystery Novel

Meet James “Big Jim” Foote: longtime Morgantown resident, private investigator, and bigfoot. After decades spent hiding in plain sight as a bigfoot, observing and blending in come naturally to Jim, so working a...

WEEREAD: The Marrowbone Marble Company

On all accounts, protagonist Loyal Ledford seems to be a typical American man: The Marrowbone Marble Company opens on an eighteen-year-old Ledford working for the Mann Glass Company while taking classes at Mars...

WEEREAD: The Midwife’s Tale

From the midwives and medicine women of yesteryear to today’s frontline healthcare workers, women have provided care and healing for as long as humankind has existed. In recognition of their contributions to he...
Colored People a Memoir

WEEREAD: Colored People: A Memoir

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a man known by multiple titles and accolades but is perhaps best known as a literary critic and who rediscovered early African-American novels and pushed for their inclusion in the Wes...

WEEREAD: Monsters in Appalachia

With compelling prose and an ear for Appalachian dialects, author Sheryl Monks’ Monsters in Appalachia chronicles monsters ranging from hellish beasts to everyday evils in this collection of fifteen short stori...
Mountaineers are Always Free

WEEREAD: Mountaineers are Always Free

On Sunday, June 20, West Virginia will celebrate the anniversary of its statehood. With its official motto “Montani Semper Liberi” (“Mountaineers are Always Free”), it’s little surprise that the Mountaineer was...
Hippie Homesteaders

WEEREAD: Hippie Homesteaders

A writer and sculptor born in Huntington, Carter Taylor Seaton has long been a part of the arts and crafts movement in West Virginia. In 2016, Seaton was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the West Vir...
Strange as this weather has been

WEEREAD: Strange as This Weather Has Been

Told in alternating viewpoints by matriarch Lace Ricker See and her three eldest children, Ann Pancake’s debut novel Strange as This Weather Has Been is an urgent, poignant story about the environmental damages...
55 Strong book review

WEEREAD: 55 Strong

With written testimonials and spontaneous on-the-street interviews, 55 Strong: Inside the West Virginia Teachers’ Strike is a deeply personal account of the circumstances that sparked the 2018 strike and its pr...
At Home in the Heart of Appalachia

WEEREAD: At Home in the Heart of Appalachia

A poignant memoir of family and place, At Home in the Heart of Appalachia’s opening chapter begins with author John O’Brien traveling for his father Jim’s funeral. A strained relationship with his father and hi...
Camp_Russel

New Deal Projects at Oglebay Park

As a staple institution in the Wheeling community, Oglebay Park serves as a place for entertainment, recreation, history, and celebration. While many people are familiar with the history of Earl W. Oglebay and ...
WEEread

WEEREAD: Holiday Reading for Children

A Day for Skating by Sarah Sullivan Written in simple rhyming couplets with no more than two lines to a page, Sarah Sullivan’s A Day for Skating is perfect to share with children who are just learning to r...
Shiner

WEEREAD: Shiner

In her stunning debut novel Shiner, Amy Jo Burns explores friendship and grief in the mountains of West Virginia. Teenaged Wren Bird and her family live an isolated and antiquated life in Randolph County, nearl...
WEEread

WEEREAD: Who’s Telling Appalachia’s Story?

Since it's release in 2016, J.D. Vance's memoir Hillbilly Elegy has received both praise and criticism. Borne out of a need to respond to Hillbilly Elegy, Appalachian Reckoning and What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia tackle issues that have plagued the region long before Vance came on the scene. Have you read any of these books? What are your thoughts on the role that they play in telling our story as Appalachians?
WEEread

Recommended Reading: WV Books for Kids

As the kids settle into the new school year, check out these books to keep their minds active and explore the mountain state through reading. All of the books featured are either written by West Virginia author...
The Unquiet Grave

WEEREAD: The Unquiet Grave

For many a West Virginian, the story of Zona Heaster Shue — better known as the Greenbrier Ghost — is a familiar one. The small details may differ, but the story usually goes something like this: in 1897, a rec...
Riding on Comets

WEEREAD: Riding on Comets

In her memoir Riding on Comets, born-and-bred West Virginian Cat Pleska recalls coming of age in the 1950s and ‘60s in a story that, at its core, is about a family trying to stay together. At first look, Pleska...