Bill Clinton and James Patterson talk new political thriller book
Bill Clinton and James Patterson release “The First Gentleman,” using Clinton’s White House experience to shape their third political thriller.
- Several books with Kentucky ties have been released recently across multiple genres.
- Featured authors include Donna Simmons, Nat Bickel, Katie Bo Lillis, Lee Cole, The Louisville Story Program, Mike Norris, Shannon Stocker, and Gabrielle Gray.
- Many of the books are available for purchase at Carmichael’s Bookstore.
Whether you’re jet-setting, enjoying a little peace while your kids are at camp or soaking up some sun at Cherokee Park, summertime is a great time to catch up on a little reading.
And there is no shortage of great stories coming out of the Louisville area and Kentucky.
Looking to dive into a good book? Whether you’re 5, 15 or 50 years old, we tracked down several titles with local ties that have been released in the last year or so.
Here are nine books to add to your summer reading list.
‘150 Years of the Kentucky Derby: Through the Lens and Voice of The Courier Journal’
AUTHOR: The Courier Journal
GENRE: Commemorative
DESCRIPTION: A special release from The Courier Journal commemorating 150 years of the Kentucky Derby. The newspaper’s legacy of covering the event is as long as the race itself, and its story is told through the eyes of the journalists, who continue to cover it year after year. The book, which was released in June 2024, offers a mix of historic and modern photographs, including pictures from the milestone event on May 4, 2024. It’s a keepsake that highlights the race’s history, pageantry, grandeur, athleticism, and dynamic, transformational presence in Louisville.
This book recently won second place in special products category from the national Society for Features Journalism 2025 Excellence in Features awards.
COST: $44.95 at Pediment.com
‘Ashes to Flame: Transforming Trauma into Purpose’
AUTHOR: Donna Simmons
GENRE: Memoir
DESCRIPTION: The author was born into a family shrouded by multi-generational cycles of abuse and child marriages. In this memoir, Donna Simmons navigates pain and betrayal, while detailing the challenges that devastated her early years but did not define the person she became. In addition to being an author, Simmons is an appointed member of the Kentucky Juvenile Justice Advisory Board, which aims to reduce juvenile system involvement and to strengthen protective factors for high risk youth.
COST: $18.99 at Carmichael’s Bookstore
‘The Catalyst’
AUTHOR: Nat Bickel
GENRE: Young Adult
DESCRIPTION: This teen love story centers on an ambitious young girl, Kelynn, and an unusual opal necklace that gives her love interest, Clayton, the ability to see how her life will play out. Clayton uses this access to Kelynn’s thoughts to his advantage, and begins boosting her confidence and setting up scenarios to push her into what he thinks she wants out of life.
Nat Bickel is a Southern Indiana-based author, who wrote this story “in hopes that others would experience every raw, unsuspecting, sensational, and terrifying emotion surrounding falling in love.”
COST: $13.99 at Carmichael’s Bookstore
‘Death of a Racehorse’
AUTHOR: Katie Bo Lillis
GENRE: Nonfiction
DESCRIPTION: This is a character-driven thriller-like read about drugs, power, and money. CNN reporter Katie Bo Lillis illustrates how two high-profile cases highlight deeper troubles in the horseracing world. She examines the industry-rocking indictments of top trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro, and Bob Baffert and the allegations he faced after a string of mysterious horse deaths and the high-profile disqualification of his Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit.
Lillis lived in Lexington for a few years, and has been at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May more times than she can count.
COST: $29.99 at Carmichael’s Bookstore
‘Fulfillment’
AUTHOR: Lee Cole
GENRE: Fiction
DESCRIPTION: “Fulfillment” follows the story of wildly different two half brothers, who upend each other’s lives in devastating ways. Joel is a successful academic and author, whose marriage is in deep trouble, and his younger sibling, Emmett, is paralyzed by indecision and working in a shipping warehouse. This is a story about class divides, privilege, work, male loneliness and the broader question of what it takes to build a life of fulfillment.
Author Lee Cole was raised near Paducah, and worked for almost three years at the UPS air hub in Louisville in his mid-20s and was reluctant to write about it, until he realized the story there was deeper than just moving parcels on a conveyor belt.
COST: $29 at Carmichael’s Bookstore
‘I’m Glad About It: The Legacy of Gospel Music in Louisville’
AUTHOR: The Louisville Story Program
GENRE: History
DESCRIPTION: “I’m Glad About It: The Legacy of Gospel Music in Louisville” features a 208-page book along with four CDs of 83 recordings restored from the original vinyl. During a three-year project, the Louisville Story Program digitized 1,000+ rare recordings by Louisville artists and record labels from 1958 and 1981. Dozens of members of Louisville’s Black gospel music community contributed firsthand narratives, which aimed to preserve the history of the communities that produced local, extraordinary music.
COST: $40 at louisvillestoryprogram.org or Carmichael’s Bookstore
‘Mommy Goose’s Appalachian Melodies’
AUTHOR: Mike Norris
ILLUSTRATOR: Minnie Adkins
GENRE: Children
DESCRIPTION: This is the third and final installment of the “Mommy Goose” series, which pairs lyrical poems and nursery rhymes with illustrations made from hand-carved figures by celebrated Eastern Kentucky artist Minnie Adkins. The book touches on a variety of themes such as the might of words, kindness and conflict, and time. Author Mike Norris is a native of Jackson County, Kentucky, and he doubles as a poet and songwriter.
COST: $24.95 at Carmichael’s Bookstore
‘Stronger at the Seams’
AUTHOR: Shannon Stocker
GENRE: Young Adult
DESCRIPTION: This story follows a young teen’s journey to unpack a concerning medical problem. Doctors brush off Twyla’s concerns with nausea as minor digestive issues or stress. When she questions her dad about her late mother’s medical history, he shuts down the conversation. Then she finds a clue in her mother’s records, and she tries to find her own reasons for her growing discomfort.
Author Shannon Stocker lives in Louisville. She completed medical school, but a disability kept her from doing a residency. She calls that experience “a plot twist for which she is now grateful.”
COST: $18.99 at Carmichael’s Bookstore
‘To Each the Other Sent’
AUTHOR: Gabrielle Gray
GENRE: Historical Fiction
DESCRIPTION: This novel is based on the author’s ancestors and set against the backdrop of a nation engulfed in racial chaos. The story, which is set predominantly in Georgia and Kentucky, speaks to a testament of love and faith through the ages, resulting in the unions of three couples who all cherished the notion. The author shares the joy and sadness, artistry, devotion and entrepreneurship of her ancestors while elevating them as grand examples of love and courage in the early 20th century. Gray is also a composer and violinist, who founded two Kentucky music festivals — ROMP in Owensboro and the Master Musicians Festival in Somerset, her hometown. “To Each the Other Sent” is her first novel.
COST: $28 at Carmichael’s Bookstore
Reach Courier Journal features writer Maggie Menderski at mmenderski@courier-journal.com.
