"Stay Sweet" author draws full house for reading

Chris Chandler, author of "Stay Sweet: Tales of Quirky Southern Love," read passages from her new book to a full house at Inkberry Books on Saturday, July 29. The reading was followed by a book signing.

The book is a memoir about Chandler and her family, and their life in small-town Georgia. The southern love referenced in the title refers to Chandler's deep bonds with her family, particularly her female relatives, who provided the author with strong, accepting role models.

The book also trades in the southern tradition of telling stories, many of them humorous: stories told, honed, and retold at the kitchen table, on the front porch, and at the corner drugstore.

Grandmother May (and her recipes) becomes a central and important focus of the book, as we move through Chandler's childhood, college years, and wedding. But we also learn about Granddaddy Chandler, who sells propane, is prone to phrases like "now we're cooking with gas," and whose squirrel stew recipe ("Needed: Squirrel") appears in Chapter 13.

The chapters range back and forth in time and tone. Even readers not from the South, those who don't know the plural of "y'all" ("all y'all"), that "be-aw-ight" ("be all right") is an appropriate response for "how you doing?," or how to properly (and devastatingly) wield the phrase "bless his heart," will likely still enjoy the many overlapping stories about coming up in 1960s-1970s Milledgeville, Georgia, the state's former capital until 1868, when Atlanta took over as the capital city.

Chandler, now a Boulder resident, was a two-time cast member of Boulder's "Listen to Your Mother" show, and has been published in ScaryMommy.com and the Boulder Magazine. Her website is http://www.WritingUnleashed.net. Her favorite afternoon snack is pork rinds and locally-brewed kombucha or, as she refers to it, "Milledgeville meets Boulder."