Selected for NEW BOOKS BY GREAT KY WRITERS 2008 SERIES - Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning
You Can Go Anywhere
by Georgia Green Stamper
"In a collection of essays that ranges in voice from history lesson, to philosophical wanderings, to hilarity at real life at its best, author Georgia Green Stamper covers a wide variety of subjects on her life in Kentucky.
The small, seemingly insignificant details of that life and that of her family combine to create an important statement about the intricate parts that combine to form a whole–the community being the end result.
Well worth the read for the wisdom and insights she provides, she even offers a recipe for World Peace Garlic Cheese Grits.” - Linda Hinchcliffe, The Chevy Chaser
Available To Purchase From:
Praise for You Can Go Anywhere
"This is very powerful writing . . . the language, rhythms, diction are so much of each piece, so much reinforce the subject matter -- a fine (and rare!) synergy. Georgia Stamper has very engaging stories to tell, and a masterful facility with the nuanced language needed to tell them." -Tony Crunk, author of Living in the Resurrection
"Georgia Green Stamper's first book of essays . . . is elegant in its simplicity -- as well as simply elegant. Each entry is wise, most are humorous and all are instructive. But it's the grace of Stamper's syntax -- her ability to select just the right words so that her sentences sing in rich harmony -- that renders her writing special." - L. Elisabeth Beattie, Louisville Courier-Journal
“Georgia Green Stamper is a wonderfully original writer. She is to Kentucky what Bailey White is to Georgia – unique in every way. Humorous, perceptive, and poignant, her essays are perfectly crafted gems illuminating those little moments in life that make it worth living, reminding us to appreciate the present before it quickly passes away. We are still smiling and mulling over her insights, long after we have read the last page.” - Gwyn Hyman Rubio, author of Icy Sparks
"The first time I heard Georgia Stamper read one of her pieces, I knew I had encountered an authentic voice, rooted in a place and its history and passionate to tell its stories -- unmistakably itself, but calling forth echoes of other true and impassioned voices I had read and heard. Most immediately, Georgia's fiction and essays made me think of Wendell Berry's writing. Like Wendell Berry's essays and novels, they were both native ground and portals into the mysteries of another place and time and the ultimately unknowable lives that make up our history and culture as Kentuckians and human beings." - Leatha Kendrick, author of Heart Cake and Second Opinion
"...in You Can Go AnywhereGeorgia shares her compassionate insights into Owen County souls from the colonial period to the attacks of September 11. ... Georgia laughs with them and cries with them. Not many writers can do both." - Sherry Chandler, author of Dance the Black-eyed Girl & My Last Will and Testament Is on the Desk
“It is time for the carefully---and skillfully-- cultivated words of Georgia Green Stamper to be harvested. I recently became acquainted with the Owen County writer when I received her book, You Can Go Anywhere from the Crossroads of the World, from Kentucky Monthly to be reviewed for a future issue. Georgia provides the reader a healthy dose of nostalgic remembrances---often humorous---of her colorful family and community, but the stories are not merely empty sentiment. Many are essay-like, and the former high school teacher cranks out some real gems of wisdom along the way. I also heard her do a reading at Joseph-Beth, and she could teach a clinic on that skill. In fact, Georgia reads regularly on the NPR radio affiliate, WUKY in Lexington. Be sure to check out her web site, georgiagreenstamper.com, and get her book, published by Wind Publications, as fast as you can! I’m continually amazed at the number of wonderful writers our state produces. Add GGS to the list!" - Steve Flarity, author of Kentucky's Everyday Heroes: Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things
"Georgia Green Stamper's daddy used to call the tiny settlement of Natlee, in Owen County, the "crossroads of the world." Starting from Natlee, he liked to joke, "you can go anywhere." His daughter believed him, at least metaphorically.
Exhibiting a passion for family and a strong sense of place, Stamper has crafted a marvelous collection of lively remembrances rooted deeply in her love of people and her land. Her eye for appropriate detail, the ability to add light touches to just about any situation, and her subtle skill of making a point without lecturing make this offering something special. Colorful characters abound, such as Stamper's perfectionist Aunt Bessie.
Stamper's poignant accounting of a war veteran neighbor struck mentally ill, along with another piece about her husband's grandparents' rescued piano, are particularly noteworthy. Hardly a story fails to connect with the reader. Stamper, a former English and drama teacher, has read her work on WUKY-FM in Lexington." - Kentucky Monthly
"Because everyone’s calendar is quite full this time of year, it’s nice to grab a few minutes of reading time whenever possible. Lexington author and seventh-generation Kentuckian Georgia Green Stamper’s You Can Go Anywhere from the Crossroads of the World is perfect for just such a time. The short essays compiled here are highly entertaining, poignant, and sharp-witted. Stamper had me laughing out loud more than once. Not to be missed is the story of Gerald, Stamper’s fictional son that our U.S. Postal Service insisted was real, and Stamper’s theories on the Aztec gods who require sacrificial socks from the washing machine." - Penny Woods, Kentucky Living