September 23rd, 2010 
davidguide 
Product Description
The agnostic, ten-years-sober son of a Baptist minister, B. Sammy Singleton has an opinion about everything. He also has a guidebook on New Orleans coffee shops to write. But when his best friend Catfish-reluctant heir to the Beaucoeur sugarcane fortune-is arrested for “grave robbing” and then goes missing, events spin out of control. The outcome is a personal journey into a past Sammy thought he had laid to rest, an excavation of buried truths about himself and abo… More >>
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Lummis, David. “The Coffee Shop Chronicles of New Orleans: Part 1″, River House Publishing, 2010.
Coffee and New Orleans, A Great Combo
Amos Lassen
Those of you who know me also know that two of my favorite things in life are coffee and talking about my life in New Orleans and if someone would put those two topics together in a book, he is bound to get a rave review. Such is very much the case with David Lummis and “The Coffee Shop Chronicles of New Orleans”, a projected three book set. I just finished Part 1 and about to extol its virtues.
First let’s look at what the book is about. B. Sammy Singleton is the son of a Baptist minister; he is an agnostic and has been sober now for ten years. He also has something to say about everything. He is at work (or would like us to believe) on writing a guidebook on New Orleans coffee shops. However he hits a snag when his best friend Catfish, the heir to the Beaucoeur sugarcane fortune, is taken in by the New Orleans Police Department for “grave robbing” and afterwards mysteriously disappears. As Sammy begins looking for him Sammy finds himself on a personal journey into parts of his life that he had thought would never be heard of again and like Huckleberry Finn and Leo Bloom, we are with him as he learns not only where to find the best coffee but about a very shameful period of American history.
Sammy has never written a book before and he finds that doing so is a heavy job. The writing gig interferes with Sammy’s facing a world where racism exists and for which he has made himself the champion of doing away with it. He has returned to New Orleans after having lived in the North and he has come home to blend in and eventually lose himself. He has switched addictions from alcohol to coffee and he knows every coffee shop in the city it seems and the people in the shops all know him. He uses the coffee shops as a refuge for peace and solitude; Sammy is an individual who like to be alone but that is not what is planned by fate.
The book begins on August 16, 2005 as Hurricane Katrina is forming and preparing to devastate New Orleans in August, 2005 and it ends just ten days later, three days before Katrina hit the city. Sammy is organizing his ideas for his coffee guide but everything comes to a halt when Catfish is arrested on a ridiculous charge (grave robbing). Even though Sammy becomes determined to lose himself in New Orleans and the book he is writing, things do not quite go as planned.
As Sammy begins his journey to save Catfish he roams the streets looking for him and meets some of the most amazing characters and the author gives us a menagerie of some unforgettable people. The disappearance of Catfish forces Sammy to take a good hard look at himself and he realizes that he is really fond of what he finds. To Sammy, the sudden realization that slavery was the “American Holocaust” makes him feel partly responsible and now he must atone and be absolved of guilt. And this is what we must wait for in book 2.
I must say that David Lummis can tell a good story. He also knows coffee houses in New Orleans quite well and I found myself sitting in the very coffee houses that I was reading about. We have long known that every writer puts some of his autobiography in the books that he writes and so I must assume that that is also true here. The places where the book is set are real but Lummis has created the characters (and they are wonderfully created) and he thus gives us a book that is a pleasure to read. The detail with which he writes makes New Orleans very real and in fact, the city emerges as a major character in the novel.
Have I said enough great things about the novel? If I haven’t then I strongly recommend that you get a copy and see for yourself.
Rating: 5 / 5
David Lummis has captured the charm, mystique, and culture of life in the Big Easy. A must read for anyone who loves New Orleans. Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Rating: 5 / 5
I struggled to stay awake last night to finish the Coffee Shop Chronicles – a long day and the heat were closing me down – not this excellent book. I could not allow myself to drift off until that decidedly (emotionally) difficult last chapter and Catfish’s soul flaying poem was read and then digested – and then digested again. I suspect, The Coffee Shop Chronicles will be one of those books whose theme and questions raised will demand a great deal of digestion before it becomes part of the fibre of one’s consciousness.
Sammy’s inner dialogue and outward movement (or lack there of) made me laugh out loud and several scenes will stay with me – the coffee shop being invaded by the family of tourists, the painful scream as he jumps into bed with Catfish and the baggy Edie Bauer shorts (my favourite).
The “unusually” long sentence structure took a little getting used to, but soon enough I was lulled by its rhythm and it became the melody behind the lyrics.
I look forward to the next installment.
Rating: 5 / 5
I read The Coffee Shop Chronicles of New Orleans the first time quickly as I always read, to assemble the charactors, pick up the plot, get to some thrilling conclusion and move on to the next book. But this book was different so I decided to give it a second read and savor the “Mellifluously Mixed Metaphors”. This I did as a wine connoisseur does (pardon me B. Sammy) as he takes a tiny sip, swishes it around in his mouth with his eyes rolled back in his head and, after a long pause, knods an O.K. to the waiter. This is the way to read the Chronicles. The descriptive metaphors bring the unique charactors to life. The story plot is great, mixed with mystery, descriptive narrative of present day and historical New Orleans and a courageous no-holds-barred description of slavery as practiced in America, and the effect it had on the sensitive psyche of Catfish and B. Sammy Singleton. The Coffee Shop Chronicles is a must read, but read it slowly and savor every word. Get Part 2 out ASAP David. (And Part 3)
Pete
Rating: 5 / 5
Of course, when I say “love New Orleans” I mean the REAL New Orleans, not necessarily just Bourbon Street on a Saturday night (although that’s New Orleans too). I’m talking about the history, the amazing rhythm and music of the city and, most of all, the wonderful people who make New Orleans their home. This book is a rich tapestry of all of these things and a must read for anyone who loves New Orleans (or anyone who just loves a book you can fall into rather than skim through). I can’t wait for Part Two!
Rating: 5 / 5