On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

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Group Reads archive > A Land More Kind Than Home: Supplemental Readings, August 2013

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message 1: by Lawyer, "Moderator Emeritus" (new)

Lawyer (goodreadscommm_sullivan) | 2668 comments Mod
Here's the topic for members to add supplemental readings on the novel and back ground on serpent handling. I highly recommend Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia concerning a journalist covering the trial of a minister of a snake handling congregation who attempted to murder his wife. The author, Dennis Covington, subsequently found himself drawn into the congregations of these churches through Appalachia.

My review may be found at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Mike S.


message 2: by Elaine Drennon (new)

Elaine Drennon | 10 comments I read this book several years ago and was mesmerized by it. I know longer have it---it's one of those that I continually loaned out until suddenly I didn't know where it was, but I remember it well. Although I generally don't consider myself such a visual learner, the section of photographs in the the center of the book really haunted me. Some of the people looked like average parents at a PTO meeting in the North Georgia school where I worked. Others had an eery aesthetic quality that never failed to give me cold chills. (I particularly remember the one of Aleen Somebody holding up a snake, her eyes closed as she smiled in ecstasy, and another one labeled "the legendary Punkin Brown.") The book's conclusion, too, was shockingly unexpected.


Jenny (Reading Envy) (readingenvy) | 178 comments I started the Cash and realized I have Salvation on Sand Mountain on my to-read shelf.


message 4: by Lawyer, "Moderator Emeritus" (new)

Lawyer (goodreadscommm_sullivan) | 2668 comments Mod
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I started the Cash and realized I have Salvation on Sand Mountain on my to-read shelf."

I highly recommend Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia. It is based on an attempted murder case in north east Alabama. Covington was assigned to cover the case. Then he became fascinated by the people involved in this religious sub-culture to the point where he began to participate in the services. Covington seems to have often lived on the edge covering other stories.


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