June is for The Year of Jubilo

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

by Howard Bahr will be my choice for an extra read in June. We read as a group read a while back. This is the second of Bahr's Civil War trilogy, but is a stand alone book for those of you who didn't read that one. For those who did, you already know that Bahr's writing is beautiful and powerful and impeccably researched. He has been compared to William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy, and I think he deserves those accolades. The setting is Mississippi just after surrender and before Reconstuction.

[Lawyer, "Moderator Emeritus"]

Diane wrote: " by Howard Bahr will be my choice for an extra read in June. We read [bookcover:The Black Flower: A Novel of the Civi..."

This is an excellent choice. I join you in recommending this highly. Bahr's entire trilogy is worth the read.

Mike

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I'm getting ready to start this one. "The Black Flower" was a group read a couple of years ago, and I think it's one of the best Civil War novels I've ever read. This one is Bahr's second in the trilogy, but concerns the post-war years in Mississippi, and is a stand alone book if you didn't read the first one.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I finished last night. It doesn't usually take me 2 weeks to read a book, but I found myself reading paragraphs and passages more than once just for the beauty of the prose. To those of you needing a break from evilness, this book is a tribute to the human spirit, about good people trying to do good things in spite of the cruelty and unfairness that surrounds them. If you can't get to it right now, put it on your to-read pile. I promise you won't be disappointed.

[Patricia]

I pretty much am always on the lookout for an alternative to what's dark, grim, violent, etc. There seems to be more and more of it! Yes, of course I know that it's there in the world. But I also think it is capitalized on in fiction right now. This title will go on my list.