On the Southern Literary Trail discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
General Bookishness
>
Retired: What are you reading?
Mod
Dave wrote: "Lori wrote: "Dave, you should look at Country Dark for sure! Sooooo good!! Kentucky Straight is waiting for me on my kindle."Lori thanks for recommending Country Dark. It was fantastic, one of my..."
Dave, I am so glad to hear that!!!
Great review Faith. I’m adding the book. Wasn’t sure before.
Sue wrote: "Great review Faith. I’m adding the book. Wasn’t sure before."Thanks Sue.
Faith wrote: "My review of The Killing Hills by Chris Offutthttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Looking forward to reading this one too! I just finished Kentucky Straight and loved it! Morehead, Kentucky is the setting, WOW! about an hour away from where I grew up. I love that about southern lit.
Faith, I requested The Killing Hills from NetGalley after I read your review. I was notified today that I got a copy. I can’t read it immediately, but I’m looking forward to it.
Sue wrote: "Faith, I requested The Killing Hills from NetGalley after I read your review. I was notified today that I got a copy. I can’t read it immediately, but I’m looking forward to it."I'm glad you managed to get an advance copy. I hope you like it.
I finished the third book in the Vampire Chronicles: 
The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of Buses Are a Comin': Memoir of a Freedom Rider by Charles Personhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smithhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I’m adding this book Faith. Excellent review.
Sue wrote: "I’m adding this book Faith. Excellent review."Thanks Sue.
The Accidental Tourist – Anne Tyler – 3.5***
Tyler excels at writing character-driven works that give us a glimpse of their lives in all their messy complexity and banal ordinariness. I love the scenes she creates that reveal so much of family dynamics; the Thanksgiving dinner is priceless, as is Rose’s wedding, and Christmas at Muriel’s mother’s house.
My full review HERE
Little Big Man – Thomas Berger – 3.5***
Berger’s novel purports to be a memoir/autobiography of Jack Crabb – frontiersman, Indian scout, gunfighter, buffalo hunter, adopted Cheyenne. I was completely entertained by this novel of the American West. Berger gives the reader quite the raconteur in Crabb, with a gift for story-telling and colorful language. By the narrator’s own account, he certainly has a gift for landing on his feet, managing to get out of more than one potentially deadly scrape by his wits or sheer dumb luck. If the scenarios stretch credulity, well that is part of the fun.
My full review HERE
I just found out today that “The Gospel Singer” by Harry Crews is finally being re-released on March 15, 2022. It’s been out of print in the English language since the 1990s and is quite pricy on the second hand market. It’s my favourite Southern Gothic book and I’ve always wanted to nominate it for a group read but hesitated due to its unavailability. Hopefully this will lead to more re-releases of Mr Crews early work - “Naked in Garden Hills”, for example, is even more expensive and hard to find.
Mod
Mod
Penguin Classics is doing the reprint. They are also reprinting his autobiography on the same date, although I wish they had chosen one that was more difficult to find. Nonetheless, this is a good sign and hopefully there are more on the way.
Mod
"YA" as a genre was just getting underway when I was young. So, with age 66 coming up next week, at long last, I'm reading THE OUTSIDERS, THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW, and TEX. My GR review:
In the late 1960's a new type of American literature evolved, one that spoke straight to the social and economic needs of teens and bypassed the sentimental, boy-meets-girl fiction that had largely been the norm before. THE OUTSIDERS (1967) by a new teen author, S.E. Hinton, set the outlook and established the genre. "Young Adult" fiction, as the new writing came to be called, was a hit with adolescents and sympathizers alike.
The novel is set in a medium-sized Oklahoma city and narrated by "Ponyboy" Curtis who, along with his two older brothers, was left to fend for himself when their parents died in a car wreck. After that, material privation is only part of the challenges the brothers face. The town is divided along class lines: on the East Side live working-class "Ponyboy," his family and friends, the so-called "Greasers." To the West are the middle-class "Socs," the better-off but not necessarily "rich" kids. These two mega-gangs have their own different styles, which author Hinton limns out in great detail: social interaction (Soc understatement versus Greaser passion), transportation (newer Detroit cars versus walking, or beaters), clothes (wheat jeans and Madras plaid versus t-shirts and leather), and of course music (the Beatles versus Elvis -- after all, this was 1967).
After a long-anticipated rumble pits Greasers against Socs, Ponyboy and friends decide it's best to go into hiding in another town. But what should have been prudent develops along unanticipated and tragic lines, which I can't go into here. I can say, though, that THE OUTSIDERS put S.E. Hinton at the top of her game, gave legs to a powerful new force in fiction, and triggered a spate of highly successful movies and novels, not least of them the eponymous feature film (1983) starring Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise. Even if "teen angst" is but a long-vanished memory for most of us, THE OUTSIDERS and its ilk are well worth discovering. (less)
flag10 likes · 4 comments · see review
The Killing HillsI loved Chris Offutt's new book! Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Can't get much farther "south" than Chile ...
A Long Petal Of the Sea – Isabel Allende – 4****
A family epic covering six decades of history from 1930s Spanish Civil War to 1990s in Chile. This is the kind of historical fiction at which Allende excels. She seamlessly weaves the real historical events into the story line, while giving the reader characters that come alive on the page and about which we come to care. Central to this work, as to all of Allende’s novels, are the strong women. Roser and Ofelia certainly take center stage. But the older women – Carme, Laura and Juana – are equally strong, resilient, intelligent and determined.
My full review HERE
A Gathering Of Old Men – Ernest J Gaines – 4****
A dead man. A running tractor. A white woman who claims she shot him. A gathering of old men with shotguns. A sheriff who knows everyone is lying. A father who needs revenge. What is so marvelous about this work is that Gaines tells it from a variety of viewpoints, as different characters narrate chapters. One by one they tell their stories simply but eloquently.
My full review HERE
Adequate Yearly Progress – Roxanne Elden – 3***
A year in the life of teachers at a struggling urban high school in a large Texas city. I’m not a teacher, but I have friends who have worked as teachers, and Elden includes scenarios that are familiar to anyone who has ever been required to attend yet another motivational speech or meeting to discuss implementation of a new process. There are moments of serious reflection, scenes of tenderness and of hilarity.
My full review HERE
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby is a 5 star story of vengeance set in rural Virginia.My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Krueger is a Minnesota author, but this has a very "Southern" feel to it. I think Mike would have loved it.
This Tender Land – William Kent Krueger – 4****
Krueger references both The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and Homer’s The Odyssey in this epic adventure set in America’s upper Midwest during the Great Depression. Krueger is a marvelous storyteller, and he keeps the plot moving with a variety of incidents. The travelers show intelligence, resourcefulness, and tenacity. They are also children - immature and prone to misunderstanding or misinterpretation of information they gather. And, of course, they are vulnerable. I loved watching them grow, both individually and in their relationships, through these experiences.
My full review HERE
My review of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffershttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished the short story collection:
Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories by Flannery O'Connor
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Well-Behaved Woman – Therese Anne Fowler – 3.5***
The subtitle is all the synopsis you need: A Novel of the Vanderbilts. I thought Fowler did a great job of bringing this fascinating woman to life. Alva Smith Vanderbilt was no shrinking violet; she was a Steel Magnolia - intelligent, cagey, and fiercely independent. Faced with a betrayal, she moved forward with a scandalous strategy. It was a courageous move, but she was determined. Among the causes she championed was suffrage for all women.
My full review HERE
Mod
As an early Christmas present, this book is currently on sale at Amazon for only $1.99.
Mod
I see that I already have that one. Now to read it.
I read that one this summer and loved it! Can't go wrong with Berry.
Does anyone know a good biography of Carson McCullers
All Over But the Shoutin’ – Rick Bragg – 4****
In this memoir, Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Rick Bragg outlines the difficulties of growing up “dirt poor” in Appalachia, with an alcoholic father who could never shake that demon and a mother who willingly sacrificed her own health and well-being for her children’s sake. Bragg left his home, but his home never left him. His story in an honest, gripping, heart-wrenching and inspiring love letter to his mother.
My full review HERE
Mod
All Over But the Shoutin’
– Rick Bragg – 4****
In this memoir, Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Rick Bragg outlines the difficulties of growing u..."
This is an excellent book. The first that I read by Rick Bragg. It is high time that the group rereads this one.
The Weight of This World by David Joy. I desperately need a comfort read now.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lawson wrote: "Does anyone know a good biography of Carson McCullers"One unusual one that I loved is My Autobiography of Carson McCullers
Thanks for your rec. I have ordered it and look forward to reading it.
When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley CashI just finished Wiley Cash's newest novel. When Ghosts Come Home is a crime story, a portrait of a North Carolina town in 1984, and a sensitive character-driven book. 4 stars.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Pride – Ibi Zoboi – 4****
This YA romance is set in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, and features a Dominican/Haitian family. The Benitez sisters are F I N E and everyone in the neighborhood knows it. Then the wealthy Darcy family moves into the hood, and sparks fly between the handsome brothers and the two oldest Benitez girls. All told, a totally satisfying retelling of the beloved Jane Austen classic, Pride and Prejudice.
My full review HERE
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
On the Southern Literary Trail
Books mentioned in this topic
Happy Land (other topics)Take My Hand (other topics)
Happy Land (other topics)
Happy Land (other topics)
Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Bennett Parten (other topics)Wes Browne (other topics)
Hubert Skidmore (other topics)
Mark Twain (other topics)
Delia Owens (other topics)
More...
And thank you Laura for starting this conversation. I'm so glad you didn't scare him off. He's now got another huge fan, I can't wait for my copy of Kentucky Straight to arrive.