On the Southern Literary Trail discussion
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General Bookishness
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Retired: What are you reading?
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Jane
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May 20, 2015 04:15AM
The Outskirts of Hope: A Memoir of the 1960s Deep SouthThis looks very good , has anybody read this yet ?
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Diane wrote: "Jane, you're right, this does look good. I'll look for it. And John, thanks for the recommendation, I've been meaning to get to this."Great, let me know what you think if you get it Diane.
I have just downloaded a kindle sample.
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Leanne, so sorry to hear of your surgery. I hope that your recovery is speedy and you do find some fine reads to speed your recovery along. I'd recommend checking into the novels of Thomas H. Cook, originally from Fort Payne, Alabama, of all places. Cook has won the Edgar Award on more than one occasion for his mysteries that include rich characterization, a strong sense of place, and plots with twists that will keep your mind's wheels turning. Cook's novels are set in distinctly different locales from Cape Cod down through the Deep South. I consider his novels full of psychological suspense. Excellent. A fine example is Breakheart Hill; also other titles such as Evidence of Blood, and The Chatham School Affair, one of his best. I think Cook will keep you thoroughly entertained.
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Each individual sentence has a life time underneath.
The Buddha in the Attic
"John, thanks so much for your recommendation of this one. I'll definitely be checking it out!
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I have Soil too, waiting to be readFinished The Book of Aron
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished The Life and Death of Sophie Stark. 3 stars . My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... Very mixed feelings on this one .
Thank you, you are all so kind to notice
Ive just added several recommendations to my "to-read" list & am about to pop online to order them. That anesthesia hangover was monkeying with my attention span badly! Thank you, Mike and the Ladies, for saving me from having to read my kid's comic books! XO
Greetings Mike, et al,Let me suggest Paradise (Toni Morrison Trilogy, #3) by Toni MorrisonParadiseToni Morrison
Hang on now, This is gonna be a hard sell I can just feel it. Sure she was born in Ohio, and teaches at Princeton, but but but the story takes place in Oklahoma (maybe that squeaks by as the south?) and the main families originate in Louisiana.
An isolated town coming to grips with a changing 1970s landscape around them. A good multi-character story where details are left hanging and clues abound. I'm halfway through it and I still don't know much.
it reads quick and I am enjoying it.
Zorro, I am sorry you feel this way. I am new to this group, but I approach all groups knowing that good discussions on this site are often iffy. Just as in my real life book group, some books generate great discussions and some don't.
Hopefully, if you are dissatisfied with this group you will be able to find another that works for you.
Also, I appreciate ALL the moderators of ALL the groups. They are volunteers and they don't get paid. Everyone's time is precious.
My books this week: The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story (my review will be up soon) and Henna House. Next up: A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother. Kind of all over the place right now!
Nuff said. I'm now going to spend my time READING!!!!
Friends, Im going to host another scavenger hunt for book club in December & am starting to search for the right novel. In April, I got wooden puzzle boxes from eBay, cheap voice recorders (aka radios), hollow plastic cigarettes, used copies of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", and hid paper clues inside loaves of bread for "All the Light We Cannot See." The ten ladies had to race through hotel lobbies and two restaurants in white pants, black & white striped shirts, red neckerchiefs, and BERETS.
For "Serena" they had to do shots of moonshine, find plastic rattlesnake (Easter) eggs in the woods around my house, and eat sandwiches w Paris Green mustard.
They had to decipher clues in art posters from "The Goldfinch" and find hidden canvases in their hotel room closets, then take fake pill-eating/selfies with M&Ms and Skillets.
"Beautiful Ruins" required that they visit a Bourbon Street strip club, the wax museum, a karaoke club, and St Louis Cathedral (in costume).
Needless to say, this is a BIG DEAL every eight months, so Im looking for a winner! Not too dark, not too light...I need a Goldilocks book!
Ideas? Thanks!
If you did the Rievers you could have a horse race theme.
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Y'all would be PERFECT additions to the club - I did host "City of Thieves" several years ago! The menu included chicken (not a hen) soup, a flavored vodka tasting, library candy (those awful, orange, rectangular wafer cookies), and wedding cake. Best book ending ever!As for the horse racing, our track at the Fairgrounds opens for the season at Thanksgiving. Will check out "The Rievers" (Im slack on reading Faulkner) - we could stage a hunt there easily.
What else strikes you??? THANKS!
I also thought City of Thieves was very good. I just read Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin. It's an enjoyable read and funny.
To get over the loss of having finished All the Light We Cannot see ;) I am reading ,
now wow this is a five star read for all lovers of history and particularly WW1 An aspect so often overlooked but Diana Preston succeeds brilliantly in highlighting the importance of the battle on the ocean waves and under it Makes the history of the submarine riveting reading
I have just finished a trifecta of messy, messy reads- A Clockwork Orange followed by Two or Three Things I Know for Sure rounded out (actually it was more in grotesque chunks- nothing round found here) by Crimes in Southern Indiana: Stories. On to something more uplifting. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania a historical account detailing the sinking of a boat where close to 1200 lives were lost.........someone cue the psychiatrist. I may need to read some Cormac just to get out of this funk.
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Josh, if you watch the movie A Clockwork Orange, we need to talk my friend. It was assigned viewing for one of my husbands Criminal Justice classes in college. Need I say more. Kubrick was one crazy producer to take it on. I cringe every time I see it while flipping channels. For light and fluffy escapism after psycho book marathon, may I suggest Snoopy vs. The Red Baron. ;0)
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Diane, that sounds like a plot for a good read!
I finished Dead Wake last week, Josh. It's certainly not an uplifting read, but it made me want to re-read "The Hunt for Red October" - the whole submarine warfare thing was really interesting.
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for a pulp fiction group discussion yet Daniel Woodrell, in his introduction of this Jim Thompson classic, says it is so directly a southern novel, so clearly from that tradition, that it would stand high on the Southern Lit shelf (which means high on the Lit Shelf, period)". Woodrell goes on to say "Thompson attacks just about all of the big ogres of American existence— poverty, racism, labor, social hypocrisy in general, and the relaxed enforcement of laws for those who have amassed gold, the brutal enforcement for those who haven’t."Having just come off of Tobacco Road, I'm seeing unexpected parallels between the two books. This should be another intriguing read.
Having just finished Tobacco Road I rolled right into God's Little Acre. Right off the bat the style is quite different. I wouldn't accuse Caldwell of being wordy but this is quite a bit more developed in character, events, societal inequities, and evaluation of ones place in the world.In my mind this set the author in front of a blank page and I was able to imagine that Tobacco Road was intended to be a minimalist vision of reality. One where "it is what it is and that's all there is to it. Hell, I don't even know what it is." Compared to God's Acre "I don't like what it is and I'm gonna dig holes in the ground for 15 years. "I don't like what it is and I'm gonna turn the power on!"
Fortunately, the book I have included both stories, otherwise I would have considered Caldwell not worth a further look. But here I detect a considered course of action and deliberation in the story telling.
I haven't come to terms with what I think about Rosamond, Griselda, and Darling Jill in the kitchen. It certainly was an odd turn of events. Rosamond dejected, and of the past. Griselda in full blossom, and of the now. Darling Jill in anticipation, and wanting for the future. Poor Rosamond.
Mike, was it you who recommended "Soil" by Jamie Kornegay? Im nearly finished and love it!
Am reading
Coal Black Horse currently. Not earth shattering but very solid in it's observations, imaginations, arc of story. I read it slow and go back often to capture perspective of narration. This would be a good Trail nomination.
John wrote: "Am readingCoal Black Horse currently. Not earth shattering but very solid in it's observations, imaginations, arc of story. I read it slow and g..."John, "Coal Black Horse" was Mike's Moderator's Choice in July 2014. I thought it was a good look at the horror of war from a young man's point of view.
Maybe that's why it was on my TBR list? Unfortunately I"m almost finished.
John wrote: "Maybe that's why it was on my TBR list? Unfortunately I"m almost finished."You can add your thoughts to last year's thread. Have you read any of Robert Olmstead's other books?
I just finished and really enjoyed The Truth According to Us . 4 stars . My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Connie, It doesnt appear that i have. I suffer from CSR syndrome. Can't Remember Shit. Olmstead is on my radar now. And you? any suggestions? Off to work now. cya
I'm reading A LAND MORE KIND THAN HOME by Wiley Cash. So far, so good.
Eryk , I loved that book and will be interested in what you think .
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Yep, that was me, Leanne. Glad you're enjoying it. *grin*
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Had to chuckle over this, John. CRS hits all of us from time to time. I've had my episodes. Ain't it good to know you've got a friend?
Eryk and Angela M, I also loved A Land More Kind than Home and I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author as soon as he writes them.I just finished a book set in a place far, far away from the South. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson is set in Norway and I really loved it.
that'd be CRS, i can't even remember what i've got.
Ann wrote: "Eryk and Angela M, I also loved A Land More Kind than Home and I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author as soon as he writes them.I just finished a book set in a place far, far aw..."
I liked Per Petterson's spare, but eloquent, style of writing in Out Stealing Horses, Ann.
"Out Stealing Horses" is very good - glad you're enjoying it! Im reading Tom Franklin' "The Tilted World" this week.
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Laura , the Street Sweeper is one of my favorites. Hope you love it too .
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I hadn't heard of The Street Sweeper before. That does sound interesting!
Tom , it was recommended to me by a Goodreads friend and it's one that I won't forget . I highly recommend it.
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The author lives in Melbourne. Is that far south enough to qualify for The Trail?
I just finished Coal Black Horse and can't seem t find the discussion for the book. I tried the search engine but only a few mentions came up. Did we not have a dedicated thread? A very good book.
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