On the Southern Literary Trail discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
General Bookishness
>
Retired: What are you reading?
Tom and John , I have not read either of those but have added them to my tr list . Thanks.
John wrote: "Angela, You might enjoy reading Julie Otsuka
When the Emperor Was Divine
experiences in a J..."Two beautiful and interesting books! Highly recommend them as well, the writing is very spare but so precise.
Ruthie wrote: "John wrote: "Angela, You might enjoy reading Julie OtsukaWhen the Emperor Was Divine
exper..."Ruthie , I couldn't agree more ! Loved them both as well .
I would also recommend The Jade Peony and All That Matters. Wayson Choy is another writer telling a similar story but from the Canadian perspective and experience. Quite a special writer, he is not well known in the U.S but it is well worth seeking out his books!
Ruthie, I have not heard of Choy before , but will definitely give him a try . Thanks .
Mod
Tom, I just popped over to check it out and saw Steve's review. Between the pair of you, Im sold. Added!
Mod
Mod
Finn does look interesting. My only sense of Huck Finn's father was as a drunken brute. A well-done book addressing that might be very interesting.
Good tip & for a buck99, worth the risk. The sexual abuse of a child makes me wary as to how graphic this may be, but if it is done obliquely enough, it may be okay. Thanks!
Mod
My review is here.
I keep running into articles making the statement that the one consistently recurring element in Southern Literature is a reference to "a dead mule". Maybe I just breeze by without noticing because I've built such a tolerance for dead mules, but the reference I always notice is to the "whippoorwill". I can also recall hanging blacksnakes to bring rain, and kudzu being mentioned, but less often. This is just an informal poll, but is it the recurring mule, whippoorwill, cotton mouth or other that comes to mind the most??? Here is a link to an article that lists a lot of dead mule references : https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/souther...
Mod
What about references to swinging a cat?
Good one! As in "you can't swing a dead cat by the tail without hitting 2 people you know.", possibly a reference to living in a small town. Or in general "not enough room to swing a dead cat", just being crowded. But what dominates? Cat? Mule? Whippoorwill?
Mod
Tom, I vote yes as the subject matter and book takes place in the South.
Mod
Mod
I just finished Mislaid by Nell Zink, which was longlisted (but not shortlisted) for this year's National Book Award. The author grew up in rural Virginia so it isn't surprising that most of the book is set there, at a small womens' college, then in the countryside outside of it, then at UVA. It seems to span the time right after desegregation up to the 80s or early 90s (not exactly defined but from contextual clues) and also talks about blackness in interesting ways. 
Mod
Absolutely.
Just read the ARC for Fallen Land by Taylor Brown - it will be out in January - 5 Stars - excellent writing, great characters, could not put it down!!
I have another is this book Southern Literature. The author grew up in Baltimore, Maryland Went to Howard University in Washington, DC and works for The Atlantic Magazine (the Atlantic Ocean covers the Eastern coast of the United States from Maine to Florida and the subject matter is universal. I'm talking about "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It is a great book and should create a veritable rainbow of opinions. What say ye? Also, would somone tell me again an easy way to find out what we have selected to read for the last eighteen months.
Ruthie, I just got an ARC of Fallen Land . Glad to know it was a good one for you . Looking forward to it .
Reading that one now, Ruthie. Finished The Tears of Dark Water
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
I have heard nothing but good things about this and have recently checked it out from the library but haven't read it yet. While it deals with race and racism, these are not exclusively Southern issues. Is there something in or about the book that argues in favor of a focus on Southern life or issues?
As to an easy way to see what books have been selected, I still haven't figured that out. I tried sorting the group bookshelf leafing by reading date and still missed one that I was looking for which it turned out to have been read so I'm open to suggestions for that myself.
Tom wrote: "Ron wrote: "I have another is this book Southern Literature. The author grew up in Baltimore, Maryland Went to Howard University in Washington, DC and works for The Atlantic Magazine. I'm talking a..."This book is amazing indeed
I finished a couple of the club's selections for this month and just started Jujitsu For Christ "https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9..." It was mentioned favorably by Harry Crews in one of his short stories.
Mod
Well, there's no easy way to stick in the Goodreads hyperlink, but I am reading a goodie! If you liked "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" by Anthony Marra, his latest is excellent! It is in that literary structure where an individual short story is each linked one after the other by a character that reappears from preceding chapters. Im reading a southern grit book w the same technique, too. Reminds me of the plot line in "Pulp Fiction."What do you call that technique??? Anyway, "The Tsar of Love and Techno" is wowing me. Russia in the 30s, Chechnya a touch later - the characters are seven degrees of Kevin Bacon apart and live amidst darkly hilarious & touching scenes.
When tourist remarks on a local mass grave that was just discovered, the group's tour guide remarks that archaeology fans are thrilled over it. When the tourist persists that all the bodies were slain execution style, his guy shrugs and says who knows what went on here 1 million years ago?
LeAnne , I absolutely loved it too . Marra's such a talented writer . I don't usually get hooked into short stories but the connections here made it seem like a novel .
Angela, glad you're another gusher for Marra! Kim, maybe that's it - ??? Ive been calling it the Kevin Bacon Chapter Hook Up w my book club peeps. We meet to discuss it tomorrow. :)
Ok. Just googled & nope. Rashomon is where 4 different witnesses to an event recall/interpret it entirely diff from the others. These characters are separated by a generation or big geographical territory.
Steve Waddel - will you tell us what it is, my friend??
Also might be short story sequence/composite novel a la Olive Kitteridge. Rashomon specifically retells a story from different viewpoints, often conflicting, as famously done in Kurosawa's landmark film, which was based on short stories which he connected.
The composite novel sounds right. I usually lose interest in collections of short stories because apparently, it either takes me too long to empathize or repeatedly saying goodbye to the characters is mildly unpleasant. Jess Walter, Ron Rash, and Nick Pizzolatto have really wonderful short stories, but meh. I love a long term relationship each character <3
Mod
And Tom will be doing our Moderator's Choice for January. It's a good one! I won't reveal his choice until our current polls close. But, I knew "Big Daddy" would pick a good'un.
I've been in touch with Ellen Urbani discussing her joining us to talk about her novel Landfall. This looks like a great event. Thanks again to Tom for making the initial contact. One note, Ellen has said she will be out of the country until around December 11m, 2015.
All questions are acceptable EXCEPT she will not discuss her opinion regarding other author's works. I think that's perfectly understandable. Of course, what she considers her literary influences to be is an above board topic.
As you complete your read of Landfall, feel free to begin discussion and posting your questions for Ellen. Just know she may not be able to respond immediately as her destination doesn't have a lot of cell or internet access.
As always, happy reading!
Read a really interesting article about Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio in which described critics vilifying his book for being neither beast nor fowl, neither a short story collection not a novel. Publishers and critics were not into the hybrid.
Not a novel. Predictive text got me again, I typed nor & it corrected me. Sigh. Technology versus nuance.
Kim, it certainly seems that "fitting the mold" and marketing decisions did and do have an impact. I cannot count the number of "wife" and "girl" and "the boy" books that have been titled that way over the past few years. Cover art is also semi-copied, and all of that is pure marketing in my opinion. I dont care for it.
I think it's a collection of related stories , not a novel even though at times it felt like one because of the connections . Not the same story from different perspectives.
Mod
That's what is meant by composite novel or short story sequence. It is a mixing or relating of the 2 forms.
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...
This reading experience shows me how difficult it is to make up my mind about a book without regarding all the publicity and discussions around, although I tried to avoid them.