On the Southern Literary Trail discussion
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General Bookishness
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Retired: What are you reading?
LeAnn - I am out of the loop here on this series of books and DVD series ! Please update me right away ! I love this kind of reading and watching ! Miss you ~ Dawn
Savage Season is a quick read. As with most things tv, there are differences in book & show narratives. So, up to you, how you like to approach these things. I am an "apple&oranges" person, try & judge them in separate categories.
Thank you , Kim ! Will try and I am excited ! Dawn
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The books came in the mail a few days ago, but between hosting an Easter egg hunt today and prepping for an author chat/scavenger hunt next week, I haven't gotten started..."
That depends on the kind of reader you are. I have read some of Joe R. Lansdale'sHap and Leonard books but haven't read the first book, Savage Season, which appears to be the book the first season is about. I have no problem watching the series first but some readers do. Again, it depends on the type of reader you are.
Finished Glory over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House. 4 stars . My review : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Okay, Tom and Diane, that helps! I will wait on watching it and then get the first book read. Thanks!
Just finished devouring Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCannLet the Great World SpinI vaguely remember the incident with the tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers in August '74 and this novel imagines the lives of several New York citizens on that day in the most eloquent and tragic (in some cases) of ways. The language is simple and poignant, and McCann's characters are human, flawed and lovable in spite of themselves. Each episode could stand alone, calling to mind The Things They Carried, for example, another stellar anecdotal novel of an important time in American history.
Ann, I agree with what you've said about Let the Great World Spin. I love McCann's writing and have a few but hope to get to the rest of his books.
Laura , I have only read Train Dreams which I liked . I'd like to read Tree of Smoke someday.
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Laura, I read it several years ago before I wrote reviews,but I don't remember it being particularly gritty .
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I have just pre ordered it here after reading the first few pages comes out here next week only ,can t waitI am also looking forward to Dimestore by lee Smith as Chapel Hill is a wonderful place
Recently read the Reeves book and loved it .A wonderful debut.
Y'all, I'm looking for a favor from those of you who have read Rivers by Michael Farris Smith. My new (second) book club is doing an author chat and discussion with Michael this week, and because many folks are leaving for the Easter weekend, we're going to have a low turnout.If you have questions for the author or discussion items, ANYTHING, please let me know. Sometimes I use "Reading Group Guides" as a starting spot for the discussion among the members, but his publisher hasn't provided any to the website.
I've got my own observations, of course, but that is just one person's perspective. Thank you for considering it! XOXO
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SC back in October, with downtown Charleston completely flooded, roads all over the state closed, homes destroyed, etc. It's happening more and more all over the country, and scientists are warning that it's the wave of the future. Maybe you could have a local meteorologist come and scare you all to death!
Girl! Covington is the neighboring suburb to us and they had thousands of homes and businesses that had never flooded before get inundated last weekend. Our house is on the edge of federal wetlands, so everybody in our neighborhood can relate! Soggy!
Finished Tears in the Grass. 4.5 rounded up to 5 . My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished At the Edge of the Orchard. 3 stars . My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jane, I remember reading Pat Conroy's 'The Water is Wide' shortly after it came out and I agree it was a great book based on his one year teaching assignment to the original natives of a small island off the South Carolina coast, but I do not think I would call it beautifully honest. Conroy was a very good writer and could tell a great story but as I think about several articles that I read about him during the 1970's to 2010's he was very likely to inflate his stories in order to inflate his writing ability in the eyes of the public.
Read the Reeves book too and thought it was great,Finished Lazaretto
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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I think Lazaretto looks interesting. However I can't get Jack White's song Lazaretto out of my head. I didn't know until about 2 years ago what a Lazaretto was. I put in a request at library. Have you read any of her other works?
I read Work Like Any Other: A Novel and thought it was very good.ETA link to my review.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Laura wrote: "Diane I think Lazaretto looks interesting. However I can't get Jack White's song Lazaretto out of my head. I didn't know until about 2 years ago what a Lazaretto was. I put in a request at library..."
No, this was the first one but plan to read her others.
Just wrapped up an author chat with Michael Farris Smith and a crazy scavenger hunt for his debut novel, Rivers. This was my second reading of his Mississippi Gulf Coast story and again was blown away. He seemingly has an homage or two to Faulkner just like Rash did to Walker Percy in "Serena." "Rivers" is dark and often compared with The Road, but the narrative is much more hopeful, and there are flashbacks to happy, sunnier days that relieve the moody atmosphere. We had an outstanding discussion!Fun fact: a week or two ago, I saw the cover art for Smith's next book, "Desperation Road" (coming out in February, 2017). Lo and behold, Ron Rash's praise for the book is right there on top of the dust jacket! So, of course before tonight's shenanigans, I wrote Ron and sent him ridiculous photos of the scavenger hunt clues. We snickered together, and suffice it to say that poor Michael Farris Smith will catch some ribbing from his hero!
At any rate, it looks like "Rivers" is in the running for our May book. If you'd like his contact info, Mike-Diane-Laura-Tom, just yell at me. He is a down to earth fellow, and I feel sure he'd participate in a Q&A or discussion thread.
PS. I DID ship him a 12 pack of Abita Amber and some French Market Coffee. It pays to thank the author <3
Leanne ~ can I be in your book group ? I will drive all the way to NOLA to participate in your scavenger hunts and your fun group ! Sounds too fun ! How often do y'all do this ? I am serious ! Dawn
Lol! I build literary scavenger hunts twice a year and usually link them to author chats. If you send the author a care package w vino, coffee, voodoo dolls, mardi gras beads, and your clue book, they'll generally give you a solid 45 minutes of their time. I once mailed Ron Rash one of my husband's old black socks filled with marbles & a fake tin of Paris Green rat poison. He loved it! Authors write to offer readers some sort of connection. Reflecting that back tells them they have succeeded. Nice!
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I just finished "Vanishing Acts," by Jodi Picoult, who is my new favorite author. This story is multi-layered, she juggles four first-person voices without dropping a ball, and then detonates not one but three surprises at the end.
Wow, I'm in the fantastic throes of Walker Percy's follow up novel to The Last Gentleman (which I have now GOT to read!!!). This one is The Second Coming and shows excellent psychological insights into his characters, residents of North Carolina in the late 1970s. One is a wealthy, angst-ridden man who is experiencing petit mal absences - falling down for no reason - and with his series of odd ailments has started remembering and obsessing over certain events from his childhood. The other prime player is a young woman who is fresh out of a mental hospital. Electroshock therapy has rendered her incapable of remembering her past, so she must write tips to herself in a secret notebook in order to know how to live her new life outside the ward. While she cannot remember, he cannot forget. He is depressed, and she is hopeful - their accidental meeting forges an unlikely pairing of psychiatric problems, but somehow, they help one another.
The author Walker Percy lived in Covington, LA - about six miles from my house - so some of his background was already known to me, but I did a little bit of googling and found enormous parallels between his own life and that of Will Barrett, the hero of this tale and the one that preceded it.
Kirk and I ended up doing a real-time buddy read for this book (we are only halfway through!), and I must say it gives me HUGE appreciation for the author's writing (and for my Goodreads brother from another mother!) While I might be paying attention to a certain series of repeated words, Kirk is finding patterns of symbolism I missed.
The first half of the book is fraught with Will's discontent, and his mental state obviously bleeds across the pages into the reader's mind. Reading this with another reader, though, makes the journey more understandable and definitely more fun.
We'll have to tell you about electroshock therapy soon! BUZZIN COUSIN!
PS. To Ron Rash fans - a Plott hound shows up in the book!
Just read The Last Painting of Sara de Vos. 4 stars . My review : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Oooooo, I just added a five star book to my favorites list. For those of y'all who enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See, you won't believe this, but I somehow had it in the back of my head that the book was Anthony Doerr's first novel. Duh moi!No idea how I banged into it, but his earlier novel just blew my doors off. About Grace is a long read and involves beautiful descriptions of water molecules, the intricacies of snowflakes, the method by which insects survive minus-20 degree weather in the Arctic tundra...yada yada yada. I'm a science girl, and just like the radio waves and seashells in All The Light, his emotional ruminations about nature stuff are right up my alley.
Anyway, I loved the living daylights out of the book. It is available on e-loan at most libraries, so you won't break your thumbs reading it either. Here is my review if you're mildly curious.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
About to start Fallen Land tonight...squee!
Looking forward to The Fallen Land my ownself, want to meet this amazing horse. (Grew up riding horses with my best friend, think The Horse Whisperer with less tragedy and sex, more of a classic children's tale...I did end up in the emergency room after a bad incident with a horse I was training for some neighbors, but nothing irreparable happened...horse had a brain tumor, and it was better that we found it while I was riding him than the neighbor's children for whom they had bought him. Had a concussion and tore my back up, face got dragged on gravel, scared my mom. Went to the hospital in a hearse, as the funeral home's hearse doubled as the ambulance in our small town...that was discombobulating).
Kim , glad that hearse took you straight to the hospital- wow! Hope you love this book and this horse .
Thanks, I am looking forward to it. Need to finish a couple of books, and then will jump right in. I am over halfway on 3 or 4, so may be able to make room by tonight or tomorrow.
Diane S ☔ wrote: "Finished London's Gloryhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
I so adore this series and dread the moment he kills either of them off. Every time Bryant or May cough, I get chills of fear. I"m glad you enjoy them, too!
I am midst two books:
and
. Each is very much of a place and very different. Each is wonderful.
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On the Southern Literary Trail
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The books came in the mail a few days ago, but between hosting an Easter egg hunt today and prepping for an author chat/scavenger hunt next week, I haven't gotten started yet. Which is killing me! The unopened Amazon box whispers to me every time I walk past it.
So, should I watch the show first? Wait and read the first of the books? Jump into whichever book is being reflected in the current show? I want to join your club!