On the Southern Literary Trail discussion
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General Bookishness
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Retired: What are you reading?
We've been remembering WWI and I noticed this article on BBC this morning. It explores 10 myths about the war. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25...
Steve wrote: "Matt wrote: "Just finished Outer Dark by McCarthy. Starting No Country For Old Men, now."OUTER DARK was brutal. I finished and curled up into a ball for a week."
Sounds like my kind of book.
Just finished The Oxygen Man by Steve Yarbrough. Very good reading. Would remind you of two recent group reads in Mudbound and Father and Son. Keeps you entertained and makes you think.About to start Country Hardball by our own group member Steve Weddle. Been looking forward to this one for some time!
I just got done with The Gold Cadillac . It was really good at showing how the blacks were treating in the south in 1950's but I found this book really weak.
All the preaty horses was a good book.
Just finished fellow group member Steve Weddle's Country Hardball. Man is it good. In the same vein as Pollock or Woodrell but with a super interesting way of mixing a bunch of stories, characters, and circumstances into a soup pot of modern day rural life in all it's glory (pretty parts and ugly).
Mod
Josh, thanks for the head's up on this novel. It certainly sounds as if it's in my wheelhouse. Definitely something for me to check out.
Mike
I just got done with The Friendship. It about what happens to a black man and a white man in the 1930's that becomes friends. It really shows how bad blacks are treating in the south at the time and what would if people cross the line of social order of that time. I highly recommend it. A quick read.
Review of the bad seed.
It is about a kid named rhoda and her mom that trying to understand her kid.
I found it really good and chilling . I found rhoda ,leory both odd. I really like the psychology part of book because of my love of that subject but I could not stand freud at all. I really think if you have not read it, you should read it.
It is about a kid named rhoda and her mom that trying to understand her kid.
I found it really good and chilling . I found rhoda ,leory both odd. I really like the psychology part of book because of my love of that subject but I could not stand freud at all. I really think if you have not read it, you should read it.
Mod
It is about a kid named rhoda and her mom that trying to understand her kid.
I found it really good and chilling . I found rhoda ,leory both odd. I really like the psychol..."
Erika, It is so good to see your review of The Bad Seed. I understand your feelings regarding Freud. However at the time William March wrote "The Bad Seed," Freudian Analysis or Psychotherapy was the norm, Freud still remains an important influence in Psychology and Psychiatry, though many more contemporary voices represent the exploration of the problems of humanity than Freud once did.
Earlier, you asked if the story was based on an actual case. I evaded the answer to your question as I did not wish to reveal any spoilers. Rhoda's grandmother, from whom William March claims Rhoda received her conscienceless existence, was based on one of two possible known American Serial killers, both women. One possible source is Belle Gunner who was convicted of murdering for insurance payments, the policies which she bought to cover the lives of her victims. The other possible basis for Bessie Denker is Ruth Bell Snyder. Articles on both are easily found on-line.
Once again, I'm very glad you enjoyed the read.
Mike
Mod
Thank you Erika. I'll have to give this book a look. I always appreciate your sharing what you read with the group.
Mike
Hi Mike- hope all is well your way! You know me , I always keep about 2 or 3 going in different spots in the house that are warm and cozy for reading! Of course I hated to leave William Gay . I adore that writer. Why do they always take the good ones too soon. I have mostly done my reviewing in my long blog like comments . I think I need writing lessons from a non Southerner because I am so longwinded . I can barely use Twitter ! 143characters is a joke!!! HA! That is practice for cutting out unnecessary words and using better terms. Well, you know I am all into our home boy William Faulkner by now. He sits by the reading chair in my room. Each time I start this book I think of the many times I have read this magnificent story and at what stage I was in my life. The Sound and the Fury was the first Faulkner assigned. for me to read. I struggled some until my graduate teacher said , " relax, it is only a book written by some man in Oxford that did not even finish high school. .. He's no big deal " ! So I tried picturing all of the transitions from character to character and leaving out punctuation as streaming his thoughts first and I just kept going!
Faulkner still had tricks ! I still find them and I guess I always will see something different ever time I read! I will let you know later how I feel about my first look at the characters. Remember, as Shakespeare always said , things are not always as they seem ! HA!
By my bedside I am sneaking a book that will be done tomorrow! I started today and I am sure I will be through soon with the recently popular YA The Fault In Our Stars! I just had to take a moment to read this. I really miss teaching and I miss my YA books. There are so many good writers out there and John Green , the author of this lovely is super! I may have to read all of his books! The last YA book I read was Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher which was recommended in a superb review by our Mike! I would recommend that book to anyone. After reading that book , you really do realize how self centered and confused a teenager's life can become. So much comes upon kids at that age that can really cause them to tip one way or the other on a ledge towards bad or good. Both of these YA novels remind you just how tender life is at this point in life. Sometimes resilience and survival is paid at a very hard price.
Now, I do not know how many of you sleep with a dog , but before I was married I did. When I moved home to begin the long journey into divorce, I regained a bed partner named Biscuit right away. It was as though I had never gone for a mere five years! Just like old times, he hogs the bed, snores, barks when he is ready to go to bed and please watch what you feed him before he gets inside that bed!!! LOL! God love his little heart. I would have it no other way. He was a rescue dog. He is a full breed Cocker Spaniel who lived next door. The color of Buttermilk Biscuits but he lost a leg when his owner did not see him backing out. He nearly died. When he finally came home from the Vet he was no longer the baby. A new baby took his place. So, AKC registered Buttermilk Biscuit started to adopt his new family little by little. Biscuit was in the garage, then the laundry room, next my bed. Next strange toys would appear. We thought he was stealing. No, they were his things moving into his new home! So, on the other side of the bed, depending on which side Biscuit chooses I have a copy of Twelve Years A Slave that I am finishing . What a story and I can't wait to see the movie. Every year it seems I race to read books and watch movies before the Ocsars. I wish they would arrange that schedule better!
So I will keep y'all posted on how the books are going and I keep peeking in to get good stuff from y'all too ! It is so much better SHARING !
Thank You ! Dawn Copley
I'm glad the group chose BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFE--because I don't have much time for reading at present and have recently reread this one. Have bought the Kindle version of 7 YEARS A SLAVE ($.99) but haven't begun to read it yet. I know it will lack some of what we think of as best literary qualities. But it's an authentic piece of history. I also suspect that it's one I won't want to read late at night--am prepared for it to be upsetting and am anything but the best of sleepers.
Mod
Dear Dawn,
I will abandon my usual manner in commenting on posts and adopt the manner to which I have become accustomed when we communicate by e-mail, which I still insist on calling letters. I simply consider the white computer screen to be a fine bond paper with a good rag content and pound away at the keys, though I would prefer a fountain pen.
In short, I found your post delightful, as I consider all our communications. I strongly agree with your opinion of The Fault in Our Stars and Thirteen Reasons Why. Thanks for the thumbs up on the review of 13.
Regarding sharing a bed with a dog...well, yes, we do. And two cats. Each is quite possessive of their spot. Neither the Queen (for those unacquainted with that appellation, I call my wife Martha Jo the Queen--you may call me Jeeves)nor I have the heart to nudge them out of their respective places.
I love the story of Biscuit. The Queen and I had two cockers, one red, one black. In their old age, the red lost her hearing. The black lost her sight. They served as one another's eyes and ears. I used to say that put them together and they made one helluva cocker spaniel. They were faithful companions. We miss them to this day. They rest beneath a stone cocker spaniel among a spreading grove of oakleaf hydrangeas. I hope you will have Biscuit's company for many years to come.
Hearing what you have lined up on your bedside table is a pleasure, indeed. I enjoy the image of Bill Faulkner sitting by your reading chair. Of course, considering his, shall we say, admiration of women, he may take to calling you "Muh Hunny," as he once called Meta Carpenter, his Hollywood love. I recommend her memoir, A Loving Gentleman: The Love Story of William Faulkner and Meta Carpenter. That's a hint, suggestion, "Mike's surprise," not only for you but for any members reading this.
I will frankly admit I will not join the read of The Sound and the Fury for I have lost count of the number of times I've read it. I will attempt to get to All the Pretty Horses.
You may have seen an announcement from me inviting members to e-mail me if they were interested in a new group concerning WWI. Yes, I've become crazy enough to agree to co-moderate such a group which may extend throughout the Centenary of World War One. For you, and those reading this, the invitation to join stands. E-Mail me here on goodreads if you are interested.
As I write, my copy of Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves is next to my computer. So is Flanders by Texan and SMU Professor Patricia Anthony, and The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell which might be considered a literary history of WWI.
Wheeeew. And that's the way it is here in Lake Woebegon.
Fondly,
Mike
Mod
Patricia, I agree with you completely regarding the group's selection of The Ballad of the Sad Cafe as one of our reads for March, 2014. This little book follows closely behind my love of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. I am especially looking forward to "The Trail" read of this fine book. Thanks go to our member Erika for nominating this book, and each of you who voted for it.
Mike
Mod
He is dazzling in his descriptions o..."
Evening, Jim--
That's a good way to warm up for February. I've read all of Gay. He's good. I'll grant you he doesn't rise to the level of McCarthy, but I must say that few do. On a somewhat jocular note that may speak to Gay's healthier state of mind. *KOFF* Although your read of Gay's "Twilight," might make you doubt my preceding statement. Interestingly enough, Gay admired McCarthy above all living authors. What he felt about Faulkner, I don't know. However, when Gay was writing away, but not published, you could look Cormac McCarthy's number up in the Knoxville, Tenn. directory and give him a ring. Gay did. McCarthy answered. McCarthy wouldn't discuss his own writing. However, when Gay mentioned his admiration of Flannery O'Connor, Gay said it was as though McCarthy came alive. It seems that both men considered O'Connor major influences on them.
I do recommend that you give The Long Home a read. And if you haven't, read McCarthy's first novel, The Orchard Keeper. Read McCarthy first. Then read Gay's first novel. I think you will find the comparison between the two novels startling. You actually might think that Gay's first novel is in homage to McCarthy.
Mike
Oh Mike---two more books for my list, the Faulkner book by Meta Carpenter and Fussell's WWI book. I can't escape. This and the WWI group just keep spitting books at me (though the Middle East group does also I haven't been keeping up as well lately).Thanks for the leads. I'm loving The Sound and the Fury and actually wondering if I ever read it while in college at all!
Mod
I was just looking at The Orchard Keeper this afternoon at B&N. I did note that he dedicated Provinces to McCarthy and can certainly see the similarities. No quotes, the land as ..."
Brother Jim,
Yep, it looks to be a good week for curling up with a good book or something in Dixie this week. I was just catching the forecast. Are the weather gurus still using "Polar Vortex"? I may have a warped sense of humor, but I began thinking in terms of Marvel Comics when I first heard 'em come out with that. I thought, "Polar Vortex...is that like one of those big Transformer things?"
*KOFF* is the term I normally use to convey a sense of irreverent humor. I do not claim it as my own shorthand, I've seen it hither and yon.
We are headed to Wilmington, NC this next week. Their forecast calls for snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. Snow in Wilmington, NC is pretty darned rare. We'll be celebrating my Mother-in-law's 95th birthday. I hope my mind is as spry as hers should I reach that age, and that my attitude is as positive as hers. However, I'm afraid I may not achieve the goal of having her attitude. Some folks say I can be on the negative side. Heck. I call it being realistic.
Enjoy that McCarthy!
Mike
Mod
Hey, Sue. All those books are GOOD things. *grin* Keeps you out of trouble, etc., etc.
I think you'll love the Carpenter book. Faulkner was truly smitten with her when he was writing screenplays for Howard Hawks. Meta worked for Hawks. Faulkner met her in Hawk's office and BANG it was fireworks.
Faulkner did not want to divorce Estelle because of the birth of his daughter Jill. He did ask for one. Estelle said no. Apparently she appreciated the stature of being Mrs. Faulkner.
Much later in their marriage when Bill was carrying on with one or two of his other younger lovers, the story goes that Estelle asked him for a divorce. By that time Meta was married. She wasn't an option. Faulkner supposedly looked stonily at Estelle and said, "No." It's also said that he simply turned and walked away.
In one of my many Faulkner bios, I can't remember which, there is a photograph of Meta Carpenter visiting Faulkner's grave. Perhaps it is only the romantic in me, and there is plenty of that in me, but I swear the look on her face made me feel she never lost her love of the man. He did call her "Muh Hunny." So says Meta Carpenter.
What can I say about The Great War and Modern Memory, except it's simply wonderful. It will have you searching libraries, bookstores, the internet for all the wonderful works of literature inspired by WWI. It is indispensable for your WWI Shelf.
Mike
Both books are in my library system which is great for the wallet but I forsee that I'm going to want physical copies of both Faulkner related books and some of the books for the WWI reading. I've already ordered 4, including Flanders. What do you recommend as a Faulkner biography? If there is not one best, what are among the best? I do think that I would like to invest in one of these as I am simply enjoying reading his books so much. I think it may be just as well that I waited until this point in my life to return to them as I have time and patience and enthusiasm which really make me open to them.
Mod
The list is long. The BIBLE of Faulkner bios is the TWO volume edition of Faulkner: A Biography by Joseph Leo Blotner What is listed in goodreads is a one volume abridged addition. I like the Blotner because of the completeness of the work. For that reason, others find what seems to them to be a minute by minute recounting of the life of Faulkner tedious.
One Matchless Time: A Life of William Faulkner by Jay Parini is also quite good, but not nearly as heavy on the hands. Parini has also written bios of Robert Frost and John Steinbeck.
My last rec is William Faulkner: American Writer: A Biography by Frederick R. Karl. Karl's is what I consider to be more in the form of a literary biography. Good on criticism, not my favorite on describing the man.
Mike
I agree that the Great War and Modern Memory is a fantastic read. I'd love to go back and revisit it now that I'm a bit wiser, but there's so much else I haven't read yet...
Mod
Oh, I understand that, John. However, it's such a wonderful guide to those books concerning the war you might intend on reading! No, I receive no remuneration from sales of the book. *laughing*
Mike
nice to have more insight about the bad seed.
going to do the the group reads
song of tress and child of god are 2 books i really want to read
song of tress and child of god are 2 books i really want to read
why do i have a book to vote for next time we vote stuck in my head right now roll of thunder, hear me cry
Mod
Oh, Erika, I cannot count the number of times that I feel I must simply get my hands on a particular book and read it as quickly as possible. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry would certainly be a fine read. Of course you can read it ahead of time and if you thoroughly enjoy it, nominate it for one of our group reads in April, 2014. I will certainly try to remember your interest in this book and nominate it on your behalf when we begin to receive nominations in mid February. Remember, we already have books selected for February and March. And congratulations on having nominated The Ballad of the Sad Cafe. Your nomination carried the poll and the group will be reading your selection in March.
Mike
Mike wrote: "Sue wrote: "Both books are in my library system which is great for the wallet but I forsee that I'm going to want physical copies of both Faulkner related books and some of the books for the WWI re..."Mike do you think the Blotner abridged edition would be good or is it too abridged. I realize this is your opinion. The Parini sounds good too. It is the man I'm interested in rather than criticism.
Mod
Tough question. I've never reviewed the abridged Blotner. I would go with Parini. For an intimate look from inside the family, I highly recommend Every Day by the Sun: A Memoir of the Faulkners of Mississippi by Dean Faulkner Wells. Dean Faulkner Wells was Bill Faulkner's niece. Her father was killed in a plane crash. Bill bought the plane for Dean. Bill Faulkner was wracked with guilt over the crash. His brother was said to be so mutilated in the crash that when Faulkner responded, he looked at the carnage and said, "Is that you, Dean?"
Dean's wife was pregnant with his unborn daughter at the time of his death. The daughter would be named Dean Faulkner after her father. William Faulkner practically raised his niece. She spent much time at Rowan Oak and was a companion of William Faulkner's daughter Jill.
Niece Dean holds nothing back in her portrayal of Faulkner, Estelle, and their joint alcoholism. She further presented an unflinching look at Faulkner's affairs later in his life and the uproar his behavior elicited from Estelle.
So, Sue, I'd have to go with both the Parini and the Wells memoir. Unfortunately, Ms. Wells died a year or so ago not long following publication of her memoir. I had the good fortune to meet her. Yes, being the hopeless bibliophile, my copy is signed.
I hope I've not complicated your decision.
Mike
Mike wrote: "Sue wrote: "Mike wrote: "Sue wrote: "Both books are in my library system which is great for the wallet but I forsee that I'm going to want physical copies of both Faulkner related books and some of..."Thanks Mike. I think you've actually clarified it for me.
Josh wrote: "Just finished fellow group member Steve Weddle's Country Hardball. Man is it good. In the same vein as Pollock or Woodrell but with a super interesting way of mix..."
Thank you, sir. Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you, sir. Glad you enjoyed it.
Mod
I've just discovered Wil..."
Brother Jim! I can see the happy face from here. It's delightful when you're puttering around and come across a gold mine as you did. Actually, you may have passed on a gold mine to me, as well. This is a new website to me, also.
As you wrote just the other day, it is a good week for reading in Dixie. The snow is on the ground in Tuscaloosa, Alabama this morning. As the old group Alabama would have sung, "It's snowin' in the pines."
There is just enough snow to have covered the ground. Nothing's moving out there. So the landscape is an untouched portrait.
I'm going to sit back and enjoy it.
Mike
Iamreading now child of god and so far it is a really good book
I am reading
I am reading
Mod
Am I in company of any Harry Crews, Barry Hannah, Larry Brown and Walker Percy fanatics like myself?
Mod
Why, indeed you are, Spencer. A check of our bookshelves will reveal we've read The Moviegoer and Father and Son. There's a fair amount of Flannery O'Connor and Cormac McCarthy.
We have yet to read Harry Crews. I may have to take responsibility for that with a very dark review of A Feast of Snakes. Perhaps you might be the first to nominate Barry Hannah as no other member has. I have my copies of Hannah waiting to go. It has been my policy NOT to nominate, but to allow the group to control their reading destiny. I suggest, hint, and have been known to beg.
Consequently you will find a finely mixed bag of Southern voices. While the shades of those whom you have mentioned float through this group, you will find newer voices influenced by them.
I have a strong love of the works of the Rough South, Grit Lit as it has been aptly called by Tom Franklin. You'll see his fine novel Hell at the Breech will be one of our March reads.
What you will not find here is a group with a strong leaning to moonlight and magnolias. I do not recall a single work featuring a hoop skirt or a mint julep. Although I have found similar groups in the goodreads community. Those novels do not represent the power of Southern Literature. And groups such as that which concentrate on the romance of the Old South led me to found this group.
In short, I think you've found a home here. Look around, set a spell on the porch. Be prepared for old favorites and new discoveries, some of which you may well introduce to the group. It's a pleasure to have you here.
Be aware this group can be quiet. I'm aware of the lurkers among us. That doesn't bother me. However you post gives me hope that you will be one to stir discussion. As you can tell from the length of my response, I can be a talker and a writer. There's plenty of room for many more.
One last proviso. You'll find this group inclined to read Faulkner. I've been very glad to see that.
Mike Sullian
Lawyer Stevens
Being a Mississippian and a fan of Faulkner's since grade school, I do indeed believe I've found a place to whet my appetite and alleviate the hunger pains of homesickness.
Thanks for the warm welcome Jim and Mike. Unsure if the group has viewed either of these, but I feel a must for any southern lit fanatic on quest.Barry Hannah: http://youtu.be/m6Kgj-cVXq4
William Gay: http://youtu.be/V1L7AMjjEBM
Make sure to Subscribe if you're not already to Oxford American's profile.
Mod
Spencer, I'm pretty damned sure we are twin sons of different mothers. Yep. I've made that rec before. *laughing*
Uhm...I sometimes forget the difference in ages of members of one generation to the next. That reference to twin sons refers to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtnDRu... . Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg 1978. Where does the time go.
Mike
Mod
I say we move him to the t..."
Brother Jim,
Oh, yeah, Hannah definitely had his Tuscaloosa years. He earned his MA there in 1966 and his MFA there in 1967. He lived in an apartment in a huge old Tudor style house across my home on a little street named Caplewood Drive. He banged out a lot of stories on an old manual typewriter which he left in the apartment when he headed to Mississippi.
The next tenant of his apartment was an MA candidate trying to follow in Hannah's footsteps. The landlord, my next door neighbor, bestowed the typewriter on the new tenant. You would have thought the new owner was undergoing a sexual experience to realize the treasure bestowed on him was actually his.
Hannah wasn't Tuscaloosa's favorite residence. Even his friends described him as a hard man to like. Apparently Tuscaloosa wasn't Hannah's favorite place either. You just have to read "Constant Pain" from Airships. You can at the following website: http://murkyrecess.blogspot.com/2010/... .
One of the finest writers at our Tuscaloosa News was Tommy Stevenson. Here's his take on Barry Hannah. It ain't pretty.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article...
Of course, the world is filled with wonderful writers that can hack you off when you know them. I've been fortunate not to run into too many of that sort.
Hope you don't find this post too negative. I find him an extraordinary writer.
Mike
He also was well known to jump on stage making quite the spectacle with whatever visiting band had arrived in Oxford to play at Proud Larry's, making a thorough ass of himself. But hey, who hasn't especially if you're privileged to have been born & raised below the Mason Dixon? I'm certain it's just undiscovered woven fabric in our DNA.
Mod
Brother Jim,
"Ouch, indeed." And I have followed Tommy Stevenson's journalism for years. Unfortunately his is now retired and has moved to Birmingham. He still appears as a guess columnist for the News. I always eagerly turn to the Op-Ed section or the Political Section where his columns appear.
I give Tommy considerable credence in his assessment of Hannah. If I were to supply a photograph, you'd readily see that he is a child of the sixties who still dresses as though that era remained current. He's one of the least likely guys I've ever known to willfully take a shot at someone who didn't deserve it. And, so it goes. Yes, I'm also a Vonnegut fan.
Ah, so, if you're familiar with the house on Caplewood, were you to stand at the front door and turn your back to it, just a bit to the left on the opposite side of the street, you might have noticed a little mouse gray cottage with white trim standing on top of a little rise. That was my home. I loved it dearly.
My wife and I left the home after our City Fathers refused to enforce city ordinances relating to the number of unrelated people residing under the same roof. Of course, I'm speaking of the problem of student housing which our city has never adequately addressed.
The short path to the end of the story is Caplewood was a wonderful neighborhood filled with faculty. One professor who lived on the street-his name escapes me-had the finest collection of William Faulkner first editions known to modern man. Another professor was Charles Summersell, THE most recognized teacher of Alabama History in his day.
My home was the former residence of the most recognized and accomplished genealogists in the State of Alabama. I never made her acquaintance as she had passed on to the great beyond and one resident separated our occupancy from hers.
Now, the neighborhood has gone full student housing. We were among the last of families that actually lived in one of those historic homes. It is not that my wife or I did not like students. Those we met became frequent guests in our home. Those were the students who did not move onto the street and proceed to destroy the homes rented for them or bought for them by their parents who wanted a convenient place to come visit for an Alabama Football game. So it goes.
As usual, being a Southerner, I've once more illustrated my love of storytelling with all the twists and turns complete with appropriate asides. Well, perhaps not totally appropriate. My wife in utter frustration will sometimes throw up her hands,pleading, "Will you get to the point." Funny, she's from Texas. Of course she does not consider Texas a part of the South, but rather prefers to think it remains an Independent Republic. *ahem*
I remind her that it was Texan John Bell Hood who so effectively did his damnedest to speed the end of the American Civil War by slaughtering his army from Atlanta to Nashville. So it goes. *grin*
So, that's the way it is in Lake Woebegon.
Thanks for the post and the great interviews.
Brother Mike
Mod
I've been a patron of Proud Larry's. Yep. It's in the genes. However, I believe in moderation in all things--for the most part. Generally when in Oxford, you'll find me at Square Books, pointing out the traces of Faulkner's Oxford that remain. They ARE disappearing. If not at Square Books, I'm going through Rowan Oak, soaking up the atmosphere. Of course, there's always the Faulkner Collection at Ole Miss for the full tour. Yeah, I love the place.
Mike
Spencer wrote: "Am I in company of any Harry Crews, Barry Hannah, Larry Brown and Walker Percy fanatics like myself?"Yes (Crews), Kinda (Hannah), Definitely (Brown), Pretty Sure I would be (Percy). And I see you are currently reading on Provinces of Night which is one of my all time favorites although Jim and I have been having a nice little argument on it for the last few days; be glad to have you referee for us once you're done.
Also, an interesting aside as a Tennessean is that Barry's son Barry Po Hannah lives in Knoxville and is pretty active in the music scene there.
Josh wrote: "Spencer wrote: "Am I in company of any Harry Crews, Barry Hannah, Larry Brown and Walker Percy fanatics like myself?"Yes (Crews), Kinda (Hannah), Definitely (Brown), Pretty Sure I would be (Percy..."
I did not know that about Barry's son, interesting to learn. As far as Gay, IMHO he's the quintessential modern southern goth purveyor. Shame I never trekked out to Hohenwald to meet him, but I only caught wind of him a few days before his death, so that lets me off the hook at least in my mind.
As with generally everything in life, it's all subjective. Time and maturity, or reversion of maturity seem to flavor the mix considerably.
I am on page 59 of child of god really good book
Mod
Brother Jim,
Mark Twain said, "George Washington said he could not tell a lie. I can, but I won't." I follow Twain's aphorism. So, the truth is, yeah, I love telling stories.
Sharing Tuscaloosa stories with you would be easier than you think. In March I have a GR Friend and his wife flying into Birmingham. My wife and I will be picking them up and they'll be staying at our place.
Now here's the fun part, my wife who is addicted to Facebook and has "friends" all around the world, types away on her i-Pad, while telling me I spend too much time on the computer talking with "Phantom Friends." She said, "These aren't real people, Mack!" Yes, that's my nickname, it comes from my grandfather.
I tried to rationally explain that an i-Pad IS a computer and that she enjoyed her "conversations" with her friends living about the globe in locations that we are not likely to visit any time soon.
I am sure you recognize "the look." My wife must have been born with the mastery of it. I got "the look."
So, it was with a great deal of satisfaction that I shared the news that one of my phantom friends and his wife would be spending a week with us for a week in March.
I've been cackling ever since. So, I'm in the mood for as many of my phantom friends to visit as possible. *grin*
In all fairness, considering our locations, I shouldn't expect you to have to make the trip. But it would be a heck of a time. The alternative would be to set up a meeting with you, me, Josh, and Spencer--say, in Bristol. That might be fairly equidistant.
But, I must say, I've got some Tuscaloosa stories for you, complete with sight seeing. Say, famous crime scenes I have known.
Now, I KNOW John Bell Hood was BORN in Kentucky, but they wouldn't keep him, don't you know. When he joined the US Army he was fighting Indians on the Frontier. He was assigned to the Second Cavalry in TEXAS, yep.
AND, when he resigned from the United States Army, he was put in charge of the Texas Brigade. Now, here's an interesting quote for you. "Dissatisfied with his native Kentucky's neutrality, Hood declared himself a Texan.
Where did I find this? Why in the Texas State Historical Archives. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/on...
And, if I want my wife to know that Hood wasn't born in Texas, I'll tell her myself. *laughing*
SO, to stay on topic, *ahem*, I hope to see Clyde Edgerton in Wilmington, NC, this next week. He told me I could mail him my only unsigned Edgerton and he would sign it and mail it back. But, heck. I figure I'll go sit in the back of his class room, take in a lecture and get him to sign it without getting the United States Postal System involved. The book is Solo: My Adventures in the Air. Edgerton was always a fool for flying and won the DFC for continuing to fly one of those matchstick observer planes around the site of a downed F-4 Pilot in Vietnam. I'll keep y'all posted on my success.
Oh, yes. Yes, I've got his address. No. Sorry. That's need to know information. Yep.
Mike
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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)
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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)
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OUTER DARK was brutal. I finished and curled up into a ball for a week.