On the Southern Literary Trail discussion
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General Bookishness
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Retired: What are you reading?
Jane, I am reading My Cousin Rachel as well, and really enjoying it! I've had it on my bookshelf for a couple months, and when I saw the movie is coming out this week, I decided to jump on it right away! So far ( and I'm only 100 pages in), I am greatly preferring it to Rebecca.
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Great, and then we'll all have to re-convene here to do the movie review!
In my heart Ron Rash is a national treasure. I just finished Above the Waterfall and can not adequately express how much I loved it. Ironically, among friends this is his lowest rated novel.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Kathleen wrote: "when I saw the movie is coming out this week, I decided to jump on it."Diane wrote: "I loved "My Cousin Rachel". I decided to read before the movie."
Jane wrote: " I am re reading My Cousin Rachel"
I recently read Rebecca and was very impressed with the writing. I'm so committed with books right now I thought to skip Rachel and see, and be surprised by, the film. Now you guys have me doubting that plan. I wonder if I would enjoy the book just as much after the fact? What do you think ladies? Help!
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agreed!! Haven't finished My Cousin Rachel yet (less reading time, with gardening, etc.....plus i usually am reading 2-3 books at a time...Zadie Smith's White Teeth demanding some time...haha), but i am really liking it, and wouldn't want to see movie first. Is Jamaica Inn good? Honestly, I was so underwhelmed by Rebecca, that i wasn't planning to read anymore DuMaurier.
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I didn't read Jamaica Inn, saw the movie, was underwhelmed ... It was a bit too melodramatic and definitely not like Hitchcock's Rebecca.
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I really enjoyed Jamaica Inn as well. I loved the whole atmosphere of the wild and lawless Cornish coast.
I read Lonesome Dove. It was a great experience. Here is my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Okay ladies, I guess I already knew what you would say. No surprise there is a wait at the library now. So will shelve the movie as a future rental until after I read. Thanks!
My family and I traveled to Cornwall, and had lunch at Jamaica Inn. We loved seeing the terrain, and I felt the atmosphere of Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, and all her other books while we were there. So much of my reading life as a teen took place on cliffs in Cornwall...while we were there, I was reading a Charles de Lint book set in Mousehole in Cornwall, and we went to visit it...the lanes got so narrow our car got stuck & we had to back out & find a different way to where we were headed. I am looking forward to seeing My Cousin Rachel, I just finished a re-read last month.
The Whole Town’s Talking – Fannie Flagg – 3***
This is Flagg’s fourth book about the residents of Elmwood Springs. In this volume, she tells the history of Elmwood Springs, beginning with the 1889 founding of the settlement and up to about 2020. This isn’t great literature, but Flagg spins a darn good yarn. It’s entertaining and full of lively characters.
LINK to my review
Just finished Garth Stein's A Sudden Light
. Not a southern book, at all, but the strong sense of place (the Pacific NW) reminds me of a lot of the strong sense of place in a lot of southern lit. The book is about several generations of a once-wealthy and powerful family, and the effects of that wealth. Again, themes we see in a lot of southern literature. I thought the book was well-paced, interesting, and a great read. Highly recommended!
Phew! Just finished a semi mandatory re-read of The Road and have to say that despite its forlorn power and beauty, the second time through I started to find it a touch melodramatic in its final section. Yes - I actually rolled my eyes several times. When I die, look for me in a literary hell ;)Just starting a brand new thriller called Broken River by J Robert Lennon. It might very well be mindless, but I am ready for a change of pace!
I just fnished writing the longest time ever spent writing a review. I hope that clearly tells all of my Good Read friends and anybody else how passionate I feel about the author Wendy Walker's books."Emma in the night", was an addictive read about the mother who is diagnosed with Narcissus personality disorder and her two daughter's that disappear one night. Three years later Cass, the youngest daughter reappears and say's they were always free to leave https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Winter of Anna by Karaim ReedThe writing in this novel is so beautiful making this the best book I have ever read in my lifehttps://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
You seem to be having a series of excellent books coming your way, Karen. Goes like that sometimes, always a happy surprise!
Kim wrote: "You seem to be having a series of excellent books coming your way, Karen. Goes like that sometimes, always a happy surprise!"thank u kim for the box of books I got them in yesterday
Nothing "Southern Lit" about this, but it's a great read!
Columbine – Dave Cullen – 4****
Gripping, fascinating, and horrifying. Cullen has done extensive research and made every effort to remain an impartial journalist, ferreting out facts and revealing them without judgment. The result is perhaps even more disturbing than what I thought I knew about it.
LINK to my review
This series is set in Dallas Texas
Death, Taxes, and Hot-Pink Leg Warmers – Diane Kelly – 2.5**
This is book five in the series featuring IRS Special Agent Tara Halloway. I like that Kelly has given us the premise of a strong female heroine, though she doesn’t always deliver. Still, it’s a fast read and mildly entertaining.
LINK to my review
Finished Becoming Faulkner: The Art and Life of William Faulkner by Philip Weinstein. I definitely had mixed feelings about it.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
NOT Southern ... unless you count Southern California ...
Farwell My Lovely – Raymond Chandler – 3***
I came late to Chandler’s series about P.I. Philip Marlowe, but I sure am enjoying them now! The action is non-stop, and the characters so vivid they virtually jump off the page. I’ll definitely keep reading the series.
LINK to my review
I have been on a kick lately where I have been reading classic books turned into movies, most recently The Godfather. Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Brina wrote: "I have been on a kick lately where I have been reading classic books turned into movies, most recently The Godfather. Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"
I really enjoy The Godfather when I read it years ago.
Brina wrote: "I have been on a kick lately where I have been reading classic books turned into movies, most recently The Godfather. Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"
I've been doing some of that too. I read Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice.
I read that too and also Lonesome Dove. My next 3 books are not made into movies but then I have The DaVinci Code which is a more recent film.
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I need to read Lonesome Dove
will be the August selection for Tackling the Pulitzer Prize Winners! group. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
We Are Called to Rise – Laura McBride – 4****
McBride’s debut novel tells the story of four different people whose lives intersect as the result of one split-second choice. The novel is told by each of these four characters in turn. I was immediately drawn into their personal stories. McBride does a great job of writing these characters, making them real to the reader. I thought the ending was a little too contrived, but that was really my only complaint. I look forward to reading her next book.
LINK to my review
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I finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and I have only two books left in a century challenge in another group so it will be perfect timing to read the August group reads. Looking forward to them.
Zorro wrote: " will be the August selection for Tackling the Pulitzer Prize Winners! group. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/......"I used to grab the Pulitzer list every time we headed to the book store, but half the time, the novels didn't thrill me at all. Glad to see you and friends doing your list!
On the Southern side, I just finished walking The Road with Cormac and friends this past week. It was my second time through I would not have taken if it weren't for my buddies also traveling that path. Glorious and horrible!On a lighter note (heck, anything is lighter!), a new quirky literary thriller just hit my 5 star mark. Broken River reminded me a bit of the movie FARGO but with an interesting metafictional narrator tossed in. This "observer" shares the stage, as we get the point of view of various characters (all nicely filled out), and this omnipresent voice becomes as much a real presence as the others by the end of the book.
Very cleverly wrought with contemporary dialogue and with dread built in via worry about the recurrence of cancer, I gave it a 4.5 and bumped it up.
LeAnne I'm in that Pulitzer group too. I might not read all of the selections because as you say not all of the novels are all that they are advertised to be. Still I would eventually like to read the whole list and my target is 12 a year or one a month until I finish.
To LeAnne and Brina,I read off of all the major prize lists. While I have definitely read some stuff that I haven't enjoyed that much or that I haven't been that impressed with, I have also read some authors I have loved and may otherwise never have come across.
I agree. I chose a wide range for my Pulitzer winners this year. I also look at Man Booker and National Book award lists. Even if the stories aren't necessarily my taste the writing is usually excellent.
I seem to enjoy the Man Booker and National more also
Yes, Im with you guys on spreading the love across various award groups! The Man Booker long- and short-list are usually the ones that I end up liking the best.
LeAnne it is thanks to you I read " His Bloody Projet " thank you soooo much for that
I read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. My review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Laura wrote: "Faith that is a really good read. Very well done non-fiction."I agree. Most of it read like a novel.
Faith wrote: "I read Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. My review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Thanks for the lead; I added it.
Not Southern fiction, but a great coming-of-age story ...
The Perks Of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky – 4****
This is a coming-of-age novel featuring 15-year-old Charlie, who tells the story via letters he writes to an unnamed friend. I like YA fiction like this. Charlie is very real. He is a great observer of teenage and family life. As he describes events and how he reacts to them, he gives the reader a pretty accurate view of high-school dynamics. This is Chbosky’s debut novel. I hope he writes another novel; I would definitely read it.
LINK to my review
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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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Seems like GG started a wave of creepy woman stories that were highly commercial (and good), but maybe the slow build-up genre was not yet popular with a broad audience. Think about My Name Is Lucy Barton and Eileen - they could be the American cousins to the main character here, living her life in Norway.
The book is maybe 250 pages or so, and unless you pay solid attention to the crescendo might leave you wondering what the truth really was. Loved this!