On the Southern Literary Trail discussion
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General Bookishness
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Retired: What are you reading?
For those who are up for a dark, obsessive coming-of-age story, there is a new book with extremely high marks called Stephen Florida. It is narrated by a narcissistic collegiate wrestler who has but one goal in his world - winning the NCAA championship.If you're a former athlete, like creepy stuff, and have a high tolerance for nasty bodily stuff, check it out. I went in expecting 5 stars because I loved Eileen and Loner and A Feast of Snakes...but being nitpicky, it didn't work all that well for me. It might for you!
Loved
Miss Jane. A most unique story bringing back another life and times and a most memorable heroine. I will not forget her.My thoughts: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
And a completely DIFFERENT Jane ...
Jane Steele – Lindsay Faye – 3.5***
Lindsay Faye’s re-telling of Jane Eyre , is an imaginative romp. Readers of the classic will recognize many plot elements, but Faye has let her imagination run wild. The story is still set in the same era as Bronte’s classic novel, but this Jane is a serial killer. If that makes you gasp is horror … well give the book a chance. It’s great fun to read
LINK to my review
John wrote: "
Blues for Dummies With Contains Over an Hour of Blues Classics... "OMG, this is awesome.
Oh Jane, we are so there.Being n my 60's, this brings back so many memories of by gone albums and artists. ie John Mayall and the Blues Breakers for exsmple. Ironic how England was an influence in resurrecting the Blues during the 60s. Gotta love a title like Dust my Broom and sentiments like, "There's another mule kickin in my stall"
Got any favorites Jane?
CarolBlues clubs? Gallivanting with floozies could get a man like Robert Johnson poisoned at the age of 27. It was a cake of lye in the moonshine.
Give me some of your faves.
One would think something amiss in the flavor, but Oh no, not him.
Have so many favorites and a lot of great books on the History of the Blues -leJones for one I have driven around a few Blues Trail markers down South and here in my town we have a fabulous Blues and Jazz fest every July so it s coming up soon
John wrote: "CarolBlues clubs? Gallivanting with floozies could get a man like Robert Johnson poisoned at the age of 27. It was a cake of lye in the moonshine.
Give me some of your faves."
Artists? John Lee Hooker, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leadbelly, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, anything printed on or published by DECCA or Chess.
I'm partial to Mississippi and Memphis blues over Chicago, but it's all good. And none of the women get enough credit, attention or money.
Speaking of books, ahem. I'm reading So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell, a novel that has a very strong Southern fiction style, notwithstanding the fact that it's set in the Midwest. It reminds me of Walker Percy, but somewhat more accessible. And it's only 140 some pages which, for me given current life drama, is a special bonus. I'm on page 40 and already thinking about GR friends I'll recommend it to, and I've used that feature only once before.
This sounds interesting, Carol and I may have to take a look at it.
Carol wrote: "Speaking of books, ahem. I'm reading So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell, a novel that has a very strong Southern fiction style, notwithstanding the fact tha..."Such a wonderful book, Carol. One of my all time favorites.
Sue wrote: "Carol wrote: "Speaking of books, ahem. I'm reading So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell, a novel that has a very strong Southern fiction style, notwithstandin..."Man, I have to watch out for the utter despair Maxwell evokes. We readers who feel deeply and have a lot of scabbed-over wounds have to be careful about which writers we trust with our vulnerabilities. I'll choose where I am more carefully next time I read the last thirty pages of one of his books.
Winning Casino Craps
Edwin SilberstangI read this years ago. Silberstang has a conservative approach to the game and money management. I usually double my money. We be talking a couple of hundred bucks is all. i like the game, quick and mathematical. No personalities to read like in poker, Just give me the facts.
Now we all know the games are figured in favor of the house, but played his way the advantage is cut pretty slim. Less than one percent if memory serves. No flashy wins here, just a steady crawl. He also explains betting against the dice. The math is the same only reversed,
Now, if i could only find a floozy too hang on my arm. Let her bounce the dice and stand back baby.
Vegas is too expensive. Laughlin is much kinder and only a few hours away.
Please forgive me for going on about floozies but I think it's so damn funny. I'll get over it soon enough.
I don't know what to think after I finished reading this book,even though I see it has great reviews.I'm new to the genre of southern grit books so I was expecting a gritty plot with plenty of hard-bitten characters. But I sure wasn't expecting a story like this one.
Spoilers below.
I have to wonder what was going on with William Gay when he created this story. It's not just anyone who could create such characters and imagine this nightmarish plot that's for sure.
For instance, one of the characters, Fenton Breece, is the mortician in a small Tennessee town back in the 1950's and boy does he love his job!
In his spare time he likes to cavort around naked with the female cadavers - after embalming them of course. Unfortunately he has taken a few photos of his high-jinks.
His newest acquisition, Corrie Tyler, he couldn't be more pleased with either. Corrie was considered to be 'hot' back when she was still alive and Breece had desired her for years.
Corrie had enough sense to avoid him at any and all opportunities but now that she's passed on to her heavenly reward she doesn't have any control over what Breece plans to do with her body.
There was one touching scene where Breece and Corrie have their first 'date' if you want to call it that. They're sitting in a small intimate den listening to music while Breece sips his brandy. Since poor Corrie suffered a broken neck she keeps ruining the mood with her head flopping over. Breece patiently keeps re-positioning her head as they listen to Mozart.
I had to ask myself if I really wanted to read about such people in the world. If there are real people like Breece in my community then ignorance is bliss.
The whole book was filled with grotesque people and happenings, except for the hero Kenneth Tyler, Corrie's brother and he's in a heap of trouble.
Tyler happened to steal a bag full of Breece's frisky photos and the only officer of the law he trusts to take care of this little matter is 20 miles away.
Since Tyler's truck is wrecked he will have to walk the 20 miles through a bizarre backwoods cut off from civilization to reach his destination.
Fenton Breece is desperate to regain possession of the photos and he hires a local ne-er do well whose sanity is questionable, to kill Tyler and return his photos.
Granville Sutter is his name and I doubt such a depraved, despicable character has even been equaled in the history of book publishing.
He seems to have had mommy and daddy issues whilst a youngster and now he's as mean as a rattlesnake and 10 times worse than Ted Bundy.
Good ole Granville enjoys murdering people so he's hot on Tyler's trail.
By this time I honestly didn't want to spend anymore time with Granville and Breece because it was all so predictable. With every turn of the page their wickedness strains credulity.
If you enjoys reading books that only tell of sorrow and misery without any let up then this is the book for you.
I will be generous to the author and say he really does have some kind of imagination going for him and is also a talented writer.
``Laurie wrote: "https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."Laurie, I ordered this book a week ago and it has yet to be delivered. I guess too late to cancel. Ha. I have not read any of Gay's books but I want to like him as he was a Tennessean. Have been pondering John Kennedy Toole and A Confederacy of Dunces today. Toole just might have been a man ahead of his time.
Thanks for your comments B.R. and I wanted to like WG too since he was from Tennessee but I couldn't find any redeeming value in this book at all. He has a lot of talent and imagination that's for sure or I would've rated it lower.Maybe this particular book is something the guys might enjoy better than the gals - the same as A Confederacy of Dunces. I tried reading it and couldn't relate to it either but I think you just might like it.
``Laurie wrote: "Thanks for your comments B.R. and I wanted to like WG too since he was from Tennessee but I couldn't find any redeeming value in this book at all. He has a lot of talent and imagination that's for ..."Thanks for your comments, Laurie. I've pretty much decided against reading Gay after reading the plot summaries here and a few reviews. I decided they were just too "noir" for me. You have pretty much confirmed that. Even if the prose is really great, sometimes the subject can be just too dark.
Mod
The Lowland – Jhumpa Lahiri - 4****
This is a dense, complex character-driven story, that explores both the immigrant experience and the relationships between family members. It starts slowly, but the really builds in the last third. Lahiri writes beautifully, and I kept marking passages. I so wish this was a book-club selection, because I long to discuss it with someone.
LINK to my review
just finished Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children, #1) by Ransom Riggs..now reading a man named dave by dave pelzer
I finished Hum If You Don’t Know the Words by Bianca Marais. My review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Book Concierge wrote: "The Lowland
– Jhumpa Lahiri - 4****
This is a dense, complex character-driven story, that explores both the immigrant experience and the relationships between f..."
I agree, this was an excellent book, and complex while also beautiful. Such complex relationships. I find that I learn a little more of the complexities of Indian history with each book I read. Even fiction yields many historical facts, thankfully.
Sue wrote: "``Laurie wrote: "Thanks for your comments B.R. and I wanted to like WG too since he was from Tennessee but I couldn't find any redeeming value in this book at all. He has a lot of talent and imagin..."Thanks Sue, and I have to agree about this one being way too 'noir' :D
Mod
Here is my review.
My review of So Long, See You Tomorrow. Thank you, Carol for giving us the recommendation for it.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Brina wrote: "My review of So Long, See You Tomorrow. Thank you, Carol for giving us the recommendation for it.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
You're welcome, Brina. Nice review.
You're welcome, Carol. I said in comments to my review but will say again here-- bonus is that in a scene when Maxwell moves to Chicago I know exactly where he is. Couldn't help smiling there.
If any of you have hiked the Grand Canyon or visited Hoover Dam or been to Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border, I think you'd enjoy Wet Desert: Tracking Down a Terrorist on the Colorado River. I picked it up years ago because of these locales and added the audio companion to it right before we left on a family vacation to that area.The book is a disaster-thriller, not necessarily literary, but incredibly well researched and therefore believable. We took our boys white water rafting down the Grand Canyon, and only hours after we made it back to the hotel, we heard sections of the story that involved - what else? - rafters going down these same rapids!
I'm not sure I'd have my young teen read Jaws before heading to the Jersey Shore or watch the Poseidon Adventure just prior to boarding a cruise ship, but this? Perfect book for the vacay!
Band of Brothers – Stephen E Ambrose – 4****
The subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest. Ambrose profiles the officers and enlisted men alike. Their personal stories, gleaned from hours of interviews as well as their journals and letters, lend great authenticity to the narrative.
LINK to my review
The Gatekeeper – Kathryn Smith – 4****
Subtitle: Missy LeHand, FDR, and the Untold Story of the Partnership That Defined a Presidency. This is a fascinating biography of the woman “beside” the man, who despite her influence at the time, quickly slipped out of the public’s consciousness.
LINK to my review
FYI, y'all...just got word that The Fighter by one of our group favorites, Michael Farris Smith will be out in early March, 2018. I've no idea if Net Galley or Edelweiss has advance reading copies, but you can bet your cornbread I'll go check it out.Oughtta be good!
So far South, half of this novel is set in Mexico ...
Into the Beautiful North – Luis Alberto Urrea – 3.5***
This is a quest novel, a coming-of-age story, and a road trip adventure, populated by one of the most eclectic cast of characters in literature. I loved Nayeli, whose smile is like the sunrise. She’s honest, fierce, loyal to her friends, and determined to succeed in her mission. The novel is translated from Spanish to English, but still includes much Spanish and even some “Spanglish.” This may be challenging for readers who don’t speak Spanish.
LINK to my review
I loved that book!!! I just read Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love and might just squeeze in 12 Pulitzers this year. Next up is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
Brina wrote: "I loved that book!!! I just read Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love and might just squeeze in 12 Pulitzers this year. Next up is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry."I loved Harold Fry and the companion book about Queenie.
Happy Never After – Kathy Hogan Trochek – 3***
I like this mystery series. It’s a little edgier than a traditional cozy, because Callahan is a former Atlanta Police Officer, but it has many of the classic elements of a cozy. I really enjoyed the premise in this installment, especially as I was a teenager in the era of the sixties girl groups.
LINK to my review
Mod
Shirley Jackson gets under the skin, Tom.
Mod
That she does.
Another book I finished this week is The River of Kings, the latest book by Taylor Brown, the author of Fallen Land. Here is my review.
Elephant Company – Vicki Constantine Croke – 3.5***
Subtitle: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II. The subtitle really intrigued me and I was eager to read about this particular episode, but the author gives us more than 200 pages of background before we get to World War II and the vital role Williams and his elephants played in the fight against the Japanese.
LINK to my review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... Here is a link to my review of "My Husband's Wife," by Jane Corry. A highly addictive read. Five Stars
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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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★★★ 1/2
I have a special love for Jilo and the Witching Savannah series since it is set in Savannah, my home away from home. If you have not read any novel in the series, I would recommend that you begin with Jilo and then proceed to The Line, since Jilo is its prequel.