On the Southern Literary Trail discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
General Bookishness
>
Retired: What are you reading?
message 4201:
by
Laura, "The Tall Woman"
(new)
Oct 09, 2017 09:46AM
Mod
reply
|
flag
I enjoyed Attica Locke s previous novels
Those first two books look excellent.
Yes they do Brina; oh no my book budget once again ....
I started Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson last evening. I'm only 50 pages in, but - so far - the writing style reminds me of William Maxwell.
I have added almost all of them bar the short story collections to my Amazon basket , now I need to research them a little more
Laura!!! Wiley Cash!! Jealous big time. Enjoy!
Mod
Jealous but I couldn't make it anyway. Jane I can't add all those books. I have a tight reading schedule the rest of the year but the Attica Locke book looks like one I'd like and I'm going to keep it in mind.
Mod
Has anybody read any of these that they could recommend to me ?
I have become somewhat wary of newly published hype aft..."
I really enjoyed Thomas Mullen's first book, Darktown so I am excited to read Lightning Men. I am currently reading The Last Ballad but I haven't gotten far enough into it to render a judgement.
This is NOT Southern fiction (by any stretch) ... but it's a perfect October read ...
Dracula - Bram Stoker – 5*****
If you’ve seen any of the movies, you know the basic plot, but the original novel is so much more! To begin there is the typical Victorian theme of strong men coming to the rescue of pure damsel in distress. However, Stoker turns the tables a bit when he gives Mina the intelligence, foresight and courage to fight the evil forces in her own way. The novel is wonderfully atmospheric; time and again Stoker puts the reader smack dab in the middle of the scenes.
LINK to my review
Jane wrote: "Is this news true ? http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/14/..."
The book has been banned in a lot of places in the U.S. There are idiots everywhere.
Think current political climate emboldens people to do overtly racist things which they would not have in past. TKAM is supposed to make people uncomfortable, it is how we learn and grow as people. I taught it 4 years running in a mixed-race classroom, and it generated lively and enlightening discussions without anyone being damaged in any way. I had students from all over the country who were going to serve in the military. They needed to reach out and imagine walking in other people’s shoes. I only wish my sister who was 7 years older than I had been exposed to the story at the age I was, maybe it would have prevented her settling into the racist ways of her husband’s family and friends. I know my view of the world developed early and is very different from much of my family’s. I know Atticus Finch and company had a hand in it. More people need to read it, not less.
Mod
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/14/..."
Yes, Jane. It's true. See CBS/AP October 14, 2017, 1:04 PM
Mississippi school district pulls "To Kill A Mockingbird" for making people "uncomfortable".
And in Alabama, my home state. See BOOK BAN: AS TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD IS PULLED FROM ALABAMA CLASSROOMS, HERE'S FIVE MORE TIMES CENSORSHIP HAS WON THE DAY
BY TOM PORTER, NEWSWEEK MAGAZINE ON 10/15/17 AT 5:45 AM.
Sadly, TKAM has been the subject of censorship for years in school systems. And it's not just in the South. See ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ remains among top banned classical novels,
BY KENYA DOWNS, PBS, February 19, 2016 at 5:01 PM EDT.
Oh sigh ! And dot dot dot :( Thank you for the links !
Mod
Thank you for the links !"
Jane, you're most welcome!
Mod
Mississippi school district pulls "To Kill A Mockingbird" for making people "uncomfortable".."
"Art is meant to disturb." - Georges Braque
"Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it." - Bertolt Brecht
"Art doesn't want to be familiar. It wants to astonish us. Or, in some cases, to enrage us. It wants to move us. To touch us. Not accommodate us, make us comfortable. " - Jamake Highwater
"The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame." - Oscar Wilde
NOT Southern fiction, but a delightful retelling of a Jane Austen classic ...
The Three Weissmanns of Westport - Cathleen Schine – 3.5***
This is a charming re-telling of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility . I had great fun trying to match Schine’s characters with Austen’s, and trying to figure out how certain plot elements might play out. Despite my familiarity with the original, Schine surprised me more than once.
LINK to my review
Mod
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/10/14/..."
The governor of Missouri wrote a great letter on the subject and posted it on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/EricGreitens/stat...
Thanks Tom, just read what he said very valid point indeed
It's in "Southern" California .... LOL
Double Indemnity - James M Cain – 5*****
Cain is a master of the roman noir. His writing is every bit as seductive as the temptress at the heart of his story. You just know this is going to end badly but you cannot tear yourself away, you just HAVE to continue.
LINK to my review
Mod
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
CREEP-AAAAYYYY, people! I've finally gotten my teeth into a dark and ghostly story for Halloween. No gore, but lots of atmosphere and a winding road of oddity toward a holy Cathoic shrine which may just heal the mind of a mute, cognitively disabled fellow whose family has brought him here with others of their church. Pagan rituals - or perhaps just practical jokes? - are to be found on this isolated coast of England, along with a heavily pregnant 12 year old and locals who may or may not shriek in the foggy nights.
Only 65% through with the audio from Hoopla, but I just popped onto Amazon to buy a used hard copy for my 14 year old. Feels like True Detective and A Land More Kind than Home morphed together. The Loney might have been too slow a burn for some or too scathing of the Catholic faith for others, but this scary thing is a solid win so far for me.
Mod
Alright, alright, you've sold me already, especially if it is available on Hoopla. Hoopla is a fantastic platform for graphic novels, btw. I haven't tried their audio books yet but this old dog is still up for learning a few new tricks.
Tom, the audios are fab for commuting, doing laundry, or otherwise doing mindless busy work. This one has an excellent voice actor to boot.Now, this one is not straight up horror, but dark and rainy. I'm a sucker for scary pagan stuff and a slow sizzling build!
LeAnne wrote: "CREEP-AAAAYYYY, people! I've finally gotten my teeth into a dark and ghostly story for Halloween. No gore, but lots of atmosphere and a winding road of oddity toward a holy Cathoic shrine which may..."This sounds like something I may like, LeAnne!
Candi, we just sent our youngest off on a cool, drizzly scout trip, and Ive now got the lights dimmed, red Halloween bulbs burning. Glass of cava champagne to sip. About to scare myself silly. Did I mention there is an abundance of TAXIDERMY in here?? #twodeadchimpsonatandembicycleikidyounotgirl
LeAnne wrote: "Candi, we just sent our youngest off on a cool, drizzly scout trip, and Ive now got the lights dimmed, red Halloween bulbs burning. Glass of cava champagne to sip. About to scare myself silly. Did ..."Well, that sounds like a perfect evening, LeAnne! You really know how to set the mood there :) And that is quite the image in my head re: the taxidermy - wow! Btw - you inspired me to have a Halloween party next week. Our recent discussion re: Halloween in your review of The Troop gave me the push I needed to start planning a last-minute one :) So, our guests have you to thank!
This is set in Virginia, and the author currently lives in North Carolina (per her GoodReads profile) ... but this is not a particularly "southern" book ...
Murder in the Paperback Parlor – Ellery Adams – 2**
Number two in the “Book Retreat Mysteries” series set in Storyton Hall, “the perfect getaway for literature lovers.” This has all the elements of a typical cozy mystery: an amateur sleuth, a “cute” occupation / back story, a little romantic tension, and more suspects than you can shake a stick at. The premise of Storyton Hall, however, lost me a little – most likely because I had not read the first book in the series. I did love all the references to books, however. I think I’ll go back and read book # 1 before I give final judgment on the series.
LINK to my review
Just finished a very good travel book by Paul Theroux titled The Great Railway Bazaar (p. 1975). The book recounts Theroux's 1973 journey from London to Japan and back via the railways. Theroux says that's the way to travel. There was a very interesting section about his travels in Vietnam in late '73 after the ceasefire. U.S. combat troops were gone and the VC and the North were plotting to invade the South. A dangerous place to be. I also enjoyed the sections on India, Burma and Japan. Theroux does not really seem to be a happy traveler. He does possess a dry wit and he's a sharp and perceptive guy. (My first Theroux book.) He was not very good at describing location and scenery but good at communicating with and reporting about people. I'm not sure why anyone would want to travel in India, a very depressing place, at least in '73. I found it to be a very well written and entertaining book. His reporting evoked people like Kipling, Conrad, Forster, G Greene and others. I guess he did a follow-up to this book.
Pre-reading the Capote novella for December. My last two months of the year are packed so I wanted to read this now. Mike I can see why anything written by Capote would be a lasting memory for you or anyone. He really is a master storyteller. I should finish the three short stories today and then I have a lot of classics on tap for November including Madame Bovary, Radetzky's March by Joseph Roth, and Pulitzer winner Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler whose birthday is today.
Mod
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I think that the publisher should put the blurb on the cover where the author says that he believes President Kennedy was shot by a secret service agent. Readers should be warned what they are getting into.
Murder in the Mystery Suite – Ellery Adams – 3***
Book number one in the Book Retreat Mystery series. This was a delightful cozy mystery. The premise is a bit outlandish, but it makes for a colorful cast of characters. And I love all the literary references.
LINK to my review
Mod
Here is my review.
Tom, as I commented on your review, this book is set very close to where I've lived my whole life, and I've never heard of Ella May Wiggins. I've also never read Wiley Cash, so I plan to remedy that immediately. However, I am very familiar with the impact of the textile industry on economics in the state of North Carolina and with the mill towns of Gastonia, Belmont, McAdenville and Bessemer City, all located together right outside the banking metropolis of Charlotte, NC. McAdenville is still home to Christmastown USA, a longtime annual tradition in my family along with a stop at any one of the many 'fish camps' in these towns (sweet tea only). Here's an extra bit of mill town history for you from the great state of North Carolina :-)
http://www.mcadenville-christmastown....
http://www.mcadenville-christmastown....
Mod
Thanks!
Wiley Cash promises to be one of the latest crop of great southern writers. Per his web site, "He currently serves as the writer-in-residence at the University of North Carolina-Asheville and teaches in the Mountainview Low-Residency MFA."
The group read one of his books, A Land More Kind Than Home, in 2014 and I nominated his other book, This Dark Road to Mercy, last month but somehow it didn't make it into the polls. I'll keep trying.
Mod
https://youtu.be/3uTPm6ShbL8"
Here's a song of hers that she sang in the book. This version is sung by Pete Seeger.
The Mill Mother’s Lament
Awesome, Laura! You just set the mood. Any relation, by chance, to Radney???
Mod
at least the wild fires in ca is settle down. I now have chance to read. just reading something short to get me going.
Nobody Knows . So far really disturbing.
now I will find whats the group reads are.
Nobody Knows . So far really disturbing.
now I will find whats the group reads are.
Mod
Here is my review.
I just finished Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone and was quite impressed. It's the first of his I've read. I really enjoyed his style and lexicon... somewhere between the styles of Cormac McCarthy and Tom Franklin. Onto Flannery O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away...
I just finished The Whore's Child and other stories by Richard Russo. Russo is not southern but worthy of your time. His plots are unique, well written and thought provoking. I have begun Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans. This book will need to be read at a time where I can concentrate, not before falling asleep. Here is one short quote from a profound preamble, " ... the weak in courage are strong in cunning..."
Jamie wrote: "I just finished Daniel Woodrell's Winter's Bone and was quite impressed. It's the first of his I've read. I really enjoyed his style and lexicon... somewhere between the styles of Cormac McCarthy a..."Absolutely LOVED Winter's Bone. I am embarrassed to say that I had zero idea a movie had been made from it until my book club had Ron Rash on the phone a few years ago. We had heard that Serena would be out in a few months' time and that Jennifer Lawrence was cast as the title character. We asked Ron that if he were the one to write the screenplay and cast the movie, who would have been his choices.
He said that when he initially heard that Lawrence would be Serena, he was mildy skeptical because she was so young. Then, he said, he watched Winter's Bone and was so impressed with her portrayal that he knew she was perfect for Serena. I immediately had to go rent the movie! Winter's Bone was well done!
Sadly, the screen writers entirely defanged the Serena story and turned it into more of a tragic romance than the creepy psychological thriller it started as. I felt bad for Ron Rash.
Anyway, Tomato Red by Woodrell is another favorite of mine. So happy you've sampled his work!
Y'all, somewhere in our assorted threads is a link to a free e-copy of Taylor Brown's new book, and I'll be darned if I can find it. Somebody help a sister out, please? Thank you!
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...
