Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, June 12th at the Emmet O'Neal Library at 9:00am. We'll be discussing two topics: true crime and travelogues. Bonus points if you can work both topics into one book! :-)
Today we discussed southern writers and fiction.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
[From Amazon.com: A Confederacy of Dunces is an American comic masterpiece. John Kennedy Toole’s hero is one Ignatius J. Reilly, “huge, obese, fractious, fastidious, and a latter-day Gargantua, a Don Quixote of the French Quarter. His story bursts with wholly original character, denizens of New Orleans’ lower depths, incredibly true-to-life dialogue, and the zaniest series of high and low comic adventures” (Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun Times)]
Michelle, Irondale
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
(From Amazon.com: A powerful and resonant novel from Tom Franklin—critically acclaimed author of Smonk and Hell at the Breech—Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter tells the riveting story of two boyhood friends, torn apart by circumstance, who are brought together again by a terrible crime in a small Mississippi town. An extraordinary novel that seamlessly blends elements of crime and Southern literary fiction, Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is a must for readers of Larry Brown, Pete Dexter, Ron Rash, and Dennis Lehane.)
Michelle, Irondale
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
(From Amazon.com: On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?)
Michelle, Irondale
The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant
This is a fictional account of the life of the author's grandfather, Jack Bondurant, as a bootlegger during Prohibition. The Bondurant brothers were involved with a high profile legal case against the Commonwealth's Attorney in Franklin County, Virginia, then popularly known as the Wettest County in the World because of the production of moonshine in the Virginia mountains. In the novel, we follow intrepid reporter Sherwood Anderson as he attempts to track down the famous Bondurant Boys and document the passion, violence, and desperation at the center of their world. The movie adaptation of this book, Lawless (starring Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce, Jason Clarke, and Jessica Chastain) is quite good as well, though many of the books characters are cut out, shifted around, and the time line trimmed up quite extensively.
Holley, Emmet O'Neal
Demon Hunting in Dixie by Lexi George
(From Amazon.com: Addy Corwin is a florist with an attitude. A bad attitude, or so her mama says, cause she's not looking for a man. Mama's wrong. Addy has looked. There's just not much to choose from in Hannah, her small Alabama hometown. Until Brand Dalvahni shows up, a supernaturally sexy, breathtakingly well-built hunk of a warrior from--well, not from around here, that's for sure. Mama thinks he might be European or maybe even a Yankee. Brand says he's from another dimension. Addy couldn't care less where he's from. He's gorgeous. Serious muscles. Disturbing green eyes. Brand really gets her going. Too bad he's a whack job. Says he's come to rescue her from a demon. Puh-lease. But right after Brand shows up, strange things start to happen. Dogs talk and reanimated corpses stalk the quite streets of Hannah. Her mortal enemy Meredith, otherwise known as the Death Starr, breaks out in a severe and inexplicable case of butt boils. Addy might not know what's going on, but she definitely wants a certain sexy demon hunter by her side when it all goes down . . .)
Mondretta, Leeds
Demon Hunting in the Deep South by Lexi George
(From Amazon.com: Shy, self-conscious Evie Douglass tries to stay under the radar, especially when petite socialite Meredith Starr Peterson, aka The Death Starr, is anywhere around. Meredith and her bitch posse of skinny girlfriends have tormented Evie about her size since seventh grade. Unfortunately, it's hard for a plus-sized gal to stay invisible in a small town like Hannah, Alabama. And then Evie finds Meredith brutally murdered. Suddenly, she's the number one suspect in a sensational murder case. Worse, Hannah is infested with demons, and the only thing standing between them and Evie is a hunky blond demon slayer named Ansgar. Evie could swear, though, that Ansgar is interested in more than demons. She could swear that he's interested in her...)
Mondretta, Leeds
Eden Rise by Robert Norrell
(From Amazon.com: In Eden Rise, Tom McKee, a white college freshman, returns to his home in the Alabama Black Belt in the summer of 1965 and becomes embroiled in civil-rights conflict that divides his family, his town, and his own identity. His wealthy and powerful family is not prepared for the shocks that have followed the racial quake of the Selma-to-Montgomery March a few months earlier. Tom's black college friend accompanies him home and gets caught in racial violence. Coming to his friend's defense, Tom earns the enmity of segregationist neighbors. He feels both the hot anger of his father for his racial nonconformity and the determined defense of his mother and grandmother, as he witnesses the corrosive effects of the turmoil on his parents' marriage. Attempting to rescue him are a cousin he never knew and a wily old lawyer who meet dangers and legal challenges that force Tom to confront the truth of his legacy.)
Mondretta, Leeds
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier
(From Amazon.com: At the age of twelve, under the Wind moon, Will is given a horse, a key, and a map, and sent alone into the Indian Nation to run a trading post as a bound boy. It is during this time that he grows into a man, learning, as he does, of the raw power it takes to create a life, to find a home. In a card game with a white Indian named Featherstone, Will wins – for a brief moment – a mysterious girl named Claire, and his passion and desire for her spans this novel. As Will’s destiny intertwines with the fate of the Cherokee Indians – including a Cherokee Chief named Bear – he learns how to fight and survive in the face of both nature and men, and eventually, under the Corn Tassel Moon, Will begins the fight against Washington City to preserve the Cherokee’s homeland and culture. And he will come to know the truth behind his belief that “only desire trumps time.” )
Gina, Gardendale
GENERAL DISCUSSION: We discussed a few authors with a more local flavor. Several of these people live (or lived) near Birmingham!
Patti Callahan Henry
Fannie Flagg
Gin Phillips
Irene Latham
Margaret Wrinkle
Gilbert Morris
W.E.B. Griffin
That's what we've been talking about. What are YOU reading?
htw
