Always fun to talk about books and find some you HAVE TO READ RIGHT NOW!

Schedule for this season (following our virtual world tour theme)

November 3 – Ireland

December 1 – Israel

January 5 – India

February 2 – Scandinavia (and to keep the I’s going we’re including Iceland in this month)

March 1 – Africa

We started in the American South and got some great recommendations – turns out several of us are Faulkner fans.

The Snopes Trilogy – The Hamlet,  TheTown, The Mansion

The Sound and the Fury

The Faulkner Reader

Go Down Moses (short story collection)

Three mysteries were mentioned

Have You Seen Dawn by Steven Saylor – set in Texas about missing teenagers

Knock Off – Rhonda Pollero  (and because knowing what you don’t want to read is important too, this wasn’t recommended – the main character is mostly interested in buying cheap versions of designer clothes)

Rituals of the Season by Margaret Maron – one of her Deborah Knotts series – the first in the series is The Bootlegger’s Daughter

Anything by Pat Conroy or Donna Tartt

The Water is Wide is Pat Conroy’s story of his years teaching black children on an island off the coast of South Carolina – highly recommended

South Toward Home by Margaret Eby – a Southern literary travelogue as the author visits the homes of her favorite southern authors including Welty, Wright, Faulkner, Lee, Capote and others

I Hate to See that Evening Sun Go Down – Collected stories by William Gay – shows Faulkner influence

The Whisper of the River and Run with the Horseman by Ferrol Sams – fiction based on his life – Run with the Horseman was the story of his childhood – The Whisper of the River is set during WWII as a rural boy heads off to college.  Also shows a Faulkner influence.

The Help by  Kathryn Stockett – set in Mississippi in the 1960’s about African american maids working in white households.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (The People in the Trees – not as highly recommended) – long and intense but well worth reading. – not sure this is on the Southern theme but when book people get together all kinds of books get mentioned.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin -an American classic written in the late 1800’s

Life After Life by Jill McCorkle – set in a retirement community

Gospel – Wilton Barnhart – search for a lost first-century gospel of the Bible – a document that could shake the foundations of Christianity.

Natchez Burning – Greg Iles – mystery that looks at the racial conflicts of the south

Deep South – Paul Theroux – non-fiction look at modern day south, especially the small towns, the poverty, and the racial divides.