On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

Good morning All,Reads
I'm now accepting nominations for our November group reads. What shall we read? I look forward to receiving your picks. As always, happy reading!

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
Eugene Sledge grew up in the Mobile, Alabama area and was a life-long friend of E O Wilson.
I read "With the Old Breed" in the early-mid nineties when a local library was running a series of reads & programs on the 50th anniversary of WW2. Less than 3 weeks ago was the 80th !! anniversay of the German invasion of Poland which is usually considered the start of WW2.
This book is Post-1980

Nancy L Owens wrote: "With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
Eugene Sledge grew up in the Mobile, Alabama area and was a life-long friend of E O Wilson.
I read "With the Old Breed" in the early-mid ..."

Excellent, Nancy. Sledge adjusted to his return to civilian life with great difficulty. He wrote "With the Old Breed" over a number of years, originally intending it to be a memoir to be read by his family. Following the war he became a professor of botany and zoology at the University of Montevallo in Alabama. His students would have been hard pressed to understand the horrific memories that lay beneath his gentle exterior as he led them on field trips identifying native botanical plants.

Sledge's story was published in 1981. His story was later central to Ken Burns' series, "The War." His memoir later served as one of the key sources for Spielberg and Hanks HBO series, "The Pacific."

Sledge specifically addressed his difficulty in returning to life after war in China Marine: An Infantryman's Life After World War II. Thanks for your reference to his long friendship with E.O. Wilson who was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Noted naturalist and environmental advocate, Wilson was considered the father of social biology. Their friendship was a long and lasting one.
>Withe the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa is nominated Post-1980

I would like to nominate Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen for the post 1980 recommendation.

"Merry Mansfield, the eponymous Razor Girl, specializes in kidnapping for the mob. Her preferred method is rear-ending her targets and asking them for a ride. Her latest mark is Martin Trebeaux, owner of a private beach renourishment company who has delivered substandard sand to a mob hotel. But there's just one problem: Razor Girl hits the wrong guy. Instead, she ends up with Lane Coolman, talent manager for Buck Nance, the star of a reality TV show about a family of Cajun rooster farmers. Buck Nance, left to perform standup at a Key West bar without his handler, makes enough off-color jokes to incite a brawl, then flees for his life and vanishes.

Now a routine promotional appearance has become a missing persons case. And Andrew Yancy, disgraced detective-turned-health inspector, is on the job. That the Razor Girl may be the key to Yancy's future will be as surprising to him as anything else he encounters along the way—including the giant Gambian pouched rats that are haunting his restaurant inspections."

Our next nomination comes from Trail member Vic Cavalli via good reads email. His nomination is The Violent Bear it Away by Flannery O'Connor. Published in 1960, this was O'Connor's second and final novel. This is a struggle over the soul of Francis Tarwater. Will he become a Prophet or become a reasoned modern man/ or Fundamentalism vs. Secularism. Dark? Sarcastic? Of course. O'Connor wrote it. A check of our bookshelf reveals this is the sole major work of O'Connor not previously read by the Group. It is nominated Pre-1980. I read this in college in 1973. It still sticks with me.

John wrote: "I would like to nominate Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen for the post 1980 recommendation.

"Merry Mansfield, the eponymous Razor Girl, specializes in kidnapping for the mob. Her prefer..."

Thanks, John. Razor Girl byCarl Hiaasen is nominated Post-1980.

For pre-1980 I would like to nominate
A World Lost by Wendell Berry

I have read a few of his works before and really enjoyed them.

Thank you for all your add'l comments about Sledge. I knew most of it except for about the mini-series "The Pacific". I thought that was based on Stephen Ambrose's book of the same title. I gave that book to my late unmarried partner; I haven't read it yet. Probably "With the Old Breed" is in the biblography.
Did you know Sledge at Montevallo or elsewhere?

Tracey the Bookworm wrote: "For pre-1980 I would like to nominate
A World Lost by Wend[book:A World Lostell Berry|8567]

I have read a few of his works before and really enjoyed them."

Berry is a favorite author for a number of Trail Members. In A World Lost Andy Catlett attempts to put the facts of his Uncle's murder together. Andy was only nine at the time of the murder. An exploration of memory in the Port Arthur community. The novel is nominated Post 1980.

Nancy L Owens wrote: "Thank you for all your add'l comments about Sledge. I knew most of it except for about the mini-series "The Pacific". I thought that was based on Stephen Ambrose's book of the same title. I gave th..."

Yes, Nancy. The series was adapted from Ambrose's book. I regret I never met Eugene Sledge. When I read With the Old Breed I read as much material about Sledge I could find.

I would like to nominate The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom for the post 1980 November read. Thank you.

I would like to nominate A Childhood: The Biography of a Place by Harry Crews for the pre 1980 November read. Thank you.

Before 1980
Vein of Iron by Ellen Glasgow

Vein of Iron

Ellen Glasgow considered Vein of Iron, published in 1935, to be her best work. "No novel has ever meant quite so much to me, " she wrote a friend. The critics agreed; the book was favorably reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review and outsold all but one other work of fiction in the year of its publication. Opening in the years just before the First World War and laid in the Valley of Virginia, the book traces the experience of a family with four generations of strong women. Faced with a crisis when the bread-winner, a philosopher-minister, is defrocked for his unorthodox views, the women provide the "vein of iron" which carries the family through removal to Richmond (Queensboro in the book), through war and depression until the final return to the mountains.

As usual, the contemporary nominations have outpaced those of the vintage works. Here is what we have so far,
For the Pre-1980 group:
1) The Violent Bear It Away, by Flannery O'Connor
2) A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, by Harry Crews
3) The Store,by T.S. Stribling

For the Post-1980 group:
1) With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, by Eugene B. Sledge
2) Razor Girl, by Carl Hiaasen
3) The Yellow House: A Memoir, by Sarah M. Broom
4) A World Lost, by Wendell Berry
5) The Color Of Lightning, by Paulette Jiles

After 1880:
The Color of Lightning - Paulette Jiles

The Color Of Lightning

In 1863, as the War Between the States creeps inevitably toward its bloody conclusion, former Kentucky slave Britt Johnson ventures west into unknown territory with his wife, Mary, and their three children, searching for a life and a future. But their dreams are abruptly shattered by a brutal Indian raid upon the Johnsons' settlement while Britt is away establishing a business. Returning to find his friends and neighbors slain or captured, his eldest son dead, his beloved and severely damaged Mary enslaved, and his remaining children absorbed into an alien society that will never relinquish its hold on them, the heartsick freedman vows not to rest until his family is whole again.

A soaring work of the imagination based on oral histories of the post-Civil War years in North Texas, Paulette Jiles's The Color of Lightning is at once an intimate look into the hearts and hopes of tragically flawed human beings and a courageous reexamination of a dark American history.

Tom, I was mistaken in nominating A World Lost as pre-1980. It was published in 1996 so should be in the post-1980 group. Sorry.

Here is a vintage pre-1980: The Store
The author, T. S. Stribling was born in Wayne County, Tennessee. He spent much of his life in Alabama.
"The Store" is the middle book of a trilogy; it is set in Florence, Alabama [just across the Tennessee River from where i live], in 1884. It was pub'd in 1932 and won the Pulitzer for fiction in 1933.
Think about it for a minute: pub'd in 1932 historical fiction about 1884: 48 years in the past. That is like an author in 2019 writing about 1971!
Be prepared for depictions of racism. But to omit that would have been whitewashing history.
My F2F book club read this book in January 2019 and we found it a "chewy" read. None of us felt "lost" because we had not read book #1, "The Forge". Some of us plan to read the entire trilogy sometime in the future.

I bought a copy of The Store a few years ago at a library sale, but haven't read it yet. I think that's a great choice, but it may be hard to find.

For hard to find books try
powells.com
Large bookstore new & used Portland, OR
thriftbooks.com
abebooks.com. lots of booksellers list with abe, including some library bookstores
If order new--expect $$$ "current" edition of "The Store" is from university press.

Most libraries have some kind of inter library loan programs now. Those are also good ways to get older, hard to find books.

Diane wrote: "I bought a copy of The Store a few years ago at a library sale, but haven't read it yet. I think that's a great choice, but it may be hard to find."

I must agree with Diane. The most current edition was published by the University of Alabama Press. Typically UAP editions run around $35.00. In addition to Nancy's suggestion of Powell's, Biblio.com and abe.com are good sources.

Pre-1980 The Colonel's Dream by Charles W. Chesnutt

Not sure how hard it is to get a copy of this. My library strangely does have a copy.

The Colonel's Dream is actually free on Kindle. So that's a plus.

Brilliant shall download thank you for the tip

Tracey the Bookworm wrote: "Pre-1980 The Colonel's Dream by Charles W. Chesnutt

Not sure how hard it is to get a copy of this. My library strangely does have a copy."

Thanks, Tracey. The Colonel's Dream is nominated Pre-1980.

As there seems to be a shortage of pre-internet nominations, I woud like to nominate the first Pat Conroy book I ever read, The Lords of Discipline.

And, assuming we need another one, I'll nominate "The Golden Apples" by Eudora Welty.

Love Welty

Tom wrote: "As there seems to be a shortage of pre-internet nominations, I woud like to nominate the first Pat Conroy book I ever read, The Lords of Discipline."

Done, Tom. The Lords of Discipline Pat Conroy is nominated Pre-1980.

Diane wrote: "And, assuming we need another one, I'll nominate "The Golden Apples" by Eudora Welty."

Wonderful, Diane. The Golden Apples by Eudora Welty is nominated Pre-1980.

FYI : I am traveling and am unable to set up the poll so I would appreciate it if someone else would do it this month.

The polls are up. I apologize for the disorganization this time. You can only vote on post selections today, must wait on pre voting til tomorrow. Don't know why. Also I didn't know how to make polls appear as #1 and #2, so they are polls #181 and #182. Again, sorry for making you hunt for them.

I believe I have sorted out the polls. Thank for helping out. I hate having to sort out hotel Wi-Fis. Anyway, the polls for the Pre-1980 group are here:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...
The polls for the Post-1980 group are here:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Daggone. Been traveling & visiting a friend in hospice frequently, not on phone a lot. Ah, well, will try & nominate in the next month or so. ;-). Had a pre-1980 that I read in same timeframe as Jubilee back in the day, wanted to nominate it.

The polls are now closed and the selections for November have been chosen. Many thanks to all of you who voted. All of the books chosen look really great and I’m certain you will enjoy them.

The Lords of Discipline, by Pat Conroy, is the winner in the Post-1980 category. The winner in the Pre-1980 category is A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, by Harry Crews. Finally, the Moderator’s Choice selection, chosen by Tall Woman Laura, is The Color Of Lightning, by Paulette Jiles.
Also, the discussions boards are up and running for the October selections. They can be found here:

For The House Next Door, by Anne Rivers Siddons, (Moderator’s Choice):
Initial Impressions: The House Next Door, by Anne Rivers Siddons, October 2019
Final Impressions: The House Next Door, by Anne Rivers Siddons, October 2019


For Jubilee, by Margaret Walker, (Pre-1980):
Initial Impressions: Jubilee, by Margaret Walker, October 2019
Final Impressions: Jubilee, by Margaret Walker, October 2019

For Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison (Post-1980):
Initial Impressions: Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison, October 2019
Final Impressions: Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison, October 2019

Happy reading!