On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

I am now accepting nominations for our October, 2016, group reads.

In March, 2012, On the Southern Literary Trail began its first journey with A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. From that initial madcap tour of New Orleans we have traveled through almost every area of the South you can imagine. Through Flannery O'Connor's "Christ haunted South," Faulkner's South, where the past is never dead, it's not even past. Through the hills of Appalachia.

We have listened to voices old and new, a mammoth choir who sings of people and places haunted by tragedy and celebrating the joys of life. We have examined the burden of Southern history. The horrors of Slavery, the injustice of racism, the martyrdom of those who kept alive the flame of the Civil Rights Movement. And still, we read on, for the South, as does every other place moves on. Is ever changing. Some say we are growing less unique. More homogeneous. In some places, perhaps.

I travel the back roads. I still find the places that I find uniquely Southern, embracing the good and the bad of life, as it is everywhere. But, I do believe this. That whether the South is losing its unique identity as a region of this nation, its authors have maintained a unique voice tied to the land, to the people, and have a particular view of this world we call the South. And this journey we call On the Southern Literary Trail holds an elusive draw to me and many of our members.

So, readers, what will it be this next month? Tell us. We want to know. I can hardly wait to receive your nominations. Our group continues to grow. As of this morning, membership stands at 1,257. Oh, I know, our more conversive members do not reflect those numbers. But I want everyone to know, I'm happy to have each one of you a member of this group. If you find one book here that captures your imagination, I believe this group has accomplished this purpose for you. Never feel compelled to launch into a discourse. On the other hand, know your thoughts are valued by each of us who read them. Each of you is very special to me, and I know I speak for each of my fellow moderators.

Along the way, a new member suggested, here's a bit of information you need to know about nominations. Many of you consider this old hat. But I do consider it helpful to our newly joined members.

You may nominate a work in TWO categories. Those categories are PRE-1980 and POST-1980. Those dates refer to WHEN a book was PUBLISHED. Not when a book was set in time.

The book SHOULD be a work of SOUTHERN LITERATURE. Just what is that? Well, I could write a book on the subject. But, very briefly, a work of Southern literature is written by an author born in the South dealing with Southern settings, characters, historical events such as the Civil War, Reconstruction, and many more. Think William Faulkner. However, it may also be a work by a Southern writer who has LEFT the South, who lives, for instance, in Brooklyn, New York, who observes life with the values of his growing up in the South. A Prime example would be Sophie's Choice by William Styron.

But, to broaden the definition, hopefully not to confuse you, a work can be Southern literature, even when written by an author born in the North. Think Beloved by Toni Morrison, a work you will find on many "Lists of Best Southern Literature."

Now to the nitty gritty. I accept SIX nominations in each category. OR, the Nominations remain open for FIVE DAYS. The nominations are CLOSED upon receiving the required number of nominations or the passage of five days, WHICH EVER HAPPENS FIRST. I then set up the POLLS on which YOU VOTE.

Many of our members have been around since I founded this group in February, 2012. The group has changed in membership since it was formed. I recognize that newer members may wish to read a novel which has been previously chosen as a group read. AND WE DO THAT! However, I ask that you NOT NOMINATE A WORK READ WITHIN THE LAST YEAR AND A HALF. Groups work best where everyone plays well with others. How do you know WHAT HAS BEEN READ WHEN? Go to the BOOKSHELF on the GROUP'S HOMEPAGE. SEARCH for the title you're interested in. You will see if a work has been read before and when it was. And, of course, if you have a question, e-mail me via goodreads. I'll let you know.

AUTHORS IN THE GROUP--YOU MAY NOT NOMINATE YOUR OWN WORK.

I'm sure some of you may have other questions. You may always write to me through goodreads e-mail. I ALWAYS respond. It may not be right away. All of us have lives outside the goodreads community. BUT I ALWAYS RESPOND!

ONE LAST THING! I believe in this group being member driven. I do not nominate. I d. I do note vote. My fellow moderators do. I couldn't do without them. As a group, each of us take turns offering an alternate read each month called the MODERATOR'S CHOICE.

And, a question for YOU! Have suggestions to improve "The Trail"? Just let me know. Write me with your suggestions. The Mod Squad listens to you.

So, have at it. What do we have in store for us in October, 2016?

Happy Reading,
Mike Sullivan
"Lawyer Stevens"

I nominate a post-1980 book that comes out next month (so it will still be new in October): .

The author, Hunter Murphy, is from Alabama and currently residing in Florida, and his work is Southern through and through. Colorful, humorous, fun mysteries.

Full disclosure: he is a client of mine! But regardless of that, I really enjoyed this book and I enjoy him as a person. :)

For post-1980 I nominate Ron Rash's new release: The Risen.

For pre-1980, I nominate: Absalom, Absalom!.

In the post-1980 category, I nominate for the month of October and Halloween: Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey by the late, inimitable Kathryn Tucker Windham.

For post-1980, I would like to nominate Mississippi Noir.

For pre-1980, I nominate: The Sound and the Fury

For post-1980, I nominate the previous Ron Rash: Above the Waterfall

Doug I was going to nominate Absalom, Absalom. You beat me to it so I'm seconding.

FYI- many of us want to read The Risen and also Underground Railroad but if we rely on the library the books aren't available yet. Can we postpone??? I nominate My Sunshine Away by M.O Walsh

For pre-1980, I'll nominate The Keepers of the House and for post-1980, Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West.

Post 1980 - A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith - This has been on my shelf too long and needs to be read, I am told, by many a Native Floridian.

The author was given the award - "Greatest living Floridian in 2002" by the Florida Historical Society. That must count for something.

Crooked Letter, Crooked LetterI nominate a pre 1980 book by Tom Franklin called Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter

Changing my post 1980 nomination. Guy, I'll second A Land Remembered. I lived in Florida for a few years and also visited many times prior to that. Sounds like something I would enjoy.

Pre-1980: The Miller of Old Church by Ellen Glasgow:
Glasgow's realistic fiction novels often showed the female characters as stronger than the male characters. It was this new type of Southern fiction that made Ellen Glasgow one of the major writers of her time. The vantage point from which most of her nineteen novels were written was her native home of Richmond, Virginia. She received the Pulitzer prize in 1942. The Miller of Old Church: It was past four o'clock on a sunny October day, when a stranger, who had ridden over the corduroy road between Applegate and Old Church, dismounted near the crossroads before the small public house known to its frequenters as Bottom's Ordinary. Standing where the three roads meet at the old turnpike gate of the county, the square brick building, which had declined through several generations from a chapel into a tavern, had grown at last to resemble the smeared face of a clown under a steeple hat which was worn slightly awry.
FREE at Project Gutenberg or about $10 w/shipping from a vast array of used-book sellers.

Post-1980: I second Doug's nomination of Rash's THE RISEN.

Perry, yes, something spooky for October!!!!

Good one!

Doug wrote: "For pre-1980, I nominate: Absalom, Absalom!."

Great nomination, Richard. Ellen Glasgow is a fine southern author who has been largely forgotten. "The Miller of Old Church" is also free on Kindle.

I just downloaded "The Miller"....I like free. Thank you!

I nominate "Five Days at Memorial" for post-1980...This is the description. October is the last month of hurricane season - are we any better prepared? (I live in SE Va, we certainly are not here)

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

by Sheri Fink

3.86 · Rating Details · 15,162 Ratings · 2,393 Reviews




In the tradition of the best investigative journalism, physician and reporter Sheri Fink reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled mightily to survive and to maintain life amid chaos.

After Katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers chose to designate certain patients last for rescue. Months later, several health professionals faced criminal allegations that they deliberately injected numerous patients with drugs to hasten their deaths.

Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting, unspools the mystery of what happened in those days, bringing the reader into a hospital fighting for its life and into a conversation about the most terrifying form of health care rationing.

In a voice at once involving and fair, masterful and intimate, Fink exposes the hidden dilemmas of end-of-life care and reveals just how ill-prepared we are in America for the impact of large-scale disasters—and how we can do better. A remarkable book, engrossing from start to finish, Five Days at Memorial radically transforms your understanding of human nature in crisis. (less)

Doug wrote: "For post-1980 I nominate Ron Rash's new release: The Risen."

I second or third this!

I thought we read Above the Waterfall within the past year.

Kim wrote: "I thought we read Above the Waterfall within the past year."

Above the Waterfall
about
Rash, Ron 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars read, 2015, appalachia, group-read, on-the-southern-l..., ron-rash 2015/11/01 2015/11/30 Lawyer 2015/10/27

You thought correctly. November 2015.

Laura wrote: "I just downloaded "The Miller"....I like free. Thank you!"

"Free" is, along with "check enclosed," one of the most gorgeous sentences ever conceived by human faculties.

Diane wrote: "Great nomination, Richard. Ellen Glasgow is a fine southern author who has been largely forgotten. "The Miller of Old Church" is also free on Kindle."

I'm glad to know she's not *completely* forgotten. This is one of her strong-woman feminist novels.

Is there a Ron Rash book that a) the group hasn't read in the last 12 months and b) is available to everyone. I'm sure The Risen is amazing but not available at libraries just yet. Just my two cents.

I suggest you petition your library to buy the book now, Brina. It's being published in early September and should be readily available to all in hard copy and e-copy by October.

I'm first on the wait list. Whether or not I have the book in time for the group read is another story.

I know this has been nominated several times before but I'd still like to read Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital for Post -1980. I've heard great things about it from folks in this group.

Oops, it appears Cynthia already beat me to the punch.

I also want to read that, so many great choices.

Karen wrote: "Crooked Letter, Crooked LetterI nominate a pre 1980 book by Tom Franklin called Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter"

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is an excellent book but it was published in 2009 so it can't be nominated as a Pre-1980 selection. Also, the group has read it before but it has been several years so it would be eligible. Would you like to change that to Post-1980?

Brina wrote: "Changing my post 1980 nomination. ."

Good thing. My Sunshine Away was read last year.

Doug wrote: "For pre-1980, I nominate: Absalom, Absalom!."

That's a good one Doug. Been down that road 3 or 4 times. The way he tells the story ya kinda think ya got it but not yet you don't. And Miss Rosa Cauldfield sittin there, and her feet don't reach the floor, tellin her story; well truth is knowin your elbow bends this far. Well worth the effort.

Let me suggest Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by that Tom Franklin guy. This will be post 1980.

Pretty straight forward story. Some flashbacks. Follows two men coming to terms with there childhood. A Mississippi childhood. You know there are gonna be skeletons and closets.

I see It's a popular selection. I didn't realize it would be a reread..

Perry wrote: "In the post-1980 category, I nominate for the month of October and Halloween: Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey by the late, i..."

Perry wrote: "In the post-1980 category, I nominate for the month of October and Halloween: Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey by the late, i..."

Ditto! This was going to be my nomination!

Pre-1980

Apostles of Light

The elderly couple in this fine novel, a retired schoolteacher and the doctor with whom she has had a lifelong, tender love affair, find that, almost by accident, they have forfeited control of their own lives. Trapped in a nursing home, they are the victims of the biblical "apostles of light," the deceitful do-gooders who profess righteousness. In subtle, elegant prose Ellen Douglas recounts a gripping story of their brave attempt to free themselves from a dreadful plight. They must confront both their corrupt and evil custodians and their well-meaning younger relatives who are tempted by greed, ambition, cowardice, and indifference. "Apostles of Light" was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1973. (less)

Brina wrote: "Doug I was going to nominate Absalom, Absalom. You beat me to it so I'm seconding."

Yes so was I so I ll third that one

Cynthia wrote: "Doug wrote: "For post-1980 I nominate Ron Rash's new release: The Risen."

I second or third this!"
I have preordered it

Tina wrote: "Pre-1980

Apostles of Light

The elderly couple in this fine novel, a retired schoolteacher and the doctor with whom she has had a lifelong, tender love affair, find that, almost by ..."

I will second this novel. By the way, the winners of the National Book Award for that year were Thomas Pynchon (for Gravity's Rainbow) and Issac Bashevis Singer. Pretty good company.

i nominate a post 1980 novel-Taps by Willie Morris.Tissue paper for wet eyes at the ending is optional

I certainly found Absalom, Absalom a profoundly life-changing book, I started a lifelong love affair with Faulkner when I read it and many others in my senior Honors seminar in college. My final question was "Examine the motif of time in Faulkner's work". Filled 2 1/2 blue books, had to move from classroom to professor's office to keep writing, had to call a friend to fill in first hour of a work shift at the library, and was still first one to turn in my answer after 3+hours. Not a small topic about which to write, I will say. Anyway, all this to say I will happily re-read it if a popular wave sweeps it to victory.

Kim I concur. Even though i have read Absalom 4 times 5 times would be a charm.

I'll nominate Post 1980 - Memory Man, a thriller set in Birmingham by Virginia author David Baldacci.

Wow, these are some great nominations! I don't know what I'll vote for. Eeny, Meeny, miny, moe, I guess.

I love Ellen Gilchrist's books and we have not read one yet ! I nominated In The Land of Dreamy Dreamy Dreams earlier this year because it was the first book I had read and it was being reprinted !

So for a Pre-1980 The Millers Old Church by Gilchrist would be lovely!

No doubts about it I am for Ron Rash 's new Novel that comes out in September on the 7th near my Birthday on the 3rd so I will be doing a happy dance ! I hope we choose my favorite-- RON RASH FOR POST 1980 !

I love RON RASH !

<3<3<3

Dawn

I'm #1 on the wait list for The Risen so I hope the library has it on time for the group read if it wins. I am falling in love with Rash, too :). Dawn- I am adding In the Land of Dreamy Dreamy Dreams to my TBR that sounds lovely.

Brian - it is short stories but some of the best I have ever read. One still haunts me to this day ! They take place in New Orleans and have settings based on traditions based on those rituals in New Orleans or how born and raised in New Orleans elites usually acted during that time . Most still do . There is one story of an upper crust family with a rather unruly and embarrassing handicapped child . They do not institutionalize her. What they do is so very disturbing . I cannot believe it myself . Let's just say she is rewarded with a puppy at her Daddy's hunting camp ... But there are more ! I read the book in one sitting at first ! Her stories do make you feel like you are in a world where people do not operate under the same rules or moral codes as everyone else ; a dream world as such and almost absurd . They get away with things and yet they think they are normal . I have revisited this book throughout the years because the characters and situations are so unique . She is a cross between Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Conner ! Then she is her own author too!
Just see what you think ! It's a quick read !

Sincerely ,
Dawn

Dawn wrote: "I love Ellen Gilchrist's books and we have not read one yet ! I nominated In The Land of Dreamy Dreamy Dreams earlier this year because it was the first book I had read and it was being reprinted !..."

I'm glad you like Ellen Gilchrist! The book I nominated, though, is by a long-dead Southern feminist author called Ellen Glasgow.

Dawn I ordered from the library and I'm first in the list. I am excited to read this because school starts soon and I'm about to get busy. Short stories are perfect for me right now.

Beverly wrote: "I nominate a post-1980 book that comes out next month (so it will still be new in October): .

The author, Hunter Murphy, is from Alabama and cu..."

Thanks, Beverly. The Curse of the Bridal Chamber by Hunter Murphy is nominated. Post-1980. That's ONE.

Doug wrote: "For post-1980 I nominate Ron Rash's new release: The Risen."

Doug, a new Ron Rash is always something to eagerly anticipate. The Risen is nominated. Post-1980.

Doug wrote: "For pre-1980, I nominate: Absalom, Absalom!."

Excellent, Doug. Considered Faulkner's masterpiece by most Faulknerians, Absalom, Absalom! is nominated, Pre-1980.