On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

The Southern Literary Trail is now accepting nominations for books that the group will be reading in April 2022.

IMPORTANT NOTE
Based on the recent poll, 1990 is the new pre-and-post cutoff date for the two categories nominated and voted on.

We will consider books with a southern literary theme that have not been read by the group in the last 24 months. Per our recently revised criteria, the two categories are books originally published in or before 1990 or those published after 1990. You may make one nomination in each category. Authors may not nominate their own works. Please post your nominations below and specify which category you are nominating it for.

Nominations will stay open for one week or until we receive six nominations in each category. Voting will take place in the first ten days of next month.

The eligible nominations received will be listed below:

Books originally published in or before 1990
1. You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays, by Zora Neale Hurston
2. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
3. The Chaneysville Incident, by David Bradley
4. Cool Hand Luke, by Donn Pearce
5. A Generous Man, by Reynolds Price
6. The Neon Rain, by James Lee Burke
Books originally published after 1990
1. Bewilderness, by Karen Tucker
2. Fire Sermon, by Jamie Quatro
3. Charms for the Easy Life, by Kaye Gibbons
4. Gradle Bird, by J.C. Sasser
5. The March, by E.L. Doctorow
6. Saving Grace, by Lee Smith
Post-1990 nominations are now closed.

For the PRE 1990 April Read I nominate " You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays by Zora Neale Hurston (She died in 1960)

For the POST 1990 April Read I nominate The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Phillyaw

Thank you.

Judy, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies won the March poll, so we will be reading that next month.

Diane wrote: "Judy, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies won the March poll, so we will be reading that next month."

Wow! Last I looked it was in third place or some such. I am very happy! I shall come up with another nomination for the March poll POST 1990! Thanks!

For the post 1990 read, I would like to nominate Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro.

Thank you Diane. For the POST 1990 April Read I now nominate Bewilderness by Karen Tucker. 2021

Pre 1990

All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren

Pre 1990:

The Chaneysville Incident by David Bradley published 1981.

POST 1990:

Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons

For pre-1990:

[A Confederacy of Dunces] by [[John Kennedy Toole]]

I'll nominate for post 1990: The March by
E.L. Doctorow

Diane wrote: "For pre-1990:

[A Confederacy of Dunces] by [[John Kennedy Toole]]"
My favorite book of all Time!!!

Sorry Diane. We read Confederacy of Dunces in March of 2021 for the third time. You'll have to wait another 12 months to nominate that one.

I will nominate Cool Hand Luke by Donn Pearce for Pre 1990.

Judi wrote: "Diane wrote: "For pre-1990:

[A Confederacy of Dunces] by [[John Kennedy Toole]]"
My favorite book of all Time!!!"

Diane wrote: "For pre-1990:

[A Confederacy of Dunces] by [[John Kennedy Toole]]"John Kennedy Toole also wrote a book titled The Neon Bible when he was 16 years old. It was FIRST published in 1989 and again by a larger publisher in 1994. John Kennedy Toole commited suicide in 1969. Perhaps The Neon Bible by John Kennedy Toole might be a possible PRE-1990 option????

I would like to nominate for post 1990: Gradle Bird by J.C. Sasser

I am away from my computer this week and can't update the nomination list but Charms for the Easy Life and The March are nominated for the Post-1990 poll as is Gradle Bird, assuming it meets the group's criteria. Cool Hand Luke is nominated for the Pre-1990 poll. It's worth noting that Donn Pearce qualifies as a southern author solely based on the 2 years that he spent on a Florida chain gang.
Based on this, it appears that there are 2 more pre-1990 slots and one more post-1990 slot.

Gradle Bird is definitely eligible. Thanks for nominating it.

Saving Grace by Lee Smith for post 1990

Thanks so much for nominating Saving Grace, Tracey. It alerted me to the fact that it is on sale, so I snatched up a copy.

I believe that fills up the post 1990 nominations, but we still need 2 more in the pre category.

Pre-1990:
A Generous Man by Reynolds Price (1973)

If I’m now reading the bookshelf list correctly, this has never been read by the group?

You are correct Diane. I think the group has only read one Reynolds Price so far. Thats a great nomination.

Unless my count is off, I believe we need one more pre-1990 nomination.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

To close it out….

Looks like that's it then. Nominations are now closed.

Yep. That should do it. The nominations are now closed.