On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

The Southern Literary Trail is now no longer accepting nominations for books that the group will be reading in February 2024. We have received a full slate of nominations and a poll to select the winners will be set up by the end of the year.

We will consider books with a southern literary theme that have not been read by the group in the last 24 months. The two categories are books originally published in or before 1990 or those published after 1990. In the latter case, we will no longer consider nominations for new books unless they have been available for at least four months prior to the date we begin reading the book. 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. Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories, by Gurney Norman
2. The Ballad of the Sad Café and Other Stories, Carson McCullers
3. The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales, by Charles W. Chesnutt
4. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
5. Crimes of the Heart, by Beth Henley
6. In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, by Ellen Gilchrist
Books originally published after 1990
1. The Southern Lawyer, by Peter O'Mahoney
2. All the Sinners Bleed, by S.A. Cosby
3. Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia, by Dennis Covington
4. King: A Life, by Jonathan Eig
5. Degrees of Elevation: Short Stories of Contemporary Appalachia, an anthology
6. On Agate Hill, by Lee Smith

After 1990 The Southern Lawyer by Peter O'Mahoney

Pre 1990 Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories by Gurney Norman

For the post 1990, I would like to nominate All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Crosby. By the time February comes around it would have been out 11 months.

Pre 1990: The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers
Post 1990: Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia by Dennis Covington

Pre 1990: The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales Charles W. Chesnutt There are various ediitions of this book including a Gutenberg edition. The page count for the stories is much less in some editions.

Post 1990: King: A Life Jonathan Eig

Post 1990 Degrees of Elevation: Short Stories of Contemporary Appalachia by:

Charles Dodd White (Editor), Page Seay (Editor), Silas House (Contributor), Chris Holbrook (Contributor), Valerie Nieman (Contributor), Chris Offutt (Contributor), Richard Hague (Contributor), Crystal Wilkinson (Contributor), Rusty Barnes (Contributor), Paul McManus (Contributor), Ron Rash (Contributor), Mindy Beth Miller (Contributor), Jim Nichols (Contributor), Alex Taylor (Contributor), Mark Powell (Contributor), Denton Loving (Contributor), Sheldon Lee Compton (Contributor), Jarrid Deaton (Contributor)

Okay, I get it. It's December and none of us even have time to read, much less think about nominations for February. To move things along, I will re-nominate On Agate Hill for post 1990, which should fill that category up.

The Color Purple for pre-1990. I just saw the ad for the new movie musical to be released at Christmas.

That leaves 2 more slots to fill for pre.

Pre
Has been nominated before and it’s the month of “hearts”

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I’ll renominate In the Land of Dreamy Dreams by Ellen Gilchrist

That should do it. Thanks guys.

Looks like this will be hard month to pick a favorite - whew!

I concur, Sandi. I like months like this. I've already changed my mind on what to vote for (twice).

We have received a full slate of nominations and a poll to select the winners will be set up by the end of the year.