Belles of the South discussion

This thread is where you can post your thoughts and reviews about recently finished books.

I just finished a good one
The Widow of the South.
A novel based on a remarkable true story of Carrie McGavock whose Tennessee Plantation "Carnton" was taken over by The Confederate Army and turned into a hospital outside Franklin, TN where 9200 men died in one day. She and her servants nursed the living and buried the dead. After the war, she rescued 1481 dead soldiers from being plowed under in a neighbors field. She cataloged their remains and reburied them on her property. She wrote letter to all families of the fallen men and promised to mourn and care for the cemetery of soldiers as long as she lived. --- I would love to go see the cemetery which is still cared for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Thanks Sandy for sharing your review with us. I'm moving this one closer to the top of my TBR pile.

I recently finished the book Courting Morrow Little which had been recommended to me so many times! ;) It was quite good, and I highly recommend it if you enjoy historical romance set on the frontier. My review can be found here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show....

Thanks Anne, for posting this great review for everyone to enjoy reading.

No problem! You're welcome. :)

i just finished Thornyhold by Mary Stewart last week. I loved it! I'm also in several Gothic book clubs. It wasn't a group read. Well. Not when I read it.

I read Thornyhold many years ago Debbie and remember loving it. But here's my problem, I read all of Mary Stewart books so long ago that it's difficult for me to remember them all, they start to run together in my mind after awhile.
I wanted to join the Mary Stewart group but realized I'd need to reread them all to be able to join in the discussions.

Have you read any books by Norah Lofts?
I think you will like her if you enjoyed reading Stewart's books.

Debbie wrote: "i just finished Thornyhold by Mary Stewart last week. I loved it! I'm also in several Gothic book clubs. It wasn't a group read. Well. Not when I read it."

Mary Stewart developed the first romantic "Gothic" mysteries. She just recently died at the age of 98. Like Laurie, it's been years since I've read.. As a young teen, I loved going through my Grandmothers's boxes of books and this is where I met Mary and her gothic romances.

Oh Laurie, you should join! You don't need to reread them all to join in. Almost all (if not all) of MS books have been read and discussed but each month we do a group read (for some its a reread) and the threads are opened up again. So you can jump in whenever. As a group we're just getting ready to start "This Rough Magic ". Its not too late to join us!

This Rough Magic is awesome. Love the dolphin. Nora Lofts has never worked well for me.

As for recently finished? A couple or three of Mary Jo Putney's Regency romances, plus a couple of very forgettable historical romances. One set in Alaska (die-in-a-fire stupid) and one post French Revolution. I can't decide what to pick up next, I was doing the book shuffle last night.

I know all about the book shuffle! Sometimes I tell myself that when I finish the two or three books I'm currently reading I'll read such and such. Then I finish my books but the one I chose for next doesn't appeal to me. its a good thing I have so many to choose from! Lol How about you, Misfit? You've been a voracious reader for so long do you still have shelves of unread books or are you slowly catching up? (and does that ever happen I winder?)

I will never catch up, never. The only reason some of my physical books are making it to the charity box unread is that the library is picking up digital copies.

Dorcas wrote: "Oh Laurie, you should join! You don't need to reread them all to join in. Almost all (if not all) of MS books have been read and discussed but each month we do a group read (for some its a reread) ..."

You know Dorcas, I wouldn't mind doing a reread of one of MS books every now and then so I will seriously consider joining.

Misfit wrote: "This Rough Magic is awesome. Love the dolphin. Nora Lofts has never worked well for me.

As for recently finished? A couple or three of Mary Jo Putney's Regency romances, plus a couple of very forg..."

I'm a sucker for any animal book and I do love dolphins. I'll have to rummage around and see if I have that particular MS book here.

There was a series of books I read back in the 80's by author Aola Vandergriff that I absolutely loved. Each title would begin with "The Daughters of..." and every book would follow 3 sisters and their adventures in different locations. If I'm not mistaken I think the last book was set on the Titanic.

These were not particularly of the hot and steamy style and were more romantic so they might seem very tame compared to more recent books.

oh those sound interesting, Laurie!

I just finished "The Romance of a Poor Young Man." I enjoyed it but the typos made things very awkward. (public domain epub)

Dorcas wrote: "Oh Laurie, you should join! You don't need to reread them all to join in. Almost all (if not all) of MS books have been read and discussed but each month we do a group read (for some its a reread) ..."

Yep! I signed up for that read. Join us Laurie.

Sounds like a lot of fun Debbie, I'm heading that way.

Non-fiction, Eleanor of Castile by Sara Cockerill.
http://impressionsinink.blogspot.com/...

Non-fiction, A World Elsewhere: An American Woman in Wartime Germany by Sigrid MacRae.
http://impressionsinink.blogspot.com/...

Thanks so much Annette, enjoyed reading your excellent reviews. Glad to have another history lover here too.

I recently read a book set in the Appalachian mountains, Flight Behavior . Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it as I found the book to be tortuously slow. Kingsolver does seem to be loved by others though! Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Thanks for the warning Cher! I've never read one of her books although the one about living off the land did sound good. I'm not sure I understand the love either.

Just finished reading The Yellow Birds by the southern author Kevin Powers.
Powers packed a powerful punch in this novel about the war in Iraq and it's affect on 3 young men barely out of their teens.

I am having difficulty posting a link to my review but will soon be able to do so, hopefully :)

A 5 star read for me and this book will definitely touch your soul. I highly recommend The Yellow Birds.

Oh, it looks very good, Laurie!! :) You wrote a good review too! Have you tried copy-paste to include the link in your comment? If it doesn't work I can post it for you if you want.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
is the link to my review of The Yellow Birds.

Thanks Anne for your help, figured out what I was doing wrong finally.
Glad you enjoyed the review Anne :)

Now that the holidays are over, there has been more time to read.. yeah... I have enjoyed some titles by Karen White and Mary Kay Andrews... Looks like these ladies are busy.... Their lists are long... Anyone have any favorites from these authors

Whistling Past the Graveyard was pretty good.

I haven't had a chance to go to my favorite used book store "Dusty Bookshelf" and find any treasures. I did find a new release entitled The Memory House . If you like southern historical fiction with past/ present theme. I couldn't put it down. Good Read.

Sandy wrote: "I haven't had a chance to go to my favorite used book store "Dusty Bookshelf" and find any treasures. I did find a new release entitled The Memory House . If you like souther..."

Thanks for the suggestion Sandy and I've added The Memory House to my monstrous TBR list. Sounds like a very pleasant read for the summer.

I recently finished Warleggan the 4th book in the "Poldark" series by Winston Graham.

Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Laurie wrote: "I read Thornyhold many years ago Debbie and remember loving it. But here's my problem, I read all of Mary Stewart books so long ago that it's difficult for me to remem..."

Its the same for me except for The Ivy Tree which I read again last year and also The Crystal Cave. Please remember that Norah Lofts has an h on her name. My two favorite writers both have slightly unusual spellings to their names.

The last book I remember reading of Mary Stewart's was Thornyhold not too many years ago but I'm looking forward to eventually re-reading all of her books in the future.

Autumn, were you a big Victoria Holt fan?

I own Thornyhold and have read it a couple of times.
Yes, I was as a teenager and today I ran across my copy of My Enemy, the Queen and thought to myself that I should read that one again as I loved it and vaguely remember it.

Well, I put up the new Demelza for my picture now. Isn't she gorgeous?

I gave My Enemy the Queen a 5 star rating and I've read it a couple of times. It's one of the few HF books I've been able to find that included Penelope Devereau and Frances Walsingham. After reading one of my all times favorites:

The Walsingham Woman
I've always wanted to read more about those 2 but books mentioning them are so hard to find.

Today I received in the mail
and I can't wait to get started on this one - after I finish reading the Poldark books.

I read Holt's books as a teen and enjoyed them too. Not as good as Norah Lofts imho but still good.

Laurie wrote: "I gave My Enemy the Queen a 5 star rating and I've read it a couple of times. It's one of the few HF books I've been able to find that included Penelope Devereau and Frances Walsingham. After rea..."

Completely agree with you. I also love Norah Lofts supernatural element.