Play Book Tag discussion

It has been awhile since a tag has won as definitively as this one. One of our members nominated it so she clearly has her finger on the pulse of PBT.

The tag for July will be:

Southern

Please share your reading plans and recommendations below.

Remember, for the regular monthly reads, the book can be shelved as suspense on Goodreads, or be a book that is not yet shelved that way but you feel should be.

One way to find books to read for this tag is to please visit:

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

We encourage people to link to additional lists below if they find them.

Happy reading!

When the vote started, I had to look at what books I had on hand-My Library is now open for curbside pick-up, so I have a lot more choices now-Yipee! Not sure yet what I will read, but I will back later with some recommendations for book that are on Anita's list.

Poor Nicole! I actually voted for Southern because there was line 20 TBR books I wanted to read. But this is going to be another Poll Ballot Tally hullabaloo!

I've got a choice of 4:
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Notebook
The Book of Negroes
Lonesome Dove.

Streetcar might be my pick, as I was planning that for Southern Gothic on Poll Ballot Tag!

Definitely have some goodies for this -- including cozy mysteries which fit with my post-Proust plans of light reading.

I do recommend a couple of books I have already read:

Quite a Year for Plums - Book Concierge was given my copy1 -- it's like sitting on the front porch of an evening and listening to the local gossip.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - a classic if ever there was one.

Wow, I really have got nothing. Maybe Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America . . .I think Nicole loved it, so that's a plus.

@ Anita have you read Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital ? It's pretty good and it's on the list

Joanne wrote: "@ Anita have you read Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital ? It's pretty good and it's on the list"

That is on my TBR so great suggestion!

Nicole, I wasn't thinking about how this would make your job harder! Still, I'm very happy this one won!!!!!!!!!!

I put extra points on Southern and have a number I could read.

My plan is to read The Heavenly Table

Maybe it will my time to read the ever-popular Where the Crawdads Sing.

If I don't make it, I'll probably read a quick Sarah Addison Allen to at least get one in for the tag.

Anita wrote: "Wow, I really have got nothing. Maybe Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America . . .I think Nicole loved it, so that's a plus."

I read it twice, nearly back-to-back, and raved about it both times. I read it and listened to it. Brilliant.

I honestly have no idea! I have lots of serious nonfiction books planned for the bonus tag, black lives matter, so perhaps I will see if I can find something a bit more light-hearted that would be good on audio to provide some balance.

I'll be back....

Recommendations:
Love in the Ruins--Walker Percy
Jayber Crow--Wendell Berry
A Lesson Before Dying--Ernest Gaines
Winter's Bone--Daniel Woodrell
Salvage the Bones--Jesmyn Ward
Dixie City Jam--James Lee Burke

Ambitions to read:
Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories--Flannery O'Connor
In My Father's House--Ernest Gaines
Father and Son--Larry Brown
A Land More Kind Than Home--Wiley Cash
A Private Cathedral--James Lee Burke

Anita wrote: "Wow, I really have got nothing. Maybe Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America . . .I think Nicole loved it, so that's a plus."

I read that one, especially since I live close to the area where it all happened! What a story, especially now! Black lives didn't matter much then at all!

As for me, let me recommend The Prince of Tides . That book is like ready poetry! At least that's how I remember it from years ago.

As for me, I have a good list going and I'm looking forward to it. I never read Conroy's earlier book The Great Santini so that's possible.

I've had Garden Spells on my bookshelf for YEARS, so this would probably be a good reason to get to it. I'd also really like to get to The Sound and the Fury, and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (which I'd need to get from the library) could also be interesting.

Of course, my # 1 recommendation is: To Kill a Mockingbird

Second any nomination by Fannie Flagg.

Joshilyn Jackson is also good.

If you want something light and fast ... almost any book by Mary Kay Andrews will fill the bill.

I love Ernest J. Gaines' writing ... I've never read Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman or A Gathering of Old Men ... so maybe I'll try one of those.

Or perhaps I'll tackle Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier (which was on my TBR challenge list for last year ... and the number came up in the unofficial continuation of that game)

Whoo, Hoo! The tag I really wanted. Southern/Southern Gothic is my favorite genre. These are the books I may choose from:
Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
The Sugar Queen and Lost Lake both by Sarah Addison Allen
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

I have a few to recommend including:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
A Worn Path by Eudora Welty
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

For this one, I'm leaning toward:

- Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man / Fannie Flagg
- A Bone to Pick / Charlaine Harris (#2 Aurora Teagarden)

I have read
The Help
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
The Secret Life of Bees
All Over But the Shoutin'
Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man
Where the Heart Is
The Last Ballad
A Painted House
Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living
The Green Mile
In Cold Blood
The Silver Star
Zeitoun
Ava's Man
The Road
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
The Glass Castle
Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
The Most They Ever Had
Grave Sight
The Prince of Frogtown
Shoot the Moon
The Longest Ride
If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Made in the U.S.A.
Message in a Bottle
The Grapes of Wrath
The Well and the Mine
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
Change Me into Zeus's Daughter: A Memoir

Of all the ones I have read, The Green Mile, left a
lasting impression.


On my TBR Mountian
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma's Table
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir
Hill Women: Finding Family and a Way Forward in the Appalachian Mountains

Looking forward to reading all the TBR but The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma's Table looks fun and inviting.

Barbara M wrote: "Anita wrote: "Wow, I really have got nothing. Maybe Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America . . .I think Nicole loved it, so that's ..."

@BarbaraM - The Prince of Tides is one of the most beautiful and most devastating books I have ever had the privilege to read. That final 100 pages written in the most gprgeous language describing the most horrific things....I was gutted the weekend in 1990 when I finished it. Could not stop sobbing and cried all over those pages. Still feel that. Read it but be forwarned and forarmed.

I'm going to read Definitely Dead if I can find my copy of it. If not I'll see what's available from the library. I need something fairly light to read.

I have a handful of things in my Kindle and on my real shelves.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a definite since that's the book for my IRL book club.

Others that are possibilities are:
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (I've seen the movie tons of times and it was filmed near where I was born and grew up)
The Secret Life of Bees
Big Stone Gap
Interview with the Vampire (can you believe I've never read it?!?)

If anyone wants one about race and the confederacy, I suggest Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War, it was interesting because the author spoke with people who reenact the Civil War and Black people in the cities that were major players in the Civil War.

forsanolim wrote: "I've had Garden Spells on my bookshelf for YEARS, so this would probably be a good reason to get to it. I'd also really like to get to The Sound and the Fury, and [book:..."

I enjoyed Garden Spells, Becky. I am thinking on getting another one of her books for this tag, easy read in a time when I am drowning in long books

I have some recommendations

Fiction/
The Help
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Homegoing

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

Well, I seem to be drawn to nonfiction books lately, and I may read The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan.

I really just don't know. I am so torn. There are several southern literature/southern gothic books that I would like to read, but they are mostly by White people and if I am going to read about southern culture and society during the time of BLM, I feel like now is the time to favor Black authors.

I want to read James Baldwin, but his books are not about the south, I do not think.

Ironically, The Lynching is also by a White man, but at least is about the law and not a commentary on southern culture and society....

I definitely am going round and round with myself! lol.

Nicole R wrote: "Well, I seem to be drawn to nonfiction books lately, and I may read The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan.

I really just don't know. I am so torn. Ther..."

*sigh* well, I have just added way too many books to the TBR. It appears it will never get trimmed (kinda like my hair...)

Oh, I am making this way harder than it needs to be! I will definitely be reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.

Decision made.

Updated: Ooooo, or maybe Conjure Women by Afia Atakora. Maybe both.

Nicole R wrote: "Oh, I am making this way harder than it needs to be! I will definitely be reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.

Decision made.

Updated: Ooooo, or maybe [bo..."

Those two both sound good to me, but I don't have them.

I really like The Vanishing Half!

Booknblues wrote: "Those two both sound good to me, but I don't have them.."

I used an Audible credit on The Vanishing Half, and I put Conjure Women on hold at the library. We'll see if I get it in time!

Charlotte wrote: "I really like The Vanishing Half!"

I think it may have been your review that put it on my radar!

Nicole R wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "Those two both sound good to me, but I don't have them.."

I used an Audible credit on The Vanishing Half, and I put Conjure Women on hold at the library. We'll see if I get it i..."
:(
I cancelled my Audio as, I hardly ever do them and I have a backlog and didn't want to be paying for something I don't do.

Michael wrote: "Recommendations:

A Lesson Before Dying--Ernest Gaines

[..."

Michael - A Lesson Before Dying is incredibly powerful. I second your recommendation.

BC Thanks for pointing out that Gaines wrote about Jane Pitman. I wanted to read about her and there are a few choices.

To Kill a Mockingbird holds up really well to rereading. One part of the book can be viewed with a new lens, and it could create an interesting discussion.

I plan to finally read A Good Man is hard to find. I think there is also a book inspired by Mae West - A hard man is good to find?

I'm also in the mood for something by Fanny Flagg.

Booknblues wrote: "I cancelled my Audio as, I hardly ever do them and I have a backlog and didn't want to be paying for something I don't do."

I had cancelled mine too and then got a promo for a great deal if I bought the year membership. I caved and did that! I don't use the credits too often but it is nice when books like this come up and I don't want to wait. lol.

But, I listen to a LOT of audiobooks.

Nicole R wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "I cancelled my Audio as, I hardly ever do them and I have a backlog and didn't want to be paying for something I don't do."

I had cancelled mine too and then got a promo for a g..."

I wish they just had a deal like that for kindle books. Except I would use my credits every month and then some.

Nicole R wrote: "Well, I seem to be drawn to nonfiction books lately, and I may read The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan.

I really just don't know. I am so torn. Ther..."

There are definitely southern books written by black authors. Or books by black authors that might not have been tagged southern that would apply. I don't know if you have read the nonfiction The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration but it's been shelved Black Lives Matter 75 times and Southern 24 times. ETA - I just went back and see that you already recommended this book on the other thread! I do know there are quite a few out there written by black authors, but it can take some digging since peopl have different ways of tagging.

I plan on reading The Prince of Tides and South of Broad both by Pat Conroy.

I have a few others on my TBR but just don't know if I can get to them.

I loved both of those but have a tender place for South of Broad. One passage I always thought I would use as a teacher for therapy.

I loved The Prince of Tides but haven't yet read South of Broad. I'll have to put that on my possibles. I have also not read The Great Santini

If you haven't read it yet, I really enjoyed Cold Sassy Tree. I read it many years ago when it first came out. It was a real sleeper and I "talked it off the shelf" many times in our library. I also, more recently, enjoyed Saving CeeCee Honeycutt Both are on the list for Southern Fiction.

I have Barry's A Thousand Moons waiting for me at the library ( drive up/pickup). It's a sequel to Days Without End. I suspect that it will be more Western than Southern, but it begins in Tennessee, so it might qualify.

Other than that I have a copy of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter on the shelf and two of Pat Conroy's books on the kindle. Also, A Land More Kind Than Home has been lingering on the kindle. I'm not sure. At the moment none of them are calling to me.

Jgrace wrote: "I have Barry's A Thousand Moons waiting for me at the library ( drive up/pickup). It's a sequel to Days Without End. I suspect that it will be more Western than Sout..."

Ooh! I had forgotten about Barry's book coming out and I did not realize it was a sequel to Days Without End. Top of the wish list it goes. I loved Days Without End.

Can anyone recommend Walking Across Egypt.

I found it gathering dust, wrongly placed on a travel book shelf. Seems beloved by many as a warm comic take on rural Southern life, maybe in the same realm as Fannie Flagg.

This opinion in today's NYTimes must be read. Not only fits the bonus tag, but also this month's southern tag, although doesn't count though.

But read it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/op...

Theresa wrote: "This opinion in today's NYTimes must be read. Not only fits the bonus tag, but also this month's southern tag, although doesn't count though.

But read it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/opini..."

Very powerful! It's a point of view I had not ever considered.