This ends our Southern Lit month, but we still have more books to talk about!
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Sleeping Above Chaos by Ann Hite
This book comes to you via one of our Instagram followers @bloomin.chick. From the blurb, “Imagine the relationship triangle from “East of Eden” and set it deep in the Appalachian Mountains. Add a couple of ghosts, a good measure of dysfunction, and a whole lot of twists and turns, and you have Ann Hite’s new Black Mountain novel, SLEEPING ABOVE CHAOS.” Sign me up! -A
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
True confessions: I haven’t finished this one yet (it’s over 600 pages!), but it’s Donna Tartt, the queen of the long novel. It must be good. The books starts with a boy found hung in a tree. Seven years later, Harriet, now about twelve, decides to solve her brother’s murder. Tartt’s amazing pacing, that gorgeous prose, thrown into the deep South gives the classic Donna Tartt a totally new flavor. - K
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
This one has been languishing on my to-read list for months. It’s the story of a matriarchal Southern family with magical powers. The first in a series, it promises plenty of unexplained events and a heavy dose of family intrigue. - A
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
This novel was one of the first that made me think about what it would have been like for POC in the South during the 1960s.The storytelling is amazing, off the charts hilarious. And of course, I recommend the audiobook. - K
The World’s Largest Man by Harrison Scott Key
I’m allowing this book in through the back door for one reason: you cannot truly understand the behavior of Southern women until you understand the culture of Southern men. It’s true. Key tells a side-splitting story of his experience as an art-loving boy in a hyper-masculine household. - A
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Woodson based this middle grade novel on her own life and wrote this fictional account in verse. This gorgeous book won so many awards that there’s almost no more room for award stickers on the cover. Definitely a must-read for any middle grade fan. - K
Join us next month for our discussion of graphic novels and comics!