Same. I love all his books, but Beach Music, Prince of Tides, and South of Broad are my favorites. In that order. When my mom died, a friend of mine from South Carolina sent me a copy of Charleston Receipts (The cookbook Leo King and his dad cooked so many recipes from in SoB). It is the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received.
Pat Conroy.. if I had to pick a favorite it would be Beach Music. Celia Rivenbark for humor. Sean Dietrich and Rick Bragg for short stories and bios. Gresham for legal.
Anything from the Deborah Knott series by Margaret Maron. She has the truest modern Southern voice of any author I’ve ever read. I’m from the South, and I swear I know some of those people!
Flannery O’Connor, Cormac McCarthy, and Daniel Woodrell for the win!! Also, True Grit by Charles Portis and a comic book series by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour called Southern Bastards.
@Freda …we live in South Carolina but my husband bought a motorcycle online from a guy in Nathez. We listened to Turning Angel on the way. We were telling the guy about Greg Iles. Well, Greg lived in his neighborhood before he became famous. Told us how to get to the private school that the book was loosely based on and the riverbank where the girl was found murdered at the beginning. Best weekend trip.
@Freda there’s a novella, The Death Factory, that goes between The Devil’s Punchbowl and Natchez Burning. It’s listed at 3.5 in the series. Gives some history of Penn’s time in Houston.
I recently watched video clips from “Orpheus Descending”; I think the name of the movie was “The Fugitive Kind”, with Anna Magnani and Marlon Brando, and, I think, Joanne Woodward, and maybe, Karl Malden. I couldn’t believe that I could tolerate this contempt when I was a teenager, but hey, there was so much in real life; life did not look too hopeful for young women who cared. It’s actually offered as _liberating_ when Lady is destroyed. But at least she wasn’t a Bond girl!
I got started reading Williams when a friend and her new friend, my enemy, started reading together through all of Williams’ works, because the friend’s new friend was a second cousin of TW. I decided to invite myself along, so when I talked to my friend, we’d discuss the plays we’d read and the issues within them. Williams seemed ideal for me to read, because our high school library, which was so poor that our school almost lost its accreditation, had those yearly Best Plays anthologies. With a play, you were into the story right away, which was not so different from the movies and TV shows I’d seen so many of, the usual means of receiving a story in my life. And I was going through a period of dissociative forgetting, and that worries a kid: worse than embarrassing if they found out. So when I read the stories that I recognized as movies we’d seen (but shouldn’t have) at the drive-in when I was a child, I got to turn those remembered experiences over in my head, and they helped me connect to other neural traces, and my remembrances broadened. I was eventually thought of as someone who was obssessed with Tennessee Williams, which was neither fair nor true. The two who had started this weren’t thought of that way!
And I loved the fact that Williams did not completely discount God. He was someone who insisted on blowing out those candles, but who couldn’t completely blow them out, himself. Even though the world was indeed now lit with ‘lectricity. That is something to think about, when we are being subtly demanded to relinquish our mattering as human beings, in favor of a digital reality that frequently shows itself hostile to us. We are supposed to placidly agree that we do not _matter_ , and that our numbers make our survival undesirable. Hey, sez who? Who, may I ask, wants to know? Other human beings.
Anything by Dorothea Benton Frank. And definitely Gone With the Wind. Read that one 3 times. First time I didn’t read the last chapter because I couldn’t bear the thought of it ending
Cold Sassy Tree (Olive Burns), Peace Like a River (Leif Enger), The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Jacqueline Kelly–young adult fiction), The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd), and OF COURSE, To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)!
James Lee Burke’s Robiceaux novels depict New Orleans so vividly, I swear I smell bayou and feel the humidity settle down over me every time I read them.
As a native Southerner I have strong opinions about this. My opinion, and it is only my opinion is that Pat Conroy (Prince of Tides, the Great Santini, etc always) makes being Southern seem pathological. Reynolds Price however, tells the truth of his South’s conflicted history & quirkiness, but allows you to see the nobility that is there in it. My favorite is A Great Circle trilogy: The Surface of Earth, The Source of Light, and The Promise of Rest. Not Beach reading but a rich novel to fall into. (Tolja I felt strongly. . .)
@Barbara I don’t hate Conroy, but just prefer some others to represent “The South” I know and love. I will tell you I was living in Charleston when South of Broad came out and that was a Fun read for all of us there. I’ve often hoped it would be made into a movie — some of those characters would be so great on the screen — and of course they could film it right there in downtown Charleston.
@Barbara I certainly don’t hate Conroy, just prefer some others to represent “The South” I’ve known and loved. I will tell you I was living in Charleston when South of Broad came out and that was a FUN read for all of us there. I’ve often thought that book would make a great movie. Some of those characters seems to be written for the screen. And of course, they could film it in downtown Charleston. — and just in case it sounds like it — I am not a Charlestonian — just got to live there for about 12 years. I’m now back in my native NC where my family roots are rural and so R Price’s family sagas ring true for me.
@Sandy I have never been to NC but have a high school friend ( born and raised in the Midwest) who lives there and loves it. Charleston is on my bucket list. Thanks for the heads up on R Price. And I do love a family saga!
There’s some hot steamy romance books set in the south. Nora Roberts and Jennifer Blake come to mind. It’s from Nora I learned the meaning of “Bless your heart”.
To Kill a Mockingbird, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Fried Green Tomatoes (and anything by Fannie Flag) and don’t forget the True Blood series!
I have her letters, but I don’t think its hard to reconcile the two in her fiction and letters at all. They are both full of humor, juxtaposed against the serious undercurrent always running through them. And if you think of a favorite author as a full-fledged human being, there are going to be times when they are more relaxed. That wouldn’t be while they are practicing their art, but when they are relaxing with friends.
Not quite the South since it is set in Ohio, but “And Ladies of the Club” by Helen Hooven Santmyer is a great read as stories of the lives of generation of women who belong to the same book club. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22…And_Ladies_of_the_Club%22
So many of these recommendations…….. except Faulkner—–I have a problem getting into his books (have to admit I haven’t tried since college and right after)
Confederacy of Dunces is one of my top 5 favorite books ever written. Of course it is, but I guess I didn’t consider that a “southern” book. I found it extremely funny until I realized that the author was suffering.
Oh please don’t make me choose! Love them all! Everything Pat Conroy ever wrote, Cold Sassy Tree, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, To Dance with the White Dog, Their Eyes were Watching God, Gods in Alabama, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen, To Kill a Mockingbird, to name a few.
Yes. I hadn’t considered it since I don’t really think of McCammon as a writer of Southern fiction. However, it definitely fits the bill. One of my all-time favorite books.?
I forgot about Cold Sassy Tree! A few years after I read it, I got the audiobook version so my husband who is a sci-fi reader could experience Will Tweedy’s tale. The narrator, Grover Gardner, was fabulous and we both loved the story!
@D.M. it was a first novel and the author passed away after she wrote it. She left notes for a second book that was completed by another writer. It was not as satisfying.
When Pat Conroy died, I reread his books and discovered I had missed a few. Fabulous reading for me. Strangely, I did not like Prince Of Tide book or movie. I tried to reread but couldn’t get pass the abuse!
Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe Check out Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9375
The weather in New Orleans helped me understand Southern literature. Up until I visited, I always felt Southern lit was slow and oppressive. I still don’t like it, but now I get it
@Brenna I love how everyone deals with the heat with fans and on porches…I lived much of my life in NJ in humidity without air conditioning. I also love the sense of finding oneself on the beach which I do here
You should come to Savannah and see Flannery O’Conner’s birthplace. They have also had designers make 4 little free libraries in her honor all designed differently.
I grew up in Charleston. If you remember the Boo from Lords of Discipline, you’ll know the dad of my high school geometry teacher. I love Pat Conroy’s books about our beloved LowCountry.
Carson McCullars, Ferrol Sams, Ernest Gaines… find a collection of short stories by various Southern authors. That will give you a taste of different writers, and you can go from there.
I love books about the south!! Anne Rivers Siddons(‘Heartbreak Hotel and something with Creek in title ha!), Bret Lott I’m sorry I can’t think of specific titles. I think these authors are really good. I liked ‘This One and Magic Life’ Anne Carroll George and ‘Someone Else’s Love Story’ Joshilyn Jackson. I’m listening to ‘Where the Crawdad’s Sing’
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns is hilarious, poignant, and life-affirming; a multi-generational coming of age tale set in the small town South. A delight!
When I responded earlier, I was not picturing the Carolina islands as “the South”. (It maybe paradise instead!). I love Dorothea Benton Frank’s books—all of them, but particularly those with a bit of the supernatural in them
Janis Owens, I read one book then read them all! Brilliant, engrossing and oh so southern. My Brother Michael Myra Sims The Schooling of Claybird Catts The Cracker Kitchen American Ghost
Sandra Anne Farrell – Nice to see there is another Crews fan out there. Can’t think of another modern writer who makes life so “immediate” to the reader. His back story is fascinating too.
Books by Dorothea Benton Frank and Mary Kay Andrews. Also, Mary Kay Andrews’ given name is Kathy Hogan Trocheck and as Kathy Hogan Trocheck wrote a series of mysteries. I had the pleasure of meeting both Dorothea Benton Frank and Mary Kay Andrews — just lovely. Another favorite is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.
Anything by Fannie Flagg, Margaret Maron, Karen White. The Help, To Kill A Mockingbird, Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory. So many great stories of the South!!!!
Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Help, Tom Sawyer, This Property is Condemned, The Kitchen House, The Secret Life of Bees, and others that I cannot recall at the moment.
I’m currently reading Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens which is a good story & well written. Other authors I like are Kristy Woodson Harvey and Mary Alice Monroe. I enjoy the authors previously listed too. Southern Lit is my favorite genre.
Stumbled upon By Invitation Only by Dorthea Benton Frank. Listened to it through online library. Couldn’t stop listening!! Absolutely loved it and discovered a new favorite author.
She was from Jackson, wasn’t she? I didn’t know her home was open for visitors. I had a friend from that area that use to see her at the grocery store. She was a very talented writer that seems to be overlooked by most readers.
TKAM
Prince of Tides and Beach Music
Beach Music is my absolute favorite. Pat Conroy stories will break your heart.
I cried more reading that than anything before or since but absolutely loved it!! Read everything he wrote and wish there were more
Same. I love all his books, but Beach Music, Prince of Tides, and South of Broad are my favorites. In that order.
When my mom died, a friend of mine from South Carolina sent me a copy of Charleston Receipts (The cookbook Leo King and his dad cooked so many recipes from in SoB). It is the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received.
The Awakening
I like Dorothea Benton Frank’s Low Country books
Great summer reads!
Anything by Falkner
Midnight in the Garden of Evil
Loved that book!
Anything by William Faulkner.
Definitely Faulkner. He captures the essence of the South like no one else.
Fannie Flagg
Anything by Reynolds Price.
Anything by Faulkner
The Help
The Help and Steel Magnolias.
The At Home In Mitford series by Jan Karon
Harper Lee
Pat Conroy
Anne Rivers Siddons is the goddess of southern fiction.
Probably TKAM, but, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was awfully good, too!
What’s tkam
@Rhonda “To Kill a Mocking Bird”
To Kill A Mockingbird
@Pat thanks, not usually so slow on the draw!
Anne Rivers Siddons & Pat Conroy.
To kill a Mocking bird
South of Broad and Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Joshilyn Jackson!
I love Pat Conroy, and of course TKAM, but another of my favs is Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns.
Cold Sassy Tree is one of my favs.
What, who, is TKAM
@Loretta To Kill a Mockingbird. I saw that acronym here on the thread and felt like a true member of the club when I used it ??.
The Coal Tattoo.
Pat Conroy.. if I had to pick a favorite it would be Beach Music. Celia Rivenbark for humor. Sean Dietrich and Rick Bragg for short stories and bios. Gresham for legal.
Love Celia Rivenbark!!!
@Molly after I posted I realized it was not fiction but she is a hoot.
I also met her at a book signing in Myrtle Beach, just as darling and unpretentious as her books.
FAULKNER!
Perfect time of year to read Light in August by Faulkner.
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward. A phenomenal book! A must read
Next on my list!
Hated it. ???
I’ve been saving this for my book group later this year. Really liked Salvage the Bones.
To Kill Mockingbird and all of the Fannie Flagg books
Southern Gothic fiction. As many have said, Faulkner, but Flannery O’Connor as well.
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers.
The help
One of my favorites!
Prince of Tides
james dickey’s DELIVERANCE
Anything from the Deborah Knott series by Margaret Maron. She has the truest modern Southern voice of any author I’ve ever read. I’m from the South, and I swear I know some of those people!
Fanny Flagg, Faulkner, Pat Conroy
Charlaine Harris has written some really fun, quick books all set in the south. Not just the True Blood books!
Eugenia Price – Savannah Quartet, St Simons Trilogy
Her books were what really got me into reading historical fiction
Anything by Wiley Cash.
My thoughts exactly
If you like Wiley Cash, you’ll like Ron Rash.
@Denise thank you for the recommendation!
Denise Walsh you might want to add Rick Bragg to your list- essays and biographies but really fantastic!
Eudora Welty
Gone with the Wind
Charliane harris
Can’t forget Carson McCullers!
Their Eyes Were Watching God.
That book absolutely blew me away!
Anything by Fannie Flagg
Gone With The Wind
Anything by Flannery O’Connor
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
Just about anything from Lee Smith or Susan Gabriel or Fannie Flagg.
William Faulkner, Flannery O’ Connor, Early Cormac McCarthy
Anything by Lee Smith
Blood Meridian
To Kill a Mockingbird
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Whistle stop cafe!
Clyde Edgerton
The Help
Anything Karen White!
The Lords Of Discipline by Pat Conroy, Walker Percy.
Fannie Flagg
Pat Conroy
Harry Crews
Sharyn McCrumb
Whistle Stop Café, To Kill a Mockingbird
Fried Green Tomatoes
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Reynolds Price
The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolf
Pat Conroy
Cold Sassy Tree an Fried Green Tomatoes
William Faulkner
The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin.
Barry Hannah
Also To Kill A Mockingbird
The Help
Roll of Thunder Here My Cry
Roll of Thunder great YA book
The Which Way Tree by Elizabeth Crook
James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books or Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man is Hard to Find.
The Color Purple, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Ellen Gilchrists stories.
The best!
Fried Green Tomatoes, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Help are the three that come to mind.
To Kill a Mockingbird.
Pat Conroy
Esp. Prince of Tides!
@Kaye yes
Carson McCullers
Fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe.
Fannie Flagg and Rebecca Wells
Prince of Tides
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Cold Sassy Tree
To Kill a Mockingbird and The Help
Walker Percy, Eudora Welty
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Help, the Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross
@Manda time to shine
Flannery O’Connor, Cormac McCarthy, and Daniel Woodrell for the win!! Also, True Grit by Charles Portis and a comic book series by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour called Southern Bastards.
South of Broad
Pat Conroy To Kill a Mockingbird
Following!
Loved The Help!!
Pat Conroy, Rick Bragg
Beach Music and South of Broad by Pat Conroy, anything by John Grisham, and of course To Kill a Mockingbird.
To Kill A Mockingbird
The help, Fried Green Tomatoes
Traded street series
All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren??????
Bastard Out of Carolina
The Dry Grass of August
Ellen Foster
The Dry Grass of August was phenomenal
Greg Iles
@Kelly I love the Penn Cage series.
@Ronda I just finished Devil’s Punchbowl and have Natchez Burning on hold at the library! He’s becoming my favorite southern author!
@Freda …we live in South Carolina but my husband bought a motorcycle online from a guy in Nathez. We listened to Turning Angel on the way. We were telling the guy about Greg Iles. Well, Greg lived in his neighborhood before he became famous. Told us how to get to the private school that the book was loosely based on and the riverbank where the girl was found murdered at the beginning. Best weekend trip.
Natchez*.
@Freda there’s a novella, The Death Factory, that goes between The Devil’s Punchbowl and Natchez Burning. It’s listed at 3.5 in the series. Gives some history of Penn’s time in Houston.
@Kelly woohoo! Thank you! Just checked it out from Overdrive. Didn’t know about this one.
@Freda I just finished it. It’s not great but I think it gives some necessary backstory as we move into the next three books.
@Ronda What an amazing story! You should tell that to the Great American Read folks!
@Freda haaaa! It’s not like I got to meet him. I did meet Celia Rivenbark. She taught me how to pose in a picture to look skinnier. ?
Beach Music by Pat Conroy
The Sound and The Fury, To Kill a Mockingbird.
I just finished The Sound and The Fury, really loved it.
Me, too, Andi. I could feel the atmosphere of the South oozing out of the novel.
Midnight in the garden of good and evil
Flannery O’Connor
To kill a mockingbird, And The Divine Secrets of the Ya ya sisterhood.
Lords of Discipline by P Conroy
To Kill A Mockingbird and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Rick Bragg’s The Best Cook in the World, Gap Creek by Robert Morgan, long Train Passing by Steven Wise
I love all things Rick Bragg!!
Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg
Terms of Endearment – McMurtry (or Lonesome Dove, take your pick)
Peachtree Road by Ann Rivers Siddons
Tidewaters
Cassandra King, Pat Conroy’s wife has written several good ones in this genre. Can’t remember the titles.
And several Anne Rivers Siddons books, the earlier ones.
Prince of Tides and Beach Music, oh man.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
To Kill a Mockingbird
Flannery O’Connor. Faulkner, esp: As I Lay Dying; Conroy: The great Santini.
Anne Rivers Siddons
gone with the wind
For fun cozy mysteries, Anne George’s Southern Sisters series & King of Liars by Hart
Anything by Pat Conroy. It is sad that there will be no more.
Beach Music
One of the only books I have read twice, and look forward to reading again.
To Kill A Mockingbird
GWTW
Prince of Tides.
Beach Music by Pat Conroy
Gone with the wind
I was thinking the Mitford series.
Cold Sassy Tree, To Kill a Mockingbird, everything by Rick Bragg
Gone With The Wind.
Burdy by Karen Spears @Karen. And Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry.
Awww Thank you
All of Tennessee Williams, just to emphasize how far women have come from his fascinatingly witty but so misogynist writings
I recently watched video clips from “Orpheus Descending”; I think the name of the movie was “The Fugitive Kind”, with Anna Magnani and Marlon Brando, and, I think, Joanne Woodward, and maybe, Karl Malden. I couldn’t believe that I could tolerate this contempt when I was a teenager, but hey, there was so much in real life; life did not look too hopeful for young women who cared. It’s actually offered as _liberating_ when Lady is destroyed. But at least she wasn’t a Bond girl!
I got started reading Williams when a friend and her new friend, my enemy, started reading together through all of Williams’ works, because the friend’s new friend was a second cousin of TW. I decided to invite myself along, so when I talked to my friend, we’d discuss the plays we’d read and the issues within them. Williams seemed ideal for me to read, because our high school library, which was so poor that our school almost lost its accreditation, had those yearly Best Plays anthologies. With a play, you were into the story right away, which was not so different from the movies and TV shows I’d seen so many of, the usual means of receiving a story in my life. And I was going through a period of dissociative forgetting, and that worries a kid: worse than embarrassing if they found out. So when I read the stories that I recognized as movies we’d seen (but shouldn’t have) at the drive-in when I was a child, I got to turn those remembered experiences over in my head, and they helped me connect to other neural traces, and my remembrances broadened. I was eventually thought of as someone who was obssessed with Tennessee Williams, which was neither fair nor true. The two who had started this weren’t thought of that way!
And I loved the fact that Williams did not completely discount God. He was someone who insisted on blowing out those candles, but who couldn’t completely blow them out, himself. Even though the world was indeed now lit with ‘lectricity. That is something to think about, when we are being subtly demanded to relinquish our mattering as human beings, in favor of a digital reality that frequently shows itself hostile to us. We are supposed to placidly agree that we do not _matter_ , and that our numbers make our survival undesirable. Hey, sez who? Who, may I ask, wants to know? Other human beings.
Gone With the Wind.
Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy.
Dorothea Benton Frank, Fanny Flagg, Jan Karon
Whistling Past The Graveyard is one of my favorites. The Help is another.
Cold Sassy Tree
GWTW
To Kill a Mockingbird, GWTW and Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil
Anything by Connie May Fowler.
Greg Iles -Natchez Burning Trilogy (Mississippi Blood, etc)
anything by Sarah Addison Allen, especially The Sugar Queen.
Anything by Dorothea Benton Frank. And definitely Gone With the Wind. Read that one 3 times. First time I didn’t read the last chapter because I couldn’t bear the thought of it ending
I felt the same when I read it the first time!
Lookaway Lookaway
To Kill a Mockingbird, of course.
As I Lay Dying, by Faulkner; The Optimist’s Daughter, by Welty.
I love As I Lay Dying … challenging, irreverent, and hilarious!
I loved Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides.
Prodigal Summer
So many greats!
GWTW, TKM, Rick Bragg, Pat Conroy, Fannie Flagg
Rhett Butler’s people.
On Leaving Charleston by Alexandra Ripley
The Sweet Potato Queens! Loved that group of books!!!
divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood!
Conrad by Pat Comroy
Pat Conroy
Rubyfruit Jungle, and many by Fannie Flagg
If you are into lighter southern fare—check out books ? by Mary Kay Andrews, especially the Weezie and Bebe mystery series
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Hysterical! Also Venus Envy by Rita Mae Brown, also very funny.
The Tradd Street series by Karen White!!
The Mitford Years series
Reading the Beach House series right now by Mary Alice Monroe
To Kill A Mockingbird
Prince of Tides
Cold Sassy Tree (Olive Burns), Peace Like a River (Leif Enger), The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Jacqueline Kelly–young adult fiction), The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd), and OF COURSE, To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)!
I almost forgot about Cold Sassy Tree— the audio book circulated around the workplace (Richard Thomas “John Boy Walton” was the “voice”).
Love Jacqueline Kelly. My daughter and I loved reading Calpurnia Tate together.
Anything by Silas House
Anything by John Hart
To Kill a Mockingbird ❤️??
The Natchez Burning trilogy by Greg Iles..so good!
Love him!
5 smooth stones by Ann Fairbank.
Gods in Alabama
I read that earlier this summer and loved it! The Opposite of Everyone was also very good.
Freda Ray Rittenhouse -Between, Georgia is a really good one by her too
James Lee Burke’s Robiceaux novels depict New Orleans so vividly, I swear I smell bayou and feel the humidity settle down over me every time I read them.
Yes!! I loved all of these!!
i so concur Burke is a great writer; his prose is so beautifully descriptive & his redemptive endings bring hope and meaning to a damaged world.
Anything by Ron Rash.
the prince of tides
The Great Santini…
Anything by Pat Conroy
Absolutely loved all of conroy’s stuf
Greg Iles
As a native Southerner I have strong opinions about this. My opinion, and it is only my opinion is that Pat Conroy (Prince of Tides, the Great Santini, etc always) makes being Southern seem pathological. Reynolds Price however, tells the truth of his South’s conflicted history & quirkiness, but allows you to see the nobility that is there in it. My favorite is A Great Circle trilogy: The Surface of Earth, The Source of Light, and The Promise of Rest. Not Beach reading but a rich novel to fall into. (Tolja I felt strongly. . .)
I will read these!
Thanks for being politely honest, Sandy. I love Pat’s books, but can understand your perspective.
@Barbara I don’t hate Conroy, but just prefer some others to represent “The South” I know and love. I will tell you I was living in Charleston when South of Broad came out and that was a Fun read for all of us there. I’ve often hoped it would be made into a movie — some of those characters would be so great on the screen — and of course they could film it right there in downtown Charleston.
@Barbara I certainly don’t hate Conroy, just prefer some others to represent “The South” I’ve known and loved. I will tell you I was living in Charleston when South of Broad came out and that was a FUN read for all of us there. I’ve often thought that book would make a great movie. Some of those characters seems to be written for the screen. And of course, they could film it in downtown Charleston. — and just in case it sounds like it — I am not a Charlestonian — just got to live there for about 12 years. I’m now back in my native NC where my family roots are rural and so R Price’s family sagas ring true for me.
@Sandy I have never been to NC but have a high school friend ( born and raised in the Midwest) who lives there and loves it. Charleston is on my bucket list. Thanks for the heads up on R Price. And I do love a family saga!
uh..Grits are delicious. ???
Mary Kay Andrews
The Bone Tree
William Styron
Anything by Conroy…
Kaye Gibbons’ A Virtuous Woman, Charms for the Easy Life and Ellen Foster.
I loved Ellen Foster!
Ellen Foster is a splendid little book
Fried Green Tomatoes!
Secret Life Of Bees
I forgot about that one. Loved that book.
Pat Conroy
Faulkner
Flannery O’Connor – A Good Man is Hard to Find
Flannery O’Conner, Wise Blood and all her short stories!
I forgot about Fried Green Tomatoes until I saw someone mention Fannie Flagg!
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Me too!
Oooo yeah, I loved this book!
Pat Conroy and Terry Kay.
I just finished To Dance with the White Dog. It may be my new favorite book! Definitely makes the top five.
All of Terry Kay’s books are great. If you can find a copy of Dark Thirty – it’s my favorite after White Dog – one of his best.
I loved Shadow Song… it is one of my all time favorites
Cold Sassy Tree, and more recently, Where the Crawdads Sing.
Both are great books
Anything by Mary Alice Munroe.
Many good writers mentioned already, but Eudora Welty should be near the top of any list of Southern writers.
?Love her?
Cold Sassy Tree ?
Faulkner
Greg Iles
There’s some hot steamy romance books set in the south. Nora Roberts and Jennifer Blake come to mind. It’s from Nora I learned the meaning of “Bless your heart”.
Harry Crews if you like a little grit and edge?
Pat Conroy
Carolyn Haines and her Sarah Booth mysteries
What could ever top “Gone with the Wind” for a southern setting?
Pat Conroy
To Kill a Mockingbird
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe and pretty much anything by Fannie Flagg.
Charles Martin books.
https://www.google.com/amp/flavorwire.com/448660/the-50-best-southern-novels-ever-written/amp
This list seems really old—every Faulkner ever but no Pat Conroy????
Only a starting point
Pat Conroy hands down.
The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy, followed by anything else he’s ever written!!!!
To Kill A Mockingbird!
Pat Conroy.
Dorothea Benton Frank
Pat Conroy
Following
Gone with the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird
Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil.
Fried Green Tomatoes, The Help, The Secret Life of Bees, and them aforementioned works!
Anything by Joshilyn Jackson.
Strom Thurmond’s biography
I love the Bregdan Series by Ginny Dye
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Too many to name from many genres but set in the South.
Fanny Flagg, Carson McCullers…
Almost anything by Greg Iles.
Pat Conroy’s Prince of Tides, To Kill a Mockingbird are two of my favorites
Lisa Patton
Beach Music, Pat Conroy
Prince of tides, the Help, anything by Fanny Flagg & of course Gone With the Wind
Greg Iles. If you want to go back further, Francis Parkinson Keyes wrote awesome books about the south.
Dinner at Antonie’s
@Gina Steamboat Gothic. I own all of her books.
Just finished rereading Beach Music by Pat Conroy!
One of my all time favorite books! Rereading it is a very good idea!!
Anything by Lee Smith, especially Fair and Tender Ladies
Also Ferrol Sams…not a popular author, but so, so good!
Ferris Sam’s is a wonderful storyteller! Run with the Horses was my favorite.
Lee Smith. Silas House. Wiley Cash.
Mitford series
gwtw <3
Anything by Joshilyn Jackson
Cold Sassy Tree
I would add “all things Faulkner,” To Kill a Mockingbird, and my newest find–Jesmyn Ward–Sing, Unburied, Sing and The Men We Reaped.
Crazy Ladies by Michael Lee West
A Land Remembered
The Help and To Kill a Mockingbird
Cold Sassy Tree
A Painted House
Thank you for making me aware of this book! I’ve just ordered. It sounds wonderful!
Great book! I just received the sequel but haven’t read it yet.
Faulkner
Deliverance
Prince of Tides
The Invention of Wings
Lee smith
Gone With the Wind – To Kill a Mockingbird – Prince of Tides – John D.MacDonald Travis McGee series – probably will think of more later!
Cold Mountain.
James Lee Burke
Beach Music by Pat Conroy
The Prince of Tides
I just bought that! Haven’t cracked the spine yet
You’ll love it
A magnificent piece of literature.
Long Man by Amy Greene
F
Books by Faulkner. It might take a bit of time to get used to the dialect, but his writing really captures the characters.
Fannie Flagg
Their Eyes Are Watching God
Pat Conroy
Prince of Tides was one of my all time favorite books.
@Meliahone of mine, too!
Love all of Pats books. Have read Beach Music 3 times.
Southern sisters mysteries by Anne George. Just silly, relaxing fun!
Prince of Tides
And cold mountain
Laura Childs Teashop Mysteries.
A Confederacy Of Dunces
❤️❤️
Pat Conroy, without a doubt.
Sookie Stackhouse. ?♂️
Another vote for anything written by Pat Conroy.
Have millions of people already mentioned Harper Lee and her ladies like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum….?
Gone With the Wind
Anne Tyler Raleigh, NC
The Secret Life of Bees
Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Joshilyn Jackson for contemporary fiction. James Lee Burke is also wonderful. And the book Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is great.
To Kill a Mockingbird!
Miss Julia
That was going to be mine. I love miss Julia
We have great taste ?
To Kill a Mockingbird, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Fried Green Tomatoes (and anything by Fannie Flag) and don’t forget the True Blood series!
The Help and Divine Secrets of Yaya Sisterhood
Member of the Wedding
Garden of good and evil
Pat Conroy’s books
So many, but have to say Greg Illes
Joshilyn Jackson’s books. Gods in Alabama, a Grownup Kind of Pretty, etc.
Anything by Anne Rivers Siddons
Anything by Fannie Flagg. Takes me right back to my southern roots!
William Faulkner
Fannie Flagg, Karen White, Dorothea Benton Frank.
Anything by Fannie Flagg and Divine Secrets of the Ya -Ya Sisterhood.
Sharyn McCrumb’s The Ballad of Frankie Silver
Faulkner
Fannie Flagg!
Their Eyes Were Watching God; The Heart is a Lonely Hunter; and anything by Lee Smith
Pat Conroy
Following
Flannery O’Connor short stories.
And Cormac McCarthy novels.
Have you read the letters of Flannery O’Connor? It’s hard to reconcile her fiction with the humor in the letters
@Beth, no I haven’t read her letters.
I have her letters, but I don’t think its hard to reconcile the two in her fiction and letters at all. They are both full of humor, juxtaposed against the serious undercurrent always running through them. And if you think of a favorite author as a full-fledged human being, there are going to be times when they are more relaxed. That wouldn’t be while they are practicing their art, but when they are relaxing with friends.
The Rising of Glory Land by Janie Devos
Reynolds Price
Confederacy of Dunces
To Kill a Mockingbird
Bastard Out of @Carolina.
Pat Conroy’s Beach Music.
Ooh, just downloaded it from Bookbub.
@Michele, lucky you! It’s a good one.
The Help and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Not quite the South since it is set in Ohio, but “And Ladies of the Club” by Helen Hooven Santmyer is a great read as stories of the lives of generation of women who belong to the same book club. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22…And_Ladies_of_the_Club%22
LOVED this book!
The kitchen house
Anne George.
The entire John Jakes collection, starting with North and South
Lonnie Coleman’s Beulah Land series
To Kill a Mockingbird and The Help, Secret Life of Bees
Gone with the Wind
The prince of Tides.
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Fried Green Tomatoes
Carson McCullers, midnight in the garden of good and evil
Anything by Flannery O’Connor.
Prince of Tides
The Help was pretty great
Tabacco Road (fiction?)
Looooove Erskine Caldwell!
The Help
Pat Conroy.
Lee Smith and Flannery O’Connor
Prince of Tides
Mine, too! ?
Ballad of the sad cafe….
Any thing by Dorothy Benton Frank
Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood
Absalom, Absalom
The Heart is A Lonely Hunter by Carson Mccullers
Oh yes,love that one too.
Fried Green Tomatoes
Gone With the Wind
Any Fannie Flagg book! I have so enjoyed them all!
The secret life of bees!
Okay…what do I do with this?
???
I was asking for everyone’s favorite Southern fiction suggestions.
Prince of Tides
Ditto … or To Kill a Mocking Bird
A Conroy novel such as Prince of Tides
All Conroy novels!
Ann River Siddons
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
The Help
Southern Gothic: Sharp Objects!
Did u like The HBO adaption?
Isn’t Missouri really more Midwest? Maybe just where I’m from we wouldn’t consider that the South.
@Sandra, loved it.
Natchez trilogy
who is the author, i’m seeing more than one option here
Greg Iles!
thank you!
Faulkner Sound & the Fury
The secret life of bees and any thing by Fanny Flagg.
Natchez Burning
Bastard Out of Carolina.
Prince of tides
The True Blood Series. Light and fun to read
Ooh yeah, and Anne Rice…southern gothic.
Lestat!
Flannery O’Connor!
Joshilyn Jackson novels.
South of broad basically all pat conroy
To Kill a Mockingbird, no question.
Prince of Tides
Has to be “to kill a mocking bird”
To Kill a Mockingbird, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Prince of Tides.
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
I forgot about that book. I loved it!!! His, City of Fallen Angels is also really great!
love it…nonfiction.
Anne Rice, Harper Lee and of course Margaret Mitchell!
So many of these recommendations……..
except Faulkner—–I have a problem getting into his books (have to admit I haven’t tried since college and right after)
Anything by Pat Conroy.
Flannery and also Faulkner!
Lillian Hellman’s Watch on the Rhine
OMG, y’all are blowing up my Goodreads app right now. I can’t keep up.
To Kill a Mockingbird, garden of good and evil.
Anne Rivers Siddens
We are all excited about great books!
Eugenia Price..Historical Fiction
Magic Time by Doug Marlette
Read that long ago……great book! Thanks for reminding me!
Ten years ago for me.
And I purchased it at the Dollar Tree!
This one
I just got this one… can’t wait to crack it open.
@Connie soooo good. Couldn’t put it down.
@Connie so so GOOD.
Best book this year
Dorothea Benton Frank and Mary Kay Andrews
Kathryn Stockett,
The Help! Loved it!
Dorothy Allison
Pat Conroy
Yeah yeah
Prince of tides
Anne Rivers Siddons
Ferrol Sams books starting with, Run With the Horsemen
To Kill a Mockingbird!
Books by Greg Iles.
http://www.gregiles.com/
Yes!
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
(Yes I know it’s semi biographical; but there is enough ‘added’ to make it fiction by the people in the area)
Cold Sassy Tree
My all-time favorite book!
Prince of Tides. Pat Conroy
Sookie Stackhouse novels
Many of the above and the collected stories of Reynold Price. Confederacy of Dunces should qualify.Faulkner and Eudora Welty.
Confederacy of Dunces is one of my top 5 favorite books ever written. Of course it is, but I guess I didn’t consider that a “southern” book. I found it extremely funny until I realized that the author was suffering.
Fanny Flagg’s books. 🙂
Gone with the Wind!!
Southern vampire series- Charlaine Harris
The Help
Oh please don’t make me choose! Love them all! Everything Pat Conroy ever wrote, Cold Sassy Tree, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, To Dance with the White Dog, Their Eyes were Watching God, Gods in Alabama, Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen, To Kill a Mockingbird, to name a few.
I’ve read a few books by North Carolina author Diane Chamberlain. Necessary Lies is my favorite so far!
I want to retire so I can read again
The Yearling by Rawlings and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston.
A confederacy of dunces.
Charles Martin
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Shenandoah Sisters by Michael R. Phillips-
Anything Carson McCullers wrote. Ever.
All things Faulkner…
Oldest Living Confederate Widow, Charlaine Harris, James Lee Burke.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
My Dog Skip.
Saving Ceecee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman, and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
The Help is my fav!!!
Pat Conroy
Especially. Beach Music
The Liar’s Club, Katherine Ann Porter, and Eudora Welty, too!
Love love love Eudora !
Isn’t she amazing?!☺
Prince of Tides
Fanny Flagg – funny
So many I need to read realizing I don’t read that much southern novels
Anything by Rick Bragg
The Liars Club.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe
And def all James Lee Burke!
Absolutely!
The Help
Rhett Butler’s People
I Shall Be Near to You
Gone With the Wind
The Witching Hour
The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood.
The Secret Life of Bees!
Fried Green Tomatoes
Light in August, Faulkner.
Anything by Fannie Flagg, esp. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe
Lord’s of Discipline, Prince of Tides, The Great Santini in that order
Absalom, Absalom
One of his best works.
Pat Conroy, Anne Rivers Siddons.
I really liked Anne Rivers Siddons books on audio. They were great company on the solo part of college driving trip years!
To Kill a Mockingbird
beach Music
To kill a mockingbird
The Help
A Confederacy of Dunces! One of my favorite books…loved it, loved it, loved it!!!
?
The Sookie Stackhouse series (yeah, yeah, I know … but I liked ‘em)
Beach Music
FABULOUS!!!!!!!!
Short stories by Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty.
Need to read this…
@Paula i think you will enjoy it
I’m originally from the Mississippi River Delta, in Arkansas. I know they made a movie as well. Thanks for reminding to read this?
The Amazon movie was so good. I’ll have to check this out.
I didn’t know there was a movie made? I’ll have to check it out
@Dion I think it got an academy award nomination
Michael McDowell writes great southern horror. The Elementals is outstanding.
South of Broad
Tayari Jones
An American Marriage is awesome.
Rita Mae Brown’s “Six of One” and anything by Clyde Edgerton and Bailey White’s “Mama Makes Up Her Mind”
I’d forgotten Clyde Edgerton. What laugh out loud treasures.
To kill a Mockingbird
The kichenhouse
Prince of Tides
Yes! But anything by Pat Conroy will do!
<3
@Jennifer I agree!
pat conroy
Anything by Willie Morris
He’s My Dog Skip, right?
@Paula yes and The Witch of Yazoo, all his books are magical
I’ll check him out! Thanks.
@Paula yes please do.
Love southern authors
So do I, southern authors are natural story tellers.
Paula Hughes Cortner
William Faulkner
Color Purple!
Where The Red Fern Grows
Cold Sassy Tree!
Loved it
@Paula don’t we all??
I have a non fiction started so of course I put it down at the drop of a hat. Do ppl still drop hats?
Cold Sassy Tree is a must read!
@Paula We should make dropping hats a national pastime.
Fanny Flagg green fried tomatoes
Oh yes, such a great read
“Beach Music” by Pat Conroy.
Where the Red Fern Grows 🙂
Fried green tomatoes
Fanny Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes or John Grisham, The Painted House.
Pat Conroy’s novels
I forgot John Grisham.
I love everything from Anne Rivers Siddons. I have read everything of hers.
Fried Green Tomatoes
authors: fannie flagg, carson mccullers, peter taylor
novels: to kill a mockingbird, fried green tomatoes, the color purple
can’t believe i forgot: mark twain. huck finn.
Mary Alice Monroe’s books
The Help.
All of Fannie Flagg. Her characters are lovable, truly eccentric and unforgetabble!!
Pat Conroy by a landslide.
Faulkner, especially As I Lay Dying. And “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor.
To Kill a Mockingbird
All Over But the Shoutin’
Ava’s Man,
by R. Bragg
Wise Blood
prince of tides
Pat Conroy
Look Homeward, Angel – Thomas Wolfe; A Death in the Family – James Agee; The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers
Shem Creek Dorothea Benton Frank
Yes, anything she writes!
Anything by Faulkner or Tennessee Williams.
To Kill A Mockingbird
Anything by Pat Conroy
The Prince of Tides
The Deborah Knotts series by Margaret Maron
Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston—Ooops–thatś nonfiction, but it absolutely deserves “must read” status.
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – South Moon Under and The Yearling
The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew; Saving CeCe Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman; A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines.
Boy’s Life. Robert MacCammon.
Yes. I hadn’t considered it since I don’t really think of McCammon as a writer of Southern fiction. However, it definitely fits the bill. One of my all-time favorite books.?
He’s born and raised here in Alabama!
@Melanie I didn’t know that, although I should have!
The Help
Gone with the wind,to kill a mockingbird
“The Witching Hour” by Anne Rice – New Orleans.
It’s got to be Faulkner
To Kill a Mockingbird
Ernest Gaines. “A Gathering of Old Men”
“A Confederacy of Dunces”
To Kill a Mockingbird.
MUST win the #1 prize. It must.
Yes,yes!!!!
The Prince of Tides, To Kill a Mockingbird, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The Help
Cold Sassy Tree
I forgot about Cold Sassy Tree! A few years after I read it, I got the audiobook version so my husband who is a sci-fi reader could experience Will Tweedy’s tale. The narrator, Grover Gardner, was fabulous and we both loved the story!
@Becky I haven’t listened to the audio, but I’ll have to give it a try. Such a magical story.
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Violent Bear It Away
Anything Eudora Welty
Greg illes
Anything by Reynold Price.
Penn Cage series about Mississippi written by Greg Iles.
Carson McCullers
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers
Pat Conroy. Anything.
Anything by Lee Smith
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns.
Charles Frazier, Alice Walker, Pat Conroy, Carson McCullers, Zora Neil Hurston, Harper Lee
Gone with the wind; Gods in Alabama; Revenge of the kudzu debutantes
To Kill a Mockingbird
Pat Conroy
Gone with the Wind
This Boy’s Life, by Tobias Wolff
Gone with the Wind!
President Obama’s “Dreams of my father” and my favorite Patty Smiths “Just kids” both are fantastic
Beach Music by Pat Conroy.
To kill a mockingbird
Gone With TH WInd and TO Kill a Mockingbird.
I loved South of Broad by Pat Conroy
Me too!
Ferrol Sams’ trilogy. Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides. Josephine Humphreys’ Rich in Love.
Ferrel Sam’s trilogy is one of the best things I’ve ever read!
William Faulkner
Bailey White, so funny, so good
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Oh yes!
I loved that one. Read it while on vacation in Hilton Head and took a day trip to Savannah to see the places.
The Help
@Bonnie yes!
Prince of Tides
My favorite Conroy… sucks you in and won’t let go!
Southern authors are some of my most favorite reads, they are natural storytellers.
Oh my, I love this group!
Sarah Addison Allen’s books!
Raney, Fair and Tender Ladies, Clay’s Quilt, Prince of Tides, Southernmost
Secret Life Of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
Yes, again excellent
This is on my list.
Love that book – it’s even better on audio (in fact, one of the best I have ever listened to).
Confederacy of Dunces
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill a Mockingbird
Fannie Flag
Anything by Eudora Welty southern humor at its finest
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Yes! Love that book!
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
So well written, loved it so much
Thirteen Moons is good as well
@Scott and not many people know about it. One of my favorites.
@Scott. Varina. His new book about Jefferson Davis widow.
Anything by Lewis Nordan, but especially “Wolf Whistle,” a fictional account of the Emmett Till murder.
“Crazy in Alabama” or anything else by Mark Childress
Anything by Clyde Edgerton or Rick Bragg…
Recently read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
An amazing story!
To Kill a mockingbird, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, and Where the Heart is.
I also love “A Christmas Memory,” by Truman Capote, a short story.
I remember reading that in high school and enjoying it immensely!
Love this story, a must read, beautiful.
Yes! Love that!
A beautiful story and beautifully written!
Love to watch that movie at Christmastime
Mitford Series by Jan Karon
Eudora Welty is a treasure and a hoot! I laugh so hard and yet grieve her characters antics.
Books by Larry McMurtry
To Kill A Mockingbird
AllThe Kings Men
Puddin’head Wilson
To dance with the white dog by Terry Kay
A wonderful read…I agree, one of the best.
Gone With the Wind; To Kill A Mockingbird; Faulkner; Conroy
A Land Remembered by Patrick Smith
*Following
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Help!
Tom Sawyer
The Water is Wide-or anything by pat Conroy
He is my all time favorite author… his writing takes me away to wherever and whenever he writes about…
@Janice agreed! Such a lyrical story teller! I need to re-read this one as it was one of my favorites
@Neila agreed right back to ya… he didn’t write enough books…
James lee Burke
Gone with the wind
Prince of Tides
William @Gay
Fried Green Tomatoes
Tom Sawyer. Ever since I was a little girl.
I <3 all of Eugenia Price's novels.
Me, too!
Ellen Gilchrist…
All things Faulkner, O’Connor, Fanny Flagg, and Rita Mae Brown
Ellen Gilchrist.
To Kill a Mockingbird, The Cold Sassy Tree, and the Sookie series.
Love Cold Sassy Tree!
Never heard of that novel. Is the writing moving, exceptional? Please let me know as I’d love to add a new author to my TBR.
@D.M. it was a first novel and the author passed away after she wrote it. She left notes for a second book that was completed by another writer. It was not as satisfying.
@Donna ? Thank you! Adding The Cold Sassy Tree to my TBR?
Lee Smith.
Not enough people know about this wonderful author!
Rubyfruit Jungle…. by Rita Mae Brown…
Anything by Pat Conroy, author of Prince of Tides.
Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery OConnor
William Faulkner
Pat Conroy and To Kill a Mockingbird
I read “Heartbreak Hotel” by Anne Rivers Siddons 30+ years ago and really enjoyed it. Really made me think.
Loved The Colony
King’s Oak struck a chord with me years ago. Brought to mind a little town in SC I’m very connected to
Also Outer Banks & Colony!
She and Pat Conroy were friends… boy, would I have LOVED to have been a fly on that wall…
I agree with Lynn Milner Walker, also suggest Cassandra King.
Cassandra king is/was married to Pat Conroy.
@Eileen yes.
Sharon McCrumb, Southern humor , Lewis Grizzard
Thanks for reminding me of the late Lewis Grizzard. A truly great humorist!
@Kaye , oh yes, love Lewis!!
To Kill a Mockingbird!
Confederacy of Dunces
Bailey white “year of the plum”
Loved her NPR stories.
Yes, GTW.
Rick Bragg. All Over but the Shouting and Ava’s Man. Also his newspaper writing. Yea, I know he screwed up and got fired but I still like his writing.
Oops. Rick Bragg isn’t fiction.
Doesn’t matter to those of us who love his writing. His stories could be fiction or fact. He’s such a wonderful storyteller!
Pat Conroy and To Kill a Mockingbird
The Help
Harry Crews Rules! RIP Harry.
Peachreee Road
i read this for the first time in the last year or two..It held up very well to thw passage of time between publication & my read.
Yes!
@Sandy I loved it as well. Of course, I grew up in Atlanta and its suburbs so it’s extra special to me.
@Sandy I loved it as well. Of course, I grew up in Atlanta and its suburbs so it’s extra special to me.
The new Rick Bragg. The Best Cook in The World. Just a fun read. Not my favorite just laugh out loud fun.
it is on my bookshelf
I love Rick Bragg! ❤️❤️
He also writes a column for Southern Living. So entertaining!
Pat Conroy – anything and everything
When Pat Conroy died, I reread his books and discovered I had missed a few. Fabulous reading for me. Strangely, I did not like Prince Of Tide book or movie. I tried to reread but couldn’t get pass the abuse!
I love Bette Lee Crosby. She is Indie and Amazon so it is fresh and heartwarming.
Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe Check out Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9375
Oh yes yes yes. Absolutely!!
Yes!!! I LOVED that book and the movie! And actually went to Juliette GA to eat at the Whistle Stop Cafe!!!
Desperation Road
Prince of tides
The Beach House series by Mary Alice Monroe, along with Gone with the Wind and To Kill a Mockingbird!
To Kill a Mockingbird
Fannie Flagg!
The weather in New Orleans helped me understand Southern literature. Up until I visited, I always felt Southern lit was slow and oppressive. I still don’t like it, but now I get it
I still like it but loved your comment
@Mary, what about it resonates with you?
@Brenna I love how everyone deals with the heat with fans and on porches…I lived much of my life in NJ in humidity without air conditioning. I also love the sense of finding oneself on the beach which I do here
@Mary NJ with a.c.? I hope you lived down the shore ?
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
do you have to ask? GONE WITH THE WIND!
The Help
Read Georgia Bottoms and laugh out loud
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Flannery O’Connor
Oldest Living Confederate Widow.
Anything written by Pat conroy
I really loved Cold Sassy Tree. And The Help!
Fannie Flagg
Something by Zora Neal Hurston.
Easy, peasy……. ‘Gone with The wind” !!! ??
It took me 2 years before I could find another book I liked after reading Gone With the Wind.
Flannery O’Connor, William Faulkner
You should come to Savannah and see Flannery O’Conner’s birthplace. They have also had designers make 4 little free libraries in her honor all designed differently.
Where are they? I was recently hoping to get to go to Savannah, and found her home on Google Maps and Street View.
The Prince of Tides, Conroy
Pat Controy
I think Beach Music is my favorite
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings–the Yearling or
Zora Neale Hurston-Moses Man of the Mountain.
Rick Bragg has several books that are all interesting.
The Greatest Cook in the World will stand as his best and one of the great Southern reads
Have never read him but just heard him speak at bookmarks festival in Winston-Salem. He was fantastic.
Before We Were Yours
The Help was really good!
Greg iles
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.
Midnight in The Garden of @Eden
A wonderful book
Cold Sassy Tree…. one of the best
Fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe
The help
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
Pat Conroy, Dorothea Benton Frank, and
Fannie Flagg are a few Southern authors that I enjoy.
The Invention of Wings and anything by Fannie Flagg
Cold Sassy Tree
Anything Fannie Flagg and Crazy in Alabama.
Prince of Tides or anything by Pat Conroy. He was a wonderful writer. RIP.
Carson mccullers
Where the crawdads sing
Really difficult to choose a favorite since there’s a plethora of incredible books by Southern writers.
Anything by Pat Conroy
Fannie Flagg
Where the Crawdads Sing and Gods in Alabama!
Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall was really good.
Fried Green Tomatoes
Kathy Mcmahon To Kill a Mocking Bird
To kill A Mockingbird, The Kitchen House
Fannie Flagg.
Gone with the Wind
Cold Sassy Tree
I love books by Anne Rivers Siddons.
Faulkner
Anything by Jesemyn West
I enjoy the novels by Frances Parkinson Keyes that take place in Louisiana.
Cant Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Funniesr book ever written!
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
The Beach House series by Mary Alice Monroe. If you like Charleston and the low country, they’re great.
Eugenia Price’s Savannah – there are I think 4 books in the series. Or Alexandra Ripley’s Charleston and the sequel On Leaving Charleston
Most all the books I read are Southern culture…really like this list!
Reynolds Price
Robert Morgan
Anything by Greg Iles
Confederacy Of Dunces
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Short stories of Carson McCullers
This is on my to-read list.
Saving Cee-Cee Honeycutt!!!!
Following
I love all of Pat Contoy’s books
Pat Conroy was my all time favorite author… I’m so sad that we lost him…
@Janice Me too!
I grew up in Charleston. If you remember the Boo from Lords of Discipline, you’ll know the dad of my high school geometry teacher. I love Pat Conroy’s books about our beloved LowCountry.
Pat Conroy – any. Loved Charleston.
The Yearling and A Land Remembered
The Help
Secret Life of Bees
Member of the Wedding
Author Eudora Welty books
Karen White ..Tradd Street series ❤️
Piers Anthony’s Xanth series
Gone Wthe the Wind ❤️❤️
Carson McCullars, Ferrol Sams, Ernest Gaines… find a collection of short stories by various Southern authors. That will give you a taste of different writers, and you can go from there.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Beach Music and Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy..
Gone With The Wind
Pat Conroy
GWTW
TKAM
Cold Sassy Tree
To Kill a Mockingbird.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Pat Conroy, Faulkner (novels and short stories), TKAMockinbird, GWTW
Sarah. Addison Allen!
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
Green fried tomatoes by fanny flag, the movie is good but the book is better
Anything by Pat @Cathryn
NEW AUTHOR!!!!! David Joy. Writes Appalachian modern day gothic. EXCELLENT! Give him a try!
Flan wry O’Connor, Caroline Gordon, Faulkner… anything admired by Louise Cowan.
Greg Iles, especially his Penn Cage series
Silas House is my current favorite author. He’s from KY and write honest and beautiful characters.
So many great southern writers, but one I don’t see very often is Marjorie Rawlings, Where The Whipporwill and The Yearling.
Anything by Anne River Siddons.
@Ellen that’s what I said! I love her books.
Lee Smith is one of my favorite authors
Reynolds Price !!
Pat Conroy
Classic – Margaret Mitchell, Modern – Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give was sooo good!)
Fannie Flagg
Cold Sassy Tree!!!!
William Faulkner, William Styron, and Flannery O’Connor
William Styron ?
The Tamarac Tree
Charleston by Margaret Bradham Thornton.
James Lee Burke anything. Read in order, wonderful!
I love books about the south!! Anne Rivers Siddons(‘Heartbreak Hotel and something with Creek in title ha!), Bret Lott I’m sorry I can’t think of specific titles. I think these authors are really good. I liked ‘This One and Magic Life’ Anne Carroll George and ‘Someone Else’s Love Story’ Joshilyn Jackson. I’m listening to ‘Where the Crawdad’s Sing’
I’m reading “Where the Crawdads Sing” now! Enjoying it very much!
Where the Crawdads sing
Loved it!!
TKAM
To kill a Mockingbird, short stories by Truman Capote, Gone with the wind, the Sookie Stackhouse series.
“Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt” <3
@Deb I loved that book. Was lol funny!
Pat Conroy
Sue Monk Kidd, Dorothea Benton Frank, Sarah Addison Allen, Deborah Smith all write good southern stories too
Flannery O’Connor
Jennifer Blake and nora Roberts.
The Teashop Mysteries by Laura Childs.
Pat Conroy
Confederacy of Dunces
Pat Conroy
Author I was drawing a blank on!!
Mark Twain
To Kill a Mockingbird
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns is hilarious, poignant, and life-affirming; a multi-generational coming of age tale set in the small town South. A delight!
@Carol The made for TV movie was excellent too!
Carol Sanford Schuit Emerson loved this book!
@Carol I love this book so much.
Currently reading
When I responded earlier, I was not picturing the Carolina islands as “the South”. (It maybe paradise instead!). I love Dorothea Benton Frank’s books—all of them, but particularly those with a bit of the supernatural in them
Any specific title? I loved The Witching Hour by Anne Rice.
I do love Pat Conroy’s novels, particularly The Water is Wide.
Sookie Stackhouse series, Beautiful Creatures series.
Prince of Tides
Anything by Pat Conroy
All Clyde Edgerton novels (The Floatplane Notebook), Rita Mae Brown “Six to One” is an all time favorite
John Grisham
The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy (or any of his other novels – they’re all wonderful!)
Did South of Broad take place in the South?
@Lori yes. Charleston
@Connie I googled it!
@Lori Yes
I am currently reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. After only a few sentences, I knew I was reading a masterpiece.
Yes, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter is so great!
Harry Crews!
A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor.
Pat Cnroy’s South of Broad and My Reading Life Reader’s Guide’….also all his other books.
‘
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy allison
Janis Owens, I read one book then read them all! Brilliant, engrossing and oh so southern.
My Brother Michael
Myra Sims
The Schooling of Claybird Catts
The Cracker Kitchen
American Ghost
Miss Julia series by ann Ross
All books by Pat Conroy
Books by Sue Monk Kidd
Divine Secrets of The Ya Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells.
Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
Gone with the Wind, of course!
Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
The Help, Kill a Mockingbird, Go Set a Watchman,
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. Also books by Rick Bragg.
Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird.
To Kill a Mockingbird, Huckleberry Finn, The Help, Hidden Figures, Invention of Wings…
@Maui Popular choices all. Hidden Figures is non-fiction.
Harry Crews — Great underappreciated writer. Died about three years ago. Writes in the tradition of Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, Normal Mailer.
Sandra Anne Farrell – Nice to see there is another Crews fan out there. Can’t think of another modern writer who makes life so “immediate” to the reader. His back story is fascinating too.
@William I am glad to see a post that reflects quality and value rather than the usual suspects.
I learned about Harry from a documentary called Looking for the Wrong Eyed Jesus” (I think that’s what it was called. Absolutely wonderful doc.
thank you for suggestion of Harry Crews. What book do you suggest if his vast career?
Anything by Pat Conroy!
Southern cousins series by Peggy Webb
Miss Julia series by Ann Ross.
@Dayna love this series ❤️
All books Dorothea Benton Frank especially AChristmas Pearl.
Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood
Faulkner’s
…Snopes trilogy. The Hamlet, the Town, the Mansion. Don’t know if I coulld stomach them now, but loved them when I read them.
I love all books by Joshilyn Jackson! They are easy reads with a real southern appeal. Gods in Alabama was great. Almost Sisters was the best!
Hi, Becky! I grew up with your mom, Kay!
@Melanie That’s awesome! I’ve heard your name a few times from Mama!
Always something good, I’m sure! Hahahaha!
Pat @Cathryn
Mary Kay Andrews
The Sound and the Fury…
Prince of Tides
Anything by Clyde Edgerton.
Eudora Welty (the e in email named after her) and Flannery O’Connor (a writers’ writer)
Anything by Fannie Flagg.
Books by Dorothea Benton Frank and Mary Kay Andrews. Also, Mary Kay Andrews’ given name is Kathy Hogan Trocheck and as Kathy Hogan Trocheck wrote a series of mysteries. I had the pleasure of meeting both Dorothea Benton Frank and Mary Kay Andrews — just lovely. Another favorite is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt.
William Faulkner’s books and Confederacy of Dunces about New Orleans for starters.
I read Confederacy of Dunces for the first time this year and loved it! Faulkner is a genius, I could read his work over and over!
Little Woman – still in mourning over Beth March.
Pat Conroy
James lee Burke
Elmer Kelton
Gone with the wind
The Invention of Wings
Fannie Flagg’s Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven
a confederacy of Dunces…
Just about anything by Joshilyn Jackson or Mark Childress.
All Flannery O’Connor’s short stories. Of course, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gone with the Wind, The Sound and the Fury, and Pat Conroy’s works.
Well, it’s not fiction, since it’s a memoir but I wanted to share this in case a reader has not read it – Truman’s Capote’s A Christmas Memory.
Pat Conroy
Gone with the wind!
To Kill A Mockingbird
South of Broad,Gone with the Wind
Anything by Fannie Flagg, Margaret Maron, Karen White. The Help, To Kill A Mockingbird, Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory. So many great stories of the South!!!!
Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Help, Tom Sawyer, This Property is Condemned, The Kitchen House, The Secret Life of Bees, and others that I cannot recall at the moment.
A Confederacy of Dunces is so good. Recommend the audio as the voices are amazing. Set in New Orleans.
I’m currently reading Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens which is a good story & well written. Other authors I like are Kristy Woodson Harvey and Mary Alice Monroe. I enjoy the authors previously listed too.
Southern Lit is my favorite genre.
Stumbled upon By Invitation Only by Dorthea Benton Frank. Listened to it through online library. Couldn’t stop listening!! Absolutely loved it and discovered a new favorite author.
Anne Rivers Siddons Off Season was so good!! Skips up to new England but so memorable!! Also Burnt Mountain.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The Help
Midnight etc. is another in my future reading bookcase.
Yes, must read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
The Help
Flannery O’Connor
pat conroy
Ann Rivers Siddons and Peach Tree Road, Pat Conroy and South of Broad and Beach Music, Dorothea Benton Frank and Sullivan’s Island and Plantations.
The Help
Anything Ann Rivers or Pat Conroy, Night Music is an excellent read.
Cold Sassy Tree
Writing by Rick Bragg or Pat Conroy
Cold Sassy Tree is absolutely one of my favorites. If you liked it, you will also like The Pecan Man by Cassie Dandridge Selleck
Eudora Welty
@Denise I loved The Optimists Daughter. She won a Pulitzer Prize for it.
@Bethany, visited her home in Mississippi and came away with several to read.
She was from Jackson, wasn’t she? I didn’t know her home was open for visitors. I had a friend from that area that use to see her at the grocery store. She was a very talented writer that seems to be overlooked by most readers.
Anne River Siddons, Fannie Flagg, John Grisham.
Fannie Flagg, “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett.
Gone with the Wind
Any book by Pat Conroy.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Roses
Sound and the fury
Losing Battles by Eudora Welty
Gone With the wind
The Low Country mystery series by Susan M. Boyer. and of course GWTW.
Peach tree Road.
OMGoodness!!! Over 15+++comments since 2018!!! Awesome!! I’m going with Gone With The Wind on this choice! ?
@JoAnn you won’t be disappointed!!
YES! or In the Garden of Good and Evil
Deborah Smith – Crossroads Cafe among others
and When Venus Fell
Fried Green Tomato’s
Prince of Tides
Fried Green Tomatoes an awesome movie too! Prince of Tides is well written…but sooooo depressing.
Rick Bragg
Ava’s Man – well, really, anything by Rick Bragg.
Cold Mountain ❣️
Prince of tides ❤️
Ditto the Prince of Tides. The opening sequence still in my mind, “My wound is geography…..”
Beach Music.
They are all excellent…
Has anyone read Frank Yerby (author)? The Foxes of Harrow is one of the many titles…
Cold Mountain
Anne Rice
Almost anything by Pat Conroy.
All of Mary Alice Monroe books.
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Pat Conroy.
Pat Conroy an Greg Iles ?
Where the Crawdads sing and I love gone with the Wind. . .
Pat Conroy’s The Prince of Tides. Also Anne Rivers Siddons Peachtree Road and Outer Banks.
Pat Conroy and James lee Burke
Conroy is the best
GWTW!!!
To Kill A Mocking Bird
http://www.joshilynjackson.com/jj/books/