Being Dead is No Excuse - Gayden Metcalf

 A tongue in cheek look at Southern customs at funerals, with lots of recipes of funeral food.  A quick read I finished on my Chromebook using Hoopla - I may end up reading this way more often.  

Published: 2012   Read: June 2023   Genre: Humor

Bless Your Heart, Tramp - Celia Riverbark

 I'd tried to find another book by this author and wasn't successful, so I tried this one.  It's a bit dated with references to old technology and cultural references of the prior decade.  The author is a columnist for a southern publication and this appears to be a collection of her previous articles.  It's stories of southern life from a woman's perspective, poking fun and reveling in their traditions.  A cute read, bless her heart.

Published: 2000  Read: February 2022  Genre: Humor

Varina - Charles Frazier

This was a delightful read by the author of Cold Mountain.  The writing is lyrical and the images he creates swim in your head while you follow the story.  Varina was the wife of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy.  A complex woman living a life she did not chose.  I was struck by the fact that she died in her 80's in 1906.  It put the impact and immediacy of the Civil War into perspective for me when I think of family alive at that time.

A favorite quote:

[Varina reflecting on a group of sisters defending their home in the South]  "Their yearning she recognized fully from that age, the need to become something at least within the vicinity of your dream of yourself.  She shaped a ragged philosophy to tide them through lonesome nights.  It was simple, and not one she'd ever found the strength to follow.  The idea was, the you you are with others is not you.  To be lonesome is to be who you most fully are."

Published: 2018 Read: February 2020 Genre: Historical Fiction

Confederates in the Attic - Tony Horowitz

This was a pleasant surprise.  My BIL suggested it when I'd visited in November and I picked it up on a book shopping day.  The author is a journalist, Jewish and raised in the North.  He was always fascinated with the Civil War and decides to retrace the path of the war through the South.  On the journey, he discovers the persistence of the sympathies for the Confederacy and the perspective of the losing side and its impact even today, over 150 years later.  A great read with insight into today's political atmosphere.

Published: 1998   Read: January 2020  Genre: Non-fiction