Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

The Complete Stories

by Leigh P. Beadle, Flannery O'Connor

A complete collection of Flannery O'Connor's stories. They explore the social and personal tensions of the American South - between youth and age, gentility and poverty, enlightment and bigotry.

Walking Across Egypt (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Walking Across Egypt (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

She has as much business keeping a stray dog as she would walking across Egypt–which not so incidentally is the title of her favorite hymn. She’s Mattie Rigsbee, an independent, strong-minded senior citizen who, at seventy-eight, might be slowing down just a bit. When teenage delinquent Wesley Benfield drops in on her life, he is even less likely a companion than the stray dog. But, of course, the dog never tasted... (more)

Savannah Blues

by Mary Kay Andrews

Landing a catch like Talmadge Evans III encouraged Eloise "Weezie" Foley to buy a gem of a townhouse in Savannah's historic district. Divorcing Tal got her exiled to the backyard carriage house, where she has launched a spite-fest with Tal's new fiancé, the elegant Caroline DeSantos. An antiques picker, Weezie combs Savannah's steamy back alleys and garage sales for treasures when she's not dealing with her... (more)

That Summer

by Sarah Dessen

For 15-year-old Haven, her summer is framed by two weddings--her father's and her sister Ashley's. Nothing seems stable except for her memories of the summer that Ashley dated Sumner Lee, who suddenly reappears in Haven's life, giving her a perfect link to that perfect past--and her future.

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird. This is a lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this story - a black man charged with raping a white girl in the Deep South of the 1930s. To Kill a Mockingbird has become a staple of American literature and has been made into a feature-length film of the same name.

Gone with the Wind

by Margaret Mitchell

Margaret Mitchell's epic novel of love and war won the Pulitzer Prize and went on to give rise to two authorized sequels and one of the most popular and celebrated movies of all time. Many novels have been written about the Civil War and its aftermath. None take us into the burning fields and cities of the American South as Gone With the Wind does, creating haunting scenes and thrilling portraits of characters... (more)

Lunch at the Piccadilly (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Lunch at the Piccadilly (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

by Clyde Edgerton

Welcome to the Rosehaven Convalescence Center in beautiful Listre, North Carolina. Recuperating after a recent fall, Lil Olive sits on the front porch, chitchatting with and rocking right alongside the regulars. There’s tiny Maudie Lowe with her cane that seems too tall; Beatrice Satterwhite, whose fancy three-wheeled walker is a Cadillac among Chevrolets; Clara Cochran, who cusses as frequently as she takes a... (more)

This Lullaby

by Sarah Dessen

When it comes to relationships, Remy doesn’t mess around. After all, she’s learned all there is to know from her mother, who’s currently working on husband number five. But there’s something about Dexter that seems to defy all of Remy’s rules. He certainly doesn’t seem like Mr. Right. For some reason, however, Remy just can’t seem to shake him. Could it be that Remy’s starting to understand what those love songs... (more)

Flannery O'Connor : Collected Works : Wise Blood / A Good Man Is Hard to Find / The Violent Bear It Away / Everything that Rises Must Converge / Essays & Letters (Library of America)

Flannery O'Connor : Collected Works : Wise Blood / A Good Man Is Hard to Find / The Violent Bear It Away / Everything that Rises Must Converge / Essays & Letters (Library of America)

by Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor, a unique and important figure in the Southern literary tradition, was one of the finest writers of the twentieth century. This volume, containing her two novels, short stories, essays and letters, is the only complete collection of her works.

Light in August V189

by Dick Hill, William Faulkner, Joseph Blotner

One of Faulkner’s most admired and accessible novels, Light in August reveals the great American author at the height of his powers. Lena Grove’s resolute search for the father of her unborn child begets a rich, poignant, and ultimately hopeful story of perseverance in the face of mortality. It also acquaints us with several of Faulkner’s most unforgettable characters, including the Reverend Gail Hightower, who... (more)

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

by Mark Twain

This novel of Mark Twain's -- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court -- gives us an odd view of the American literary genius: it shows his bent toward science fiction. Twain developed a close and lasting friendship with scientific wunderkind Nikola Tesla, and the two spent quite a bit of time together (in Tesla's laboratory, among other places). Twain's fascination appears in his time traveler (from... (more)

The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love (Running Press Miniature Editions)

The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love (Running Press Miniature Editions)

by Jill Conner Browne

To know the Sweet Potato Queens is to love them, and if you haven't heard about them yet, you will. Since the early 1980s, this group of belles gone bad has been the toast of Jackson, Mississippi, with their glorious annual appearance in the St. Patrick's Day parade. In The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love , their royal ringleader, Jill Conner Browne, introduces the Queens to the world with this sly, hilarious... (more)

Raney

by Clyde Edgerton

"This book is too good to keep to yourself. Read it aloud with someone you love, then send it to a friend. But be sure to keep a copy for yourself, because you'll want to read it again and again." Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey Raney is a small-town Baptist. Charles is a liberal from Atlanta. And RANEY is the story of their marriage. Charming, wise, funny, and truthful, it is a novel for everyone to love. "A real... (more)

A Penny's Worth of Character

by Jesse Stuart

Shan Shelton is going to the store for his mother. If he had a dime, he could buy his favorite treat, a chocolate bar and a lemon soda pop. Shan knows that Mr. Conley, the storekeeper, pays a penny each for good used paper sacks returned to the store. There are ten sacks at home, but Shan's mother tells him to take only nine to Mr. Conley, because the tenth sack has a hole in it. Shan wants a chocolate... (more)

Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly

by Rob Dalby

An irresistible Southern charmer about small-town gossip, second-chance romance, strange weather, and ballroom dancing in the most unlikely places. Laurie Lepanto is on the horns of a dilemma. Her favorite market, the Piggly Wiggly, of Second Creek, Mississippi, is on the verge of closing its doors, nearly done in by a new Mega-Mart across town. Over the years, the Piggly Wiggly has been more than a... (more)

Taps for Private Tussie

by Jesse Stuart

Soldier Kim Tussie's death brings his widow, Aunt Vittie, $10,000 in insurance money, which Grandpa and Grandma promptly help her spend. Through the eyes of innocent young Sid Tussie, we see what happens when a poor mountain clan comes into sudden wealth. Here is high comedy, as forty-six Tussies pack themselves into their new "mansion" and proceed to live the good life.

The Year of My Rebirth

by Jesse Stuart

This is the journal Stuart kept following his near fatal heart attack in 1955. It was a time of severest trial yet greatest fulfillment which began in an oxygen tent and ended with his happy return to a full and vigorous life. Here are the innermost feelings and moods of a man whose heart may give out at any moment, the new respect and even love that he develops for his heart, his thoughts about God, life, land... (more)

Barren Ground

by Ellen Glasgow, Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow

Set in Virginia, this novel evokes the irony of change in the rural South. Dorinda Oakley is a passionate, intelligent, and independent young woman struggling to define herself.

Hungry for Home: Stories of Food from Across the Carolinas With More Than 200 Favorite Recipes

Hungry for Home: Stories of Food from Across the Carolinas With More Than 200 Favorite Recipes

by Amy T. Rogers

This mouth-watering collection of more than 200 recipes showcases the best of traditional Southern cooking and storytelling. This is no ordinary cookbook, though it boasts plenty of old-fashioned recipes for cakes, pies, casseroles, and stews. Editor Amy Rogers invited more than 100 contributors to tell their favorite stories about food. Included with everyday folk are well-known writers such as Josephine... (more)

Parting the Curtains: Interviews With Southern Writers

Parting the Curtains: Interviews With Southern Writers

As a group, Southern writers have long contributed, perhaps more than any other group, to American literature. In this collection of intelligent and candid interviews, Powell reveals a trove of fascinating and intimate details about the lives and works of such Southern literary luminaries as Eudora Welty, Pat Conroy, Walker Percy, William Styron, and Alex Haley.

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: southern writers

by Leigh P. Beadle, Flannery O'Connor

by Nuri Plaku, Clyde Edgerton

by Mary Kay Andrews

by Sarah Dessen

by Harper Lee

by Margaret Mitchell

by Clyde Edgerton

by Sarah Dessen

by Flannery O'Connor

by Dick Hill, William Faulkner, Joseph Blotner

by Mark Twain

by Jill Conner Browne

by Clyde Edgerton

by Jesse Stuart

by Rob Dalby

by Jesse Stuart

by Jesse Stuart

by Ellen Glasgow, Ellen Anderson Gholson Glasgow

by Amy T. Rogers