Southern Reading Challenge

So a few weeks ago I took up this challenge. Tricia over at Library Queue posted it on her blog and I really liked the idea behind it.

Since I do live in the South and have lived here for almost 10 years, I found this challenge right up my alley.

The Rules are these: Choose any 3 Southern Setting books by Southern Authors and read them by August 15th.

So far there are 92 people participating. You can sign up Here.

There are so many good southern authors and so many great books set in the south. You can read anything from Ya Ya sisterhood to Gone with the Wind.

MY 3 BOOKS:

1. Widow of the South by Robert Hicks. Carrie McGavock, The Widow of the South, did indeed take it upon herself to grieve the loss of so many young men in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, which took place on November 30, 1864. Nine thousand men lost their lives that day. She and her husband John eventually re-buried on their own land 1,481 soldiers killed at Franklin, when the family that owned the land on which the original shallow graves had been dug decided to plow it under and put it into cultivation. This is a true story(with some fictionalized events thrown in) based on an extrordinary woman who took it upon herself to create a cemetery for these soldiers killed in action. I gave it 3 stars out of 5.

2. Cant Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Fannie Flagg, the incomparable Southern writer and actress, returns to Elmwood Springs, Missouri, to paint and portray feisty, inquisitive octogenarian Elner Shimfissle. Elner falls out of her fig tree and is presumed dead. While her family and friends mourn, she makes a "temporary" visit to heaven, where she runs into her deceased sister, Ida, as well as Ginger Rogers and Tom Edison. When she "returns," she shares details of her experience with her niece as well as communicating her thoughts on the wisdom of life and its meaning with townspeople.

3. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.

So I have about a month to finish 2 more books. I know I have "Breaking Dawn"(4th Book of the Twilight Series) being delivered on August 4th, so that will cut down on my Southern Reading time. I wish Stephenie Meyer was from the South, then I could put the Twilight Books as my Southern Reading Challenge!

If YOU were to do the southern reading challenge, which 3 books would YOU choose??