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Good morning, all. I am now accepting nominations for our August, 2017, group reads. What's your choice for Pre and Post 1980?

For pre I would like to nominate Augustus Baldwin Longstreet s Georgia Scenes IF it is easy to get hold of ?

Jane wrote: "For pre I would like to nominate Augustus Baldwin Longstreet s Georgia Scenes IF it is easy to get hold of ?"

Thank you, Jane. Georgia Scenes by Augustus Baldwin Longstreet is available as part of the Southern Classics Series. It is available for Kindle for $2.99 and available for $13.70 as a paperback. It is nominated, Pre-1980.

I'll nominate The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, pre-1980.

Joey wrote: "I'll nominate The Moviegoer by Walker Percy, pre-1980."

Thank you, Joey. The Moviegoer by Walker Percy is nominated Pre-1980.

For post Anna jean Mayhew s Dry Grass in August - could be good something different

The Dry Grass OF August

Jane wrote: "The Dry Grass OF August"

Thanks again, Jane. The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew is nominated Post-1980.

For post-1980, I nominate Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry.

Carol wrote: "For post-1980, I nominate Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry."

Thank you, Carol. Jayber Crow byWendell Berry is nominated Post-1980. ( I have my copy! Uhm, but I don't vote. 😉)

Summer, you say?

"“When deep summer comes and the dog star raises with the morning sun, the land can scab up and a man watch his spring crop wrinkle brown like something on fire. It's the season snakes go blind. Their eyeballs coat over like pearls and they get mean. A rattlesnake allows no warning and a milk snake that would have cut the dust to the tall grass in June quiles up and strikes at anything that steps its way.

It's a time when foxes and dogs go mad. They'll come shackling toward you, their lips snarly and chins white with slobber. You'll raise your gun and they'll come on like they just want to get it done with.��

I nominate One Foot in Eden, the debut of the fantastic Ron Rash and from which this quote was taken.

LeAnne wrote: "Summer, you say?

"“When deep summer comes and the dog star raises with the morning sun, the land can scab up and a man watch his spring crop wrinkle brown like something on fire. It's the season s..."

Well chosen, LeAnne! Yes, another form of a southern summer. Tough. Hard scrabble. One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash is nominated, Post-1980.

I'd like to nominate Tom Franklin's Hell at the Breech for a post-1980 selection. It has been over three years since the group has read this book.

Ooh, Tom that is a good one. But dang, they are all great choices.

Laura wrote: "Ooh, Tom that is a good one. But dang, they are all great choices."

Tom wrote: "I'd like to nominate Tom Franklin's Hell at the Breech for a post-1980 selection. It has been over three years since the group has read this book."

You bet. This is a good one. Hell at the Breech by Tom Franklin is nominated, Post-1980. Great nomination, Tom. And, Laura, you're right. They're all great choices!

Pre-Internet:
A little Tenneseee Williams
Summer and Smoke

The play is a simple love story of a somewhat puritanical Southern girl and an unpuritanical young doctor. Each is basically attracted to the other but because of their divergent attitudes toward life, each over the course of years is driven away from the other. Not until toward the end does the doctor realize that the girl's high idealism is basically right, and while she is still in love with him, it turns out that neither time nor circumstances will allow the two ultimately to come together. " (less)

Tina wrote: "Pre-Internet:
A little Tenneseee Williams
Summer and Smoke

The play is a simple love story of a somewhat puritanical Southern girl and an unpuritanical young doctor. Each is basicall..."

Tina, thank you! A little Tennessee Williams! Breaking out my complete Williams...Summer and Smokeis nominated, Pre-1980.

Post 1980:
Taps: A Novel

The final work from one of America's most beloved authors and an instant classic, TAPS takes readers on one last fictional journey to Willie Morris's South and spins a tender, powerful, very American story about the vanishing beauty of a charmed way of life and the fleeting boyhood of a young man coming of age in a time of war. In Fisk’s Landing, Mississippi, at the dawn of the Korean War, sixteen-year-old Swayze Barksdale is suddenly called to an unexpected duty - playing "Taps" at the gravesides of the town’s young casualties sent home from the front. Gradually, Swayze begins to pace his life around these all too frequent funerals, where his horn sounds the tragic note of the times. At turns funny, at turns poignant, TAPS abounds with colorful characters and yet "sings and sighs . . . with a kind of minor key wistfulness" (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) as Swayze learns what it means to be a patriot, a son, a lover, a friend, a man.

Post 1980: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines.

Taps is awesome!!!!!

I'm not nominating this time around because the choices are amazing and it will be hard enough deciding which one to vote for.

Marilyn wrote: "Post 1980: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines."

Great choice but we read it in January.

Tina wrote: "Post 1980:
Taps: A Novel

The final work from one of America's most beloved authors and an instant classic, TAPS takes readers on one last fictional journey to Willie Morris's South a..."

Oh, yeah, Tina. Taps: A Novel by Willie Morris is nominated Post-1980. Thanks, Tina!

Tom wrote: "Marilyn wrote: "Post 1980: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines."

Great choice but we read it in January."

Marilyn wrote: "Post 1980: A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines."


Yes, all too true. However, I would entertain a nomination of A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines which The Trail hasn't read. Hmmm? After all, I don't nominate or vote, or anything like that, y'know. Yep.

Mike-- I will nominate the Gaines book you just mentioned. Sounds like a good one.

Love that Gaines Gathering of Old Men

Jane wrote: "Love that Gaines Gathering of Old Men"

Brina wrote: "Mike-- I will nominate the Gaines book you just mentioned. Sounds like a good one."

Well, y'all know I have a soft spot for Earnest J. Gaines. Thank you much, Brina and Jane. A Gathering of Old Men is nominated Post-1980. (And, yeah, This IS my favorite of his works. BUT I DON'T VOTE! 😁)

And there was already a Ron Rash book plus Jaycee Crow nominated. As I said before, a very hard choice this month.

The nominations for the August Post-1980 Group Read are now closed. Ahem...

Now, moving right along...we need THREE more nominations for the Pre-1980 group read. Y'all come on before I begin entertaining nominations for that category. I've got a little list...wait. that's Gilbert and Sullivan. Catchy tune. Got a good beat and you can dance to it! 😆

Oh yes lest the punishment fit the crime eh ?

Hmm, this may or may not fit. The author is a Louisiana guy, and the book starts out in Louisiana. It leads to Colorado, then back to New Orleans and finally the MS Gulf Coast.

It is a 1953 crime noir which I absolutely loved. Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze. LOVED this, but it is not the classic magnolias-n-murder story. Kirk and Doug recommended it to me - which equates to excellence!

Here is the bio on the author...

If In a pinch I'll offer up Wise Blood by Flannery but don't want to take someone's nomination since I've got Julys mod choice.

I'll nominate "The Journey of August King" by John Ehle. Published 1971.

LeAnne now that sounds like a book I would like especially with such a high recommendation. I will be done with my challenges in time to join the August reads woohoo.

LeAnne wrote: "Hmm, this may or may not fit. The author is a Louisiana guy, and the book starts out in Louisiana. It leads to Colorado, then back to New Orleans and finally the MS Gulf Coast.

It is a 1953 crime ..."

I just finished reading this with the Literary Darkness group. It is fantastic! I only regret that Elliott Chaze hadn't written more noir. After finishing it I tracked down a copy of Goodbye Goliath, a story of a small town southern newspaperman trying to find his editor's killer. (Must be fiction unless his intent was to pat him on the back.)

LeAnne wrote: "Hmm, this may or may not fit. The author is a Louisiana guy, and the book starts out in Louisiana. It leads to Colorado, then back to New Orleans and finally the MS Gulf Coast.

It is a 1953 crime ..."

Tom wrote: "LeAnne wrote: "Hmm, this may or may not fit. The author is a Louisiana guy, and the book starts out in Louisiana. It leads to Colorado, then back to New Orleans and finally the MS Gulf Coast.

It i..."
Absolutely fantastic.

well I was going to say The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy but since a Walker titles is already nominated.. how about I nominate The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry for pre- 1980

Jane wrote: "Oh yes lest the punishment fit the crime eh ?"

How DID you know I was listening to a 1927 recording of the D'Oyly Carte Company's performance of The Mikado? Amazing. Simply amazing! However, none of these nominations should be missed. 😉

LeAnne wrote: "Hmm, this may or may not fit. The author is a Louisiana guy, and the book starts out in Louisiana. It leads to Colorado, then back to New Orleans and finally the MS Gulf Coast.

It is a 1953 crime ..."

Hmmm, nothing wrong with a little Noir. After all, Daniel Woodrell refers to his best known works as "Country Noir." Done, LeAnne. Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze is nominated Pre-1980. Thank you, LeAnne, with an added tip of fedora to Doug and Kirk.

Laura wrote: "If In a pinch I'll offer up Wise Blood by Flannery but don't want to take someone's nomination since I've got Julys mod choice."

Tall Woman, I'll take you up on that pass this go around. I see another hand raised down the way a bit. The Lawyer tips his hat to the Lady from Tennessee.

Diane wrote: "I'll nominate "The Journey of August King" by John Ehle. Published 1971."

I do declare, Miss Scarlett, you and those Tarleton Twins enjoy that Barbecue at Twin Oaks. Frankly, my dear, The Journey of August King by John Ehle is nominated Pre-1980. And do stop mooning over Ashley Wilkes. He's a Milque Toast. Ahem...

Guy wrote: "well I was going to say The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy but since a Walker titles is already nominated.. how about I nominate The Last Picture Show by [aut..."

And with our sixth nomination for our Pre-1980 read is Guy who who suggests we take a little trip to Anarene, Texas. [book:The Last Picture Show|50051] by Larry McMurtry is nominated!

Yeah. I'm getting to be Sam's age now. My favorite lines...

“Is growin' up always miserable?" Sonny asked. "Nobody seems to enjoy it much."

"Oh, it ain't necessarily miserable," Sam replied. "About eighty percent of the time, I guess."

They were silent again, Sam the Lion thinking of the lovely, spritely girl he had once led into the water, right there, where they were sitting.

"We ought to go to a real fishin' tank next year," Sam said finally. "It don't do to think about things like that too much. If she were here now I'd probably be crazy again in about five minutes. Ain't that ridiculous?"

A half-hour later, when they had gathered up the gear and were on the way to town, he answered his own question. "It ain't really, " he said. "Being crazy about a woman like her's always the right thing to do. Being a decrepit old bag of bones is what's ridiculous.��
�� Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show

Yeah, Sam. You're right. It's a crying damn shame. I was crazy about a woman like that one time. Texan, too. It was the right thing to do, too. But you're never too old to know just how ridiculous you can be.

The nominations for the August, 2017, Group Reads are now CLOSED. Thanks to everyone for all the excellent choices. The Polls will open very soon. I will broadcast a message when the Polls open.

As always, happy reading...

Tom wrote: "LeAnne wrote: "Hmm, this may or may not fit. The author is a Louisiana guy, and the book starts out in Louisiana. It leads to Colorado, then back to New Orleans and finally the MS Gulf Coast.

It i..."

What a coincidence! I'd love to get some of his other books, but darn if there are next to no ratings for them. I guess that's what being 60 some years will do to a book!

The votes are in on the August 2017 Group reads. We will be reading Hell at the Breech by Tom Franklin for our contemporary selection; and The Last Picture Show by Larry McMurtry for our classic pick. Thanks to all for voting.

In addition, Miss Scarlett has chosen as the moderator's choice for August Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry.