i'm not the most avid reader, so i need some recommendations...


perhaps something other than williams, lee, or capote... maybe some i've not heard of.

although, i've not ever read any faulkner (!) , is the praise warranted? if so, which of his books are the best?

THANKS

I have no recommendations, but this is the type of stuff I'd be interested to read too. I read Nick Cave's novel, hoping for this kind of stuff... or at least those kinds of landscapes. Oh my, that was heavy and hard.

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I did a module on American Gothic lit and I'd recommend Flannery O'Connor's short stories. Not sure if its the kind of thing you're looking for but I really liked them. Check out Good Country People, its probably online somewhere.

Faulkner gave me a headache and I gave up, maybe I'll try again one day!

Beloved by Toni Morrison.

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'The Ballad of the Sad Cafe' by Carson McCullers

I think Sherwood Anderson's, "Winesburg, Ohio" counts as Southern Gothic. The first chapter is here.

I read Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" for school...it's tough to slog through as the narrator changes with each chapter and it's basically written to sound exactly the way these people would talk if you heard them. But ultimately it was worthwhile. My mom got me another book of his as we were just in New Orleans but I haven't touched it yet.

Their Eyes Were Watching God is also a classic worth reading.

i concur on their eyes were watching god, i reckon it's worth reading.

i read absalom, absalom by william faulkner for a course i'm doing, i even wrote about it, but i never really got into it. takes a lot of concentration

i think i'll check out the other books mentioned in this thread though as i'm interested in the genre (possible dissertation topic?)

i kept zoning out. ridiculously long sentences do that to me.

I just picked this up from the library because I liked the beginning on amazon and the title. It's definately good.

William Faulkner is pretty difficult, i gave up on 'The Sound and the Fury' after a little while, but i'm sure it gets a little easier after the first narrator because he has no sense of time and it's sometimes hard to work out what's going on. I'll finish it one day when i'm more in the mood.

yes, and "other voices, other rooms" by Truman Capote.

thanks for the suggestions

I'm not sure if I'd put Faulkner with the whole "Southern Gothic" genre. However, The Unvanquished is my favorite book by him, and his New Orleans short stories are definatly a good thing.

I absolutely adore Capote, I think his writing is just beautiful. I just finished Other voices, other rooms, and Music for chameleons, and am about to start Summer crossing.

The only thing that springs to mind is Midnight in the garden of good and evil by John Berendt, though I haven't read the book I have seen the film.

Anyway, here is a link to the book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Midnight-Gar...3736788&sr=8-1

I'll get behind that.


also, I read The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by carson mccullers and it was one of the worst pieces of crap I've even ever forced myself to finish. a fucking dreary, boring, slog. so I would say not her, but you know, she's reasonably well liked so maybe I'm wrong.

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Would you like a cigarette? They're quite exellent.

I don't think Nelson Algren is considered Southern Gothic at all, but "A Walk On The Wild Side" is fucking amazing and set mostly in the South and full of darkness and freaks. It's an incredible book. Dense. Kind of difficult to get into the rhythm of to begin with, but it's really worth the effort.