Place-based books, Deep South

[Wazzzzzuuuuuuup]

I love to travel and love to make my travels really immersive with very personal planning (often over complicated itineraries!), making Playlists relevant to the countries/cities I'm visiting etc. I also like to read books written by authors from/about the places I'm visiting.

I'm taking a road trip in the USA with my husband. We're going from New Orleans through west Mississippi to Memphis, TN, then to Birmingham Alabama, then Nashville, TN. We then head out to Savannah GA for a few days and back to NOLA through the Florida panhandle.

Can anyone recommend any books by Southern authors or incorporating any of these cities?

There's always Gone With the Wind. Depressing read though.

I can think of others set in the Deep South, but nothing modern. Sounds like a great trip though. Nice food there apparently.

Greg Iles has a series of books set in the Deep South about a lawyer who is widowed and moves back to his home town with his daughter. Really give you a feeling of what it is like to live there.

James Lee Burke wrote his detective fiction set in New Iberia in Louisiana. Its near New Orleans. His writing is so vivid I feel like I've been there. His protagonist is a recovering alcoholic called Dave Rochiecheax who is a proper cajun who speaks French as his first language. The stories are simply wonderful. And I learnt so much about the history and culture and modern politics of the area.

Where the crawdads sing, the colour purple, the help, secret life of bees. All set in the South but I’m not sure about the specific states.

Midnight in the garden of good and evil

A Streetcar Named Desire is set in New Orleans.

Interesting recommendations for books set in New Orleans here but I haven’t read any of them.

The Greg Iles series really capture a sense of place - they’re set in Mississippi.

I’m currently enjoying Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay if you’re open to historical rather than contemporary setting. Or An American Marriage or The Vanishing Half.

Ooh I forgot about that, it's a cracking read!

Eudora Welty. She's amazing.

"Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of the South. She was the first living author to have her works published by the Library of America. Her house in Jackson, Mississippi has been designated as a National Historic Landmark and is open to the public as a house museum."

William Faulkner, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner, considered by many as the greatest southern writer. Lots to choose from but Intruder In The Dust is very accessible and covers similar themes as To Kill A Mockingbird.

Fried Green Tomatoes in the Whistlestop Cafe

Divine secrets of the ya-ya sisterhood

Thanks for all the recommendations, and I'm glad nobody pointed out that I'm a weirdo reading nerd 😁

I've read Gone with the Wind previously (what a slog!) and am planning a visit to some of the Plantation houses on the Louisiana side. They are apparently more perfect examples as they were left relatively untouched by the Yankees, unlike the big houses in other states which were burnt out. There's one that has a lens on the history of enslaved people so looking forward to seeing that.

I've been reading some of Anne Rice's novels for a New Orleans flavour. I was obsessed by the vampire chronicles as a teen which is provably what's leading me to this trip.

I'll do a library trip this week and see what they've got. I've got some Tennessee Williams on my TBR pile so will start that next. I hope I can find Fried Green Tomatoes (could always get on Kindle) as I loved this when I read it years ago.

Historical or contemporary is fine for me, I've rarely met a book I didn't like!

This book is one of the best books I’ve read.

Before We Were Yours. It’s a massive bestseller

Before We Were Yours https://amzn.eu/d/hyBIVCl

Gods in Alabama - joshilyn Jackson

Confessions of a failed southern lady

And a weird mixture of recipes and guide to being a southern belle: GRITS Guide to life

Flannery O'Connor novels

Love books set in the Deep South, shall order some of the others on this list!

Deep South by Paul Theroux
Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

Houmas house was lovely. Great tour and then you can watch the James Martin episode of him cooking under the big tree when you get back!

JM Redmann's "Micky Knight" private investigator series is set in New Orleans. Gritty female protagonist.

I haven't read them yet, but a friend keeps recommending them.

'The Hampton Heritage' and better, 'The Hampton Women' by Julie Ellis.

The Hampton Women starts in 1913 in Atlanta. The heroine (Caroline) takes over the family's cotton mill. It's a delicious saga with so much detail of the place, at the time.

Julie Ellis was a brilliant historical author. She wrote many novels without the benefit of the internet for research- just libraries. She's long dead but I leap on her books in op-shops!

If you like Crime/Mystery, Nevada Barr has some novels set in the Deep South. I think one i actually called Deep South.

The Sookie Stackhouse series has vampires, too - less posh than the Anne Rice ones, but the novels have a real Southern feel