View from Page Thirty: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Hello, dear Readers! Since I'm still in quite a slump (damn you Netflix), I went to the list of books you call provided to me, the lovingly named Slumplist, and gave one of them a try - hence A View from Page Thirty*

As I perused the Slumplist, I decided to look up a book that I have been meaning to read for ages but never had - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe recommended by Ania.

The Book: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg 
Release Date: 1987
Publisher: Random House
Genres: Historical Fiction

Summary: 

It's first the story of two women in the 1980s, of gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode telling her life story to Evelyn, who is in the sad slump of middle age. The tale she tells is also of two women -- of the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth, who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, a Southern kind of Cafe Wobegon offering good barbecue and good coffee and all kinds of love and laughter, even an occasional murder.

A View from Page Thirty:
Erm I guess this section should more accurately be called the View from Page 81. I sort of just got lost and kept going. And I full blame the theme music playing in my head on that. The theme music from the movie from the early 90s. The theme music from one of my all time favorite movies.

So knowing that background, I can't really say if this is a valid View from Page Thirty. I already pretty much know the story from the movie (at least I think I do), and I heartily love it to pieces. It brings ALL OF THE FEELS.

I can't help but compare it to the movie and so far, I literally hear lines as I read them. I can't help but hear it narrated by Jessica Tandy. Personally I see this as a plus.

Things are a bit more disjointed than the movie though. The movie, while keeping the flashback reveal that the book is doing, seems to focus more on the four main ladies, while this is almost the story of Whistlestop, Alabama. I am getting more information on the lives of some of the background characters in the movie, which I find quite charming. The order of things is all over the place though so I am not sure if people who don't already know the characters and the story like I do would enjoy it as much. But honestly I am still leaning towards the "Still enjoyable" camp.

I was worried when I started this that all of the magic the movie has for me would be gone when reading the book because I know everything, but that's not the case. I am still loving the look at 1930s southern life. I am actually really looking forward to delve more into Ruth and Idgie's relationship and see how that compares with the screen.

I am going to keep reading for sure, but I do think that when this is all through, me and my well watched DVD are going to curl up for another session of feels.


So, is anyone else like me and avoiding reading a book a movie or tv show was based off of because you loved the adaptation so much? How about those that have taken the plunge, did it work out for the best or not so much?



*For those not familiar with a View from Page Thirty, basically it is me giving my thirty page first impression of a book. I have a personal rule that every book I start gets at least thirty pages. If I am not feeling it by then, time to move on. So I figured it would make a fun feature. 

Tahleen reviews: "Three Times Lucky" by Sheila Turnage

Title: Three Times Lucky
Author: Sheila Turnage
Publisher: Penguin Audio, 2012 (print available from Dial)
Narrator: Michal Friedman 


Rating: 4 stars

I really liked listening to this audiobook, the print version of which nabbed a Newbery Honor this year. Mo LoBeau, rising sixth grader and our narrator, finds herself and her small NC town of Tupelo Landing in the middle of a murder mystery t
hat ends up being years in the making.

We are first treated to a bit of exposition and an introduction to the small, sleepy town and its residents. Mo and her adoptive family, the Colonel and Miss Lana, run the town cafe. We learn about Mo's history, a baby who was washed away from her "upstream mother" (as she calls her) during a hurricane and rescued by the Colonel, who came to town with a "suitcase full of money" (so they say) and without his memory.

Various other townsfolk wander in and out of the narrative, and they are mostly well-rounded characters at that.

Tupelo Landing itself is a charming setting for such a serious event as a murder, and I felt Turnage handled it all incredibly well. The murder itself is not glossed over for the benefit of the children, and Mo's reaction to the news is very believable, as are everyone else's. Yet Mo's quick tongue and humor are enchanting, lifting the mood considerably despite the danger and ugliness. Abuse, abandonment, and poverty are all major themes, but Turnage's prose is delightful and calming, which balances everything out nicely.

I had trouble with the ending of the novel, which felt abrupt to me. Everything was wrapped up very quickly, and I was surprised when I got to the end as I felt like something was missing. But despite this minor quibble, overall I thought it was a well done piece of writing. Deserving of the Newbery Honor it received? Maybe, maybe not. But definitely deserving of your time.

Michal Friedman does an excellent job narrating. She gave Mo a young girl's voice with spunk and a gentle Southern twang, giving every word and phrase just the right amount of emphasis. Her acting was spot on, and it's very disappointing to hear that she's passed on and will be unable to give her voice to any other characters in the future.

This is a lovely, well-done audiobook that I definitely would recommend to fans of middle-grade fiction, Southern fiction, and mysteries.

Disclosure: I got this audiobook from my public library.

Lori Talks About Her Favorite Book

This is a post that I've altered a bit from my own blog.  After my lack of success with Saturday's Readathon, I don't have a review to write.  So I thought I'd share some thoughts about my favorite book:  Gone With the Wind.  I'm sharing this in the hopes of hearing what other people have to say about their favorite novels, not in the expectation that other people will share my feelings towards this particular novel.


Lately, I've been agonizing about what book to read.  I've started several that seemed promising, but they just didn't stick.  They just didn't grab me in the way I was wanting a book to grab me.  So I was very surprised when the answer to this conundrum attacked me one night in the shower about a week ago.  In a very Field of Dreams kind of moment, it dawned on me--I should return to my roots, I *need* to reread Gone With the Wind.  So simple.  "Duh, Lori. Duh" was my response.

I started reading it as soon as I was able.  I turned on the fan so that I'd have to pull up my quilt.  I read the preface written by Pat Conroy.  As soon as I started reading the preface, I felt a compulsion that I hadn't felt before.  I was happier in my reading life than I have been in a long time.  I knew that my new, albeit temporary, motto would become "If I get this (homework, errands, sleep) out of the way, then I *get* to read Gone With the Wind!"  I actually bragged to one of my best friends about it.  Not because I have the time to read for pleasure and she doesn't because I don't really exactly have the time to be reading so much.  But because *I* get to read this amazing novel right now.

My first experience with Gone With the Wind was in the 7th grade.  It was Christmas.  I saw that Gone With the Wind, this movie that I had heard about from somewhere (I honestly don't know where because I hadn't gotten into old movies yet, but somehow I *knew* it was *The* movie to watch), was on TCM.  For whatever reason, I decided to read the screenplay as we watched the movie.  I couldn't really explain why I wanted to read the screenplay as I watched the movie, but it was like I knew how much this story would affect me.  So that's what happened.  We watched the movie, I read the screenplay, and I was hooked.

Maybe that same day, maybe another visit to my grandparents', I found a copy of the novel upstairs.  This amazing movie was also a novel?!  I took it.  I didn't know how famous this book was.  In my 13 year-old mind, it was a lost book that nobody paid much attention to.  I felt like I was discovering something amazing that people had forgotten.  I remember feeling a little bewildered when I realized how many people knew and loved my book because Gone With the Wind had become my book.  It wasn't that I was selfishly trying to hold onto it.  I was willing to share.  But I wanted to share it with people, to turn them onto this amazing little secret that I had.

I read the book.  I inhaled the book.  I absorbed the book.  I probably even displayed poor manners and outright devoured the book.

But I read it again and again.  Ten times total from the 7th grade until I graduated high school.  

It's one of those books that resonates more with some people than others.  I believe that it resonates more with Southerners because it's telling our story.  Your heart swells with pride, hope, and acceptance as you turn the pages.  You nod your head in complete understanding as the plot progresses.  You laugh and cry as the passages dictate.

From the time that I was 13 years-old, I adopted Scarlett as my role model.  She may not have always done the most upright thing.  But she did what she had to do to survive.  She was strong.  She was beautiful.  She was really pretty smart.  She had the personality that I always wanted.  She had Rhett Butler, that symbol of earthy manliness that my exes never really lived up to, but against whom they were always measured.

And for the last 11 years, she has been there.  Sometimes at the back of my mind.  Sometimes at the front.  I've said ever since that first time that this is my favorite novel.  Then why haven't I read it in six years?  I really can't explain that.  Maybe I took all I could take from it as a teenager and had to change enough to be able to take more from it.

I am ready to again devour Gone With the Wind.  I want to will myself into reading it more slowly this time, to let it soak in again, to get lost in the beauty of Mitchell's magic and not just get lost in Scarlett (although, I know that I will do this too).  Some of the lessons I still remember and follow (sometimes you have to be a little bold to get by), others I remember and quietly ignore (not leaning on my elbows because it makes them ugly), and others I've downright forgotten.  But this, this is the book that I want living in me.  Pat Conroy describes in his preface how his mother lived this book.  I used to live it too, but I lost it somewhere along the way.

I'm ready to pick it back up now and carry it with me.


Do any of you have a favorite book that resonates with you so deeply?  Do you reread it often or do you just savor the last time you read it?  Tell me about it.  I'd love to hear.

R holds forth on Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor

This is the first contact, as it were, that I've had with the works of Flannery O'Connor. I believe the Southern Gothic genre, of which this is a quintessential example, is one that is uniquely linked to the culture and geography of its country of origin... which may serve to explain why I (a non-American) had never heard of this title until I came across it on Goodreads. (I suspect that, internationally, lists of "classic" English language novels tend to be biased against American literature in favour of British writers... but I digress.)

Anyway, I've heard Wise Blood described as a comic novel - but if you approach it anticipating a barrel of laughs, you'll probably be sorely disappointed. That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind; it hasn't necessarily failed as a humourous work. The thing is, the humour here is in the uneasy semi-reality of the scenes, with the characters doing outrageous things that you could almost imagine someone doing in real life, although the very thought of it remains deeply unnerving. Wise Blood is chockfull of genuinely weird stuff that strays to the farthest end of dark comedy. If it causes any laughter at all I can only imagine that it manifests very occasionally, and primarily in nervous, slightly horrified little giggles.

Beyond that, if I'm honest, I scarcely know what to think about it. In that case, you may wonder, why bother to attempt to review it at all? Well, there aren't many books that leave me as bewildered as Wise Blood did. Generally speaking, the books I've read can be broadly categorized into two distinct categories - Books I Liked or Books I Didn't Like. My bewilderment at this book belongs to a unique category of its own; I rarely read a book that I think I like, though I find the memory of it vaguely unsettling.

It's a showcase of the dark side of religion, an exhibition of individuals for which religion and penitence act as a conduit for madness. Basically it's just fantastically bleak and now, having given it 3.5 stars, I might go off and stare at a wall for a moment to clear my mind.

In Which Snickers Tackles Nora Roberts and Southern Charm.

The Book:Carnal Innocence

How I Got It: The library’s a wonderful thing.

Why I Read It: I got an email from Borders, promoting a new cover for Carnal Innocence, so I figured I’d check out the old cover before I decided whether or not to waste my money on a new cover… it’s the stuff in the middle (ya know, the typed pages with words on them) that counts anyhow!

The Review:
Warning! Spoilers Included.

It is clear that Carnal Innocence is more of a murder mystery than it is a romance novel, and don’t make the mistake of believing it’s a blend of the two – the romance is thrown in haphazardly. It seems like an afterthought, as if Roberts had forgotten that she’d promised her publisher she’d live up to the novel’s name. More to the point, there’s not much “carnal” about the relationship between Tucker and Caroline. It’s hurried and rushed, contradicting Tucker’s continual sermons on how everything in the South moves slowly.

Southern small town charm rings throughout the whole of Carnal Innocence, filling the romance quota more so than the actual romance between Caroline and Tucker. Innocence romances the reader, and one would find it hard to be immune to its charms. While Roberts failed to interest me in the romance between the characters, she certainly succeeded to hold me in captivation at the appeal of Innocence, Mississippi: a delightfully unexpected, but pleasant surprise. It was indeed a romance of sorts: a sweet, simple love of the town and the people in it, each one filling roles unasked for but quietly needed; I got the sense that Innocence would not be the same without each unique character. The citizens know it, too: despite some serious conflicts between characters, everyone cared about each other in the way that only a small town in the South can. I adored this strong sense of community; and to a certain extent, I identify with the small-town social hierarchy, coming from a relatively prominent family in a small town myself. Like Caroline, I will always have a place there if I so desire to be a part of it. I did covet the ease with which Caroline acclimated to Innocence’s way of life and to the various personalities and families within. Blood ties run stronger than moonshine in the South, and Caroline’s ancestry spoke for her, guaranteeing her a place in Innocence’s small society, no matter what.

**SPOILERS**
The ending ticked me off, plain and simple. It felt forced, as if Roberts decided at the last minute to change the identity of the murderer as a “surprise ending”. While Josie’s motivation makes sense, it just doesn’t come across as the “Oh my god, that was totally unexpected, but HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED THAT? IT’S SO OBVIOUS” feeling I wanted out of it. Combined with the fanfiction-esque romance of Tucker and Caroline (seriously, if I wanted a fanfiction, I would’ve read one instead), it made me want to give Carnal Innocence only 1 star. It gets two-and-a-half simply because as much as I hate to admit it, I fell for Innocence’s irresistible Southern charm.
**END SPOILERS**

The Rating:
<

The only reason I didn’t give Carnal Innocence one star is because Innocence, Mississippi charmed my pants off. My rating of two and a half is simply because I like to be charmed once in a while – and there’s nothing wrong with that.