23 Books to Have You Feeling like You're in the South ...

By Neecey

23 Books to Have You Feeling like You're in the South ...

I don't know what it is but to me The South has always seemed romantic. Even though it has a bloody history, I find it fascinating and there's something that I have always felt a connection to in movies and books. Please take a look at my list of suggestions and I'd love to hear about books about The South you've read.

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1

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Perhaps the quintessential Southern novel by the recently passed Harper Lee. A gripping tale of Southern attitudes towards law and race in the tense 1930s.

Buy at: amazon.com

2

Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind Considered the ‘great American novel’, Gone With The Wind tells a tale of human passion and obsession in the heat of Georgia against a backdrop of the Civil War.

Buy at: amazon.com

3

The Help

The Help An emotional and ultimately inspiring tale about the life stories of several black maids across Jackson, Mississippi.

Buy at: amazon.com

4

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain A real slice of historical Southern culture as we join a young boy and his adventures along the Mississippi Valley.

Buy at: amazon.com

5

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flag

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flag A touching tale about the strength and strife of a group a various Southern women who had individuals battles to fight.

Buy at: amazon.com

Famous Quotes

Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality. All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration.

Niccolò Machiavelli
6

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd A gripping story set in the South that revolves around Lily Owens, a woman whose life has been defined by the vague memory of her mother’s death.

Buy at: amazon.com

7

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Color Purple by Alice Walker A now iconic novel that tells the story of an abused and uneducated Southern woman’s battle for personal empowerment

Buy at: amazon.com

8

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston A Southern love story that takes the reader on an enthralling journey from the very beginning to the very end.

Buy at: amazon.com

9

Southern Mystical Moments by Patricia H. Graham

Southern Mystical Moments by Patricia H. Graham A brilliant book that comprises a number of different legend and myths that are common folklore in the state of North Carolina.

Buy at: amazon.com

10

A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire A steamy Southern story about a fading but beautiful woman who is pushed over the edge by her handsome and brutal brother-in-law.

Buy at: amazon.com

11

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers A famous novel about a deaf and mute man who comes to be a confidant to many different characters and misfits in a 1930a Georgia mill town.

Buy at: amazon.com

12

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner A delicious and intricate novel about the deepest secrets and darkest tragedies of a Southern family.

Buy at: amazon.com

13

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells A delightful novel that explores the lives and stories of three different generations of quirky Southern debutantes.

Buy at: amazon.com

14

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns A unique novel that tells the story of a romance that consumes the interest of an entire Georgia town in the early 1900s.

Buy at: amazon.com

15

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Beloved by Toni Morrison A spellbinding novel that gives a unique insight in to the South’s past history with slavery.

Buy at: amazon.com

16

Roots by Alex Haley

Roots by Alex Haley An iconic book that inspired an equally iconic TV series; another novel that explores the issue of slavery in the American South.

Buy at: amazon.com

17

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

The Awakening by Kate Chopin Set in New Orleans, The Awakening is a ground breaking novel from the late 1890s that explores a daring take on a woman’s approach to femininity and sexuality.

Buy at: amazon.com

18

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou’s iconic memoir covers many different issues that were arguably commonplace for a woman of her color and creed in the American South during that time.

Buy at: amazon.com

19

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt A suspenseful novel that tells the mysterious story of a shooting that has hung over a Savannah town for nearly ten years.

Buy at: amazon.com

20

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor A master class in Southern Gothic storytelling is given here by Flannery O’Connor in a collection of gripping short stories.

Buy at: amazon.com

21

Black Boy by Richard Wright

Black Boy by Richard Wright Another hard-hitting tale about a young boy growing up in the harsh and potentially dangerous environment of poverty stricken Mississippi.

Buy at: amazon.com

22

Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina

Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina A gorgeous work of historical fiction that recounts the Battle of Blair Mountain and all of the events that led up to it.

Buy at: amazon.com

23

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingslover

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingslover A tale boasting strong Southern women set in the hazy depths of rural Virginia.

Buy at: amazon.com

Do you have a favorite? I’d love to hear about some lesser known books set in The South.

Feedback Junction

Where Thoughts and Opinions Converge

Uncle Tom's Cabin is my all-time favorite book.

Try out vikaas swarup's books

Try anything by Anne Rivers Siddons, Anne Rice. Oh by the way not every Southerner is racists. A lot of these books portray slavery and the worst of the South, the north had slaves too lets not forget.

Excellent recommendations, most of them American classics. Funny, this books represent the best of Northern literature for me, I guess it all depends on geography.

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