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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Dover Thrift Editions)
Mark Twain
Dover Publications, 1994
American Classic
Twain's Huckleberry Finn has derived much controversy from its use of the "n" word in the dialogue as well as what some believe are stereotyped characters within the novel. As some have noted in defense of Twain, Twain's main object was to portray and depict the ...
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Third Degree: A Novel
Greg Iles
Scribner, 2007
Review of Audio Book
I'm almost finished with the audio version of Third Degree and I absolutley LOVE IT. I was really suprised to see so many negative and neutral reviews. I listen to audio books in the car on my looonnnnggg commute to work each day and this book makes me wish my commute ...
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Mudbound
Hillary Jordan
Algonquin Books, 2008
Mudbound--Clear Vision of MS Delta
Mudbound was a risky read for me. As a life-long Mississippian, I wondered how an "outsider" could come in and tell a story that would ring true to the many intricacies of race relations in a state that still struggles with the some of the most basic issues.
I ...
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As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner
Vintage, 1991
Homegoing
One of the most important writers of the twentieth century in any country, William Faulkner could tell a rousing tale. Check your collective memory. You're sitting around the campfire and the the storyteller begins.
When it is Faulkner, expect the unexpected. As I ...
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Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run
Alton Brown
Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2008
Trip Down Memory Lane
I grew up on the Mississippi and many parts of the book took me back to a wonderful time in my life....the 1950's, before the interstate highway system. Our family vacations were spent meandering along the highways of the day, now called back roads, and discovering all ...
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The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner
Vintage, 1991
Why we read
As I Lay Dying had piqued my appetite for Faulkner so when I saw the Sound and the Fury on our school reading list, I couldn't wait. I decided to read it on my own before we read it in class. The first section was a different reading experience than I have ever had. ...
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The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
Michael Lewis
W. W. Norton, 2007
Excellent writing; fun story...
My husband made me read this book. I wasn't looking forward to it. After about 10 pages I was hooked. I knew nothing about football going into this book and absolutely loved it. I got it for my brother for his birthday and he was obsessed. He got it for our ...
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Light in August (The Corrected Text)
William Faulkner
Vintage International/Random House, 1990
Eleven Days In August
This book has been touted as being Faulkner's most accessible. Although a bit easier to follow having less stream of consciousness it still requires some patience and appreciation for nuance. Further, if you take the story at face value you will be missing out on 90% ...
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Signet Classics)
Mark Twain
Signet Classics, 2002
Nietzsche's choice
In a letter to his friend Franz Overbeck dated 14, November, 1879, Nietzsche says, "If you do not know the latest book by Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, it would be a pleasure for me to make you a little present of it."
Both novels define the picturesque ...
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Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth
Richard Wright
Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2007
Mississippi God Damn
Every time I read a book about the plight of blacks in the South in the early part of the 20th century as Jim Crow society solidified I have to shutter in disgust. I have just finished reading communist Harry Haywood's autobiography Black Bolshevik. I have read Malcolm ...
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Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders
Eric Etheridge
Atlas & Co., 2008
Brilliant, moving, informative, and beautiful
Breach of Peace is a great book for several reasons. It is beautifully designed and printed, with very high-quality reproductions of Etheridge's exceptional contemporary portraits of 1961's freedom riders and of their mug shots, recovered from the Mississippi State ...
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Unabridged Classics)
Mark J. Twain
Sterling, 2004
Who could forget the pranks, the adventures, the sheer fun of Tom Sawyer? It’s something every child should experience and every child will love. From Tom’s sly trickery with the whitewashed fence—when he cleverly manipulates everyone so they happily do his work for him—to his and Becky Thatcher’s calamities in Bat ...
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Minn of the Mississippi
Holling C. Holling
Houghton Mifflin, 1978
Every child deserves a chance to read this book.
At age 52, I can vividly remember discovering this book in my local library as a boy in 4th grade, especially the luminous color illustrations and drawings Hollings used to tell the story of the journey of a snapping turtle from the Mississippi's trickling source in ...
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Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting
Bruce Feldman
ESPN, 2007
Amazing look into the forgotten part of College Football
Recruiting is where a team is made. You can only take a team so far if you don't have top flight athletes, especially in the SEC. Meat Market is a great look into the recruiting process, and how far teams have to go in order to get the top tier players. Coach O is ...
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My Dog Skip
Willie Morris
Vintage, 1996
Beautifully Told
Willie Morris has recounted the life of not just a boyhood pet, but a dear and close friend. The Story of Skip's life as told by his owner is full of mythic adventures of childhood. Where every new day was full of joy and wonder. Morris' storytelling brings the dog, ...
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