Strangely Southern (Read a Southern Gothic book)
December 9, 2021
In Southern Gothic fiction you can find irrational, horrific, and transgressive thoughts, desires, and impulses, grotesque characters, dark humor, and an overall angst-ridden sense of alienation. All uniquely rooted in the South’s tensions and aberrations.
Absalom, Absalom! William Faulkner
The epic tale of Thomas Sutpen, an enigmatic stranger who comes to Jefferson, Mississippi, in the early 1830s to wrest his mansion out of the muddy bottoms of the north Mississippi wilderness.
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Sethe, an escaped slave who has lost a husband and child, now lives in a small house on the edge of town with her daughter, Denver, her mother-in-law, Baby Suggs, and a disturbing, mesmerizing apparition who calls herself Beloved.
Book / Large Print / eBook / Audio eBook
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to each other across time and distance. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience.
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
Cornelius Suttree has forsaken a life of privilege with his prominent family to live in a dilapidated houseboat near Knoxville, Tennessee. Living on the margins of the outcast community there—a collection of eccentrics, criminals, and squatters—he rises above the squalor with detachment, humor, and dignity.
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Returning to her hometown after an eight-year absence and a short stay at a psychiatric hospital to investigate the murders of two girls, reporter Camille Preaker is reunited with her neurotic mother and enigmatic, 13-year-old half-sister as she works to uncover the truth about the killings.
Book / eBook / Audiobook / Audio eBook
Soil by Jamie Kornegay
A darkly comic debut novel by an independent bookseller about an idealistic young farmer who moves his family to a Mississippi flood basin, suffers financial ruin–and becomes increasingly paranoid he’s being framed for murder.
The Toll by Cherie Priest
Titus and Melanie are on their way to honeymoon in the Okefenokee Swamp. But before they can reach their destination, the road narrows into a rickety one-lane bridge. Much later, Titus wakes up lying in the middle of the road with no bridge—and no Melanie—in sight.
The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
With delicious suspense, incisive wit, and a fresh, feminist sensibility, this gothic thriller set in Birmingham, Alabama, flips the script on a timeless tale of forbidden romance, ill-advised attraction, and a wife who just won’t stay buried.
Book / Large Print / Audiobook / Audio eBook
Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor
This haunting tale of redemption, retribution, false prophets, blindings, and wisdom gives us one of the most riveting characters in American fiction: Hazel Motes.