Reading the States: Georgia

Friday, March 9, 2012


State: GEORGIA

Fiction:
- Gone with the Wind* by Margaret Mitchell
- The Color Purple* by Alive Walker
- Cold Sassy Tree* by Olive Ann Burns
- The March by E. L. Doctorow
- Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman,
- The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter* by Carson McCullers
- A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe
- The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
- Cane by Jean Toomer
- Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry
- Quite a Year for Plums by Bailey White 

Nonfiction:
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil* by John Berendt
- Dahlonega Haunts: Ghostly Adventures in a Georgia Mountain Town by Amy Blackmarr
- Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind by Ellen F. Brown
- A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. edited by James Melvin Washington
- Mama Makes Up Her Mind: And Other Dangers of Southern Living by Bailey White
- Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn: A Saga of Race and Family by Gary Pomerantz
- The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr* by MLKJ

Authors Known for Writing about the State:
- Flannery O'Connor
- Joshilyn Jackson
- Joel Chandler Harris 

Authors Who Lived Here:
- Margaret Mitchell
- Frances Mayes
- Philip Yancey
- Laura Lippman
- Alice Walker
- Sue Monk Kidd
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Great Bookstores in the State:
Bound to be Read Books

*Books I've Read

Photo by moi.

7 comments:

Alex (The Sleepless Reader) said...

I feel like an honorary Georgian :) It's a great list, Melissa! I'd add:

- A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. edited by James Melvin Washington

- Driving Miss Daisy (play) by Alfred Uhry

- The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

- Mama Makes Up Her Mind: And Other Dangers of Southern Living by Bailey White

(*hums Georgia on My Mind*)

Sandy Nawrot said...

Joshilyn Jackson!!!! She lives there I believe, and some of her books (at least one) has taken place there. I love books set in Georgia. It is soooo Southern!

Jeanne said...

I didn't know Laura Lippman had lived in Georgia. No wonder her descriptions of Baltimore sleet are so memorable!

Kristi said...

My grandpa's family is all from Georgia and I spent a few summers there as a kid. I love reading books about it. I'll have to check out some of these that I haven't read.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is amazing! It still blows my mind that it isn't fiction. So crazy!

My mom's been trying to get me to read Cold Sassy Tree for a while. Now that I know it takes place in Georgia, I'm a little more excited to get to it.

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Alex - Wonderful suggestions! I've added them in. It looks like The Prince of Tides is South Carolina, but I added it to my list for that state. Thanks!

Sandy - I haven't read her yet, but I added her in!

Jeanne - Isn't that funny. This project has taught me that sometimes the authors raised in one state have become famous for writing about another.

Kristi - Midnight always blows my mind. That's the height of creative nonfiction to me. It is so beautifully written that you can't believe it's not fiction.

*ೃ༄ Jillian said...

Don't forget Joel Chandler Harris. He was a well-known journalist in Atlanta -- also, author of the Uncle Remus books. :)

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Jillian - Thanks! I added him in!