Reading the States: South Carolina

State: SOUTH CAROLINA

Fiction:
- The Secret Life of Bees* by Sue Monk Kidd
- The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
- Perdition House by Kathryn R. Wall
- Low Country by Anne Rivers Siddons
- The Spirit of Sweetgrass by Nicole Seitz
- Sullivan's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank
- Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
- Cast Two Shadows by Ann Rinaldi
- Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig
- The Invention of Wings* by Sue Monk Kidd
- Beach Music* by Pat Conroy

Nonfiction:
- Before Freedom by Belinda Hurmence
- Slaves in the Family by Edward Ball
- Brown Girl Dreaming* by Jacqueline Woodson
- Hidden in Plain View by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard 

Authors Known for Writing in or about the State:
- Walter Edgar
- Sheri Reynolds
- Dorothea Benton Frank

Authors Who Lived Here:
- Stephen Colbert
- Bret Lott
- John Jakes
- Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr.
- Mary Alice Monroe

Great Bookstores:
Hub City Bookshop
Blue Bicycle Books
Fiction Addiction
Litchfield Books

*Books I've Read

Photo by moi. 

Cheaper by the Dozen

Cheaper by the Dozen
by Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
★★★★


This book has absolutely nothing to do with the recent Steve Martin movies. It’s a nonfiction account, written by two of the children, of their experiences growing up in a family with twelve kids. Their eccentric father was a motion study analyst and taught them the more efficient way to do everything! He even showed them (while he was fully clothed) the fastest way to wash yourself with soap when bathing.


One of my favorite anecdotes from the book was when the family was visited by a representative of the national birth control society. They were there to ask the mother if she wanted to get involved with their organization (not knowing how many kids she had). Then the father called all 12 children downstairs and the woman just about had a heart attack.

Their father was incredibly focused on teaching them. He quizzed them on multiplication tables, taught them how to type and constantly had recordings going that taught them how to speak French and German. He talked their teachers into frequently letting them skip grades because the kids excelled at such young ages. Unfortunately, as great as that sounds, it’s incredibly hard on the kids to have to make new friends and start all over in a new grade.


"In those days women who were scholars were viewed with some suspicion. When mother and dad were married, the Oakland paper said, 'Although a graduate of the University of California, the bride is, none the less, an extremely attractive young woman.'"

Cheaper photo from here.