April Wrap-Up TBR Pile 2014/ Southern Literature Challenge

The only book I read during April that qualifies for the TBR 2014 Challenge  was
  The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg. It also qualifies for the Southern Literature Challenge! Check out the review here.

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

Title: The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion Author: Fannie Flagg Publisher: Random House Copyright: 2013

I've loved Fannie Flagg's writing since I first read Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man years ago. Still, when I first started this one, I wasn't sure. A reunion of filling station workers didn't sound all that appealing to me. Luckily, I gave it a chance and discovered this is NOT what the story is about. 

Sookie is a typical wealthy southern belle- nice home on the bay, high-ranking social status, and secure in her place in one of the "old southern families". SO... imagine her surprise when she finds out  that she was adopted. Not only was she adopted, she was born a yankee- and a Catholic at that. Thus begins Sookie's adventure in finding out her true identity and how she came to be who- and where- she is.

As and adoptee and adoptive mom, I found this story to be heart warming. However, at times I found it irritating. In the year 2013, I find it quite surprising that anyone with a small modicum of political correctness would still be caught dead using the term "real mother". (The term, in case you have been hiding under a rock, is "birth mother".) Real mothers raise their children, care for them, nurture them... birth mothers give birth. But, I digress...

(Now that I think about it, we southerners have been well known for our lack of political correctness...maybe this is another example...)

In spite of the insulting terminology, I truly did love this story. I laughed, I cried.. (we already know I got annoyed). Not only was this great southern fiction, but it was great historical fiction as well. Anyone who loved Jennifer Niven's Velva Jean Learns to Fly will also love this story of women pilots in WWII. I fell in love with Fritzi (the birth mother) and her wild and crazy ways.

I do highly recommend this book to lovers of southern fiction and Fannie Flagg. I will continue to eagerly await all her novels. She is a true writer of great southern fiction.

Read this book if-

*you love southern fiction

*you love stories of adoptive families or adoption

*you love historical fiction

*you love stories from the WWII era

Haunted Kentucky: Tales of a Conduit

Title: Haunted Kentucky: Tales of a Conduit (Kindle Edition) Author: Terri Grimes Publisher: DM Publications Pages: 167 Copyright: 2014

I found this book to be interesting- an entertaining read. However, there were parts that truly disturbed me. Mainly, the fact that so many of the ghosts asked for help, but there was little (too little) indication that they received any. I got the feeling that ghost hunting was a form of entertainment- a game- to the author, with little regard to the actual souls at stake. Any true believer will tell you that many souls are in limbo. Many are reaching out for help. If you are going to "mess" with them, then you owe them the help they ask for. A few times she mentioned offering a prayer, and at one point she even told a soul that they could escape their situation if they truly believed. I just think that, if a person is going to become involved in the paranormal, they need to give true help to souls in need. 

I did find the book to be interesting, and I do recommend it to anyone who loves accounts of true hauntings. I think anyone with an ability to reach or attract spirits should also take the responsibility that comes with that ability very seriously. I think that, if what she says is true, the author does have a unique ability. I would like to have seen more evidence of her using this ability for the good of those at stake.

Read this book if...

*you love accounts of true hauntings

*you love the paranormal

*you are interested in ghost hunting