Book of the Month

LouisBranning has won the inaugural "Deep South Book of the Month challenge" by contributing the best review of Cormac McCarthy's Suttree to LibraryThing. He has therefore earned the privilege of selecting the assignment for September. Congratulations!

Since LB hasn't formally responded, we'll go with his suggestion of Jujitsu for Christ by Jack Butler. It sounds like a great read, and I hope you all enjoy it.

The best review posted to LT wins the chance to name October's featured work.

Sorry to be late getting back to you, D, but I really couldn't recommend anything better right now than Jack Butler's Jujitsu for Christ, which just totally blew me away and was one of the best I've read this year. And it's a short one too, a little over 200 pages.

Sept.'s already looking like a terrific reading month with lots of great stuff coming, including a true 'Deep South' memoir, William Alexander Percy's Lanterns on the Levee.

Unfortunately, Jujitsu for Christ is out of print in the UK. I will try to find a copy. In the meantime, can anyone recommend any authors that fall into the Deep South category (or similar) that are writing currently ? My favourite authors at the moment are Cormac McCarthy (All the Pretty Horses, Suttree; rather than Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men), William Gay (Provinces of Night, The Long Home), Kent Haruf (Eventide, Plainsong) and Tim Gautreaux (The Clearing, Next Step in the Dance). Appreciate any suggestions.

waogilvie, it's a shame you can't get a copy of Jujitsu for Christ, but here's a few other Deep South suggestions I'd recommend as well:

Tom Franklin's terrific Southern shoot-'em-up Hell at the Breech, Larry Brown's 1991 novel Joe, or NBA-nominated The Heaven of Mercury by Brad Watson, all wonderful books and perfect Deep South reading.

There's a fellow in Essex who will send you his hardback copy of Jujitsu for Christ for £12.00 plus £3.35 S&H.

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=581106640

A signed copy is also held by the British Library's reading room at St Pancras:

http://copac.ac.uk/wzgw?id=8602514&f=u&esn=F&rsn=1&rn=1

You might also try Amazon.co.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/087483015X

Just finished listening to the audio of Sweetwater Creek by Anne jRivers Siddons and loved every second of it. The reader is great and I felt like I was standing in South Carolina. I hate that it is over...will probably do To Kill a Mockingbird because it is read by sissy spacek in the new audio.

Just finished this month's selection Jujitsu for Christ by Jack Butler and let me just say... FANTASTIC! I can't remember the last book I enjoyed this much. I have even ordered a copy to give as a gift.
I hope everyone else was able to get hold of a copy to read, it was very fun. And I hope book recommendations like this one keep tumbling out of the group.

Reminder: Those wanting to participate in the Book of the Month need to have reviews of Jujitsu for Christ entered into LibraryThing by October 1.

Trav is the winner and has the honor of selecting the Book of the Month for October.

You can read his review by following the Jujitsu for Christ link.

Winner by default? That's no fun.
I'll post a pick for October within the next 24 hours.
Hopefully that'll give folks enough time to find a copy and read it.

Let just say, that if you haven't read last month's selection, it is still worth the effort to track a copy down!

This month I'm tapping John K. Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. I'm sure a great many of you have read it, but I have not and I'm hoping it lives up to everything I've read about it. Plus, I think it's common enough that those interested should be able to find a copy.

I thought it might be too long for a monthly read, but my second choice was Butler's "Living in Little Rock With Miss Little Rock". The edition I found is over 700 pages! So Toole's won out.

But the 'Little Rock' book takes place in 1980's Arkansas and is narrated by the Holy Spirit! Gotta be good.

Has anyone here read it? Recommend?

Meant to do this, in the post above...
Living in Little Rock With Miss Little Rock

Thanks for the new pick, and for the great review. I'm moving this discussion to a new thread to make the group a little easier to navigate.