Southern Belle Reading Challenge Wrap Up...Man Was It Fun

Southern Belle Reading Challenge
Hosted by Brenda Gail at Curling Up With A Good Book 

Well September is over, and I'm sad to say so is the Southern Belle Reading Challenge.  But I'm glad to report that Brenda says she will host it again next year...Yay!  So if you missed it this year start making your list now. 

This challenge was about all things "southern"...fiction set in the south, non-fiction, cook books, magazines, food, music, festivals, and famous southerners.  Before this challenge I hadn't read all that much southern fiction, but now I have to say that I have a real love for it.  I have found so many good books and authors by participating in this challenge.  Not only did I find lots of new books...I found a new blog that I absolutely love and visit every day.  Brenda did such a great job running this challenge.  Every day she posted a southern topic on her blog, and they were all different.  I learned a lot about the south, and had fun doing it.  I also loved reading all the great comments from others doing the challenge.  I'm always interested in what others are reading.

I read 5 books in the month of September for the Southern Belle Reading Challenge.

Source:  Goodreads

The first book I read for the challenge was The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.  You can read my review HERE.

Source:  Goodreads

 The second book I read for the challenge was My Summer of Southern Discomfort by Stephanie Gayle.  You can read my review HERE.

Source:  Goodreads

 The third book I read for the challenge was Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.  You can read my review HERE.

Source:  Goodreads

Book number four and perhaps my favorite from the entire challenge was Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews.  I had no idea what to expect from this book, and to be honest I was expecting a shallow girly book.  Boy was i wrong!  This was a deep meaningful book, but fun at the same time.   You can read my review HERE.

Source:  Goodreads

The fifth and final book I read for the challenge was The Southern Belle of Honeysuckle Way by Linda Bruckheimer.  I haven't posted a review yet, but look for it soon!


My goal for the challenge was 4 books.  I met it plus one, so I'm very happy.  The Southern Belle Reading Challenge was lots of fun, and I will definitely be doing it again next September.  Thanks Brenda!!!

I Do Have To Say It Got Better!

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Source:  www.stephaniegayle.com

My Summer of Southern Discomfort  by Stephanie Gayle is about Natalie, a young lawyer who is forced to flee her New York City home due to a scandalous love affair at her old law firm.  She moves to Macon, Georgia and becomes a prosecutor.  It's about her struggle to forget the past, her struggle to learn to work with her crotchety coworker, her struggle with prosecuting a man accused of murder who may get the death penalty (she is opposed to the death penalty), her struggle to help a co worker's abused sister, and her neighbor LaLa who has a great garden...are you getting the point?

I have mixed feelings about this book.  At first I really disliked it.  I hate to say negative things about books, but this one just bugged me.  First of all the cover is misleading because I feel like Natalie wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit, nor would she be relaxing while reading in the grass.  I felt like the attempts at showing southern culture were a bit patronizing and judgemental...like she was better because she was from a northern state.

I do have to say that it got better, and I didn't hate this book.   I just feel like I read the middle of the story, and I was yearning for the beginning and the end and the thing that would tie it all together.



This is the second book completed for the...

A Cherry Tree And Two Houses

As you know I'm reading My Summer of Southern Discomfort which is set in Macon, Georgia as part of the "Southern Belle Reading Challenge" I'm participating in.  I haven't finished the book yet, but I came across some landmarks in the first few chapters that I was interesting in looking up.  Here's what I found out...


Yoshino Cherry Tree

Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon, GA
Source:  www.cherryblossom.com

"Each March, Macon becomes a pink cotton-spun paradise of delight as over 300,000 Yoshino cherry trees bloom in all their glory. And for 10 days, festival-lovers are treated to one of the most extravagant displays of springtime color in the nation as they visit the town referred to by Congressional Records as the Cherry Blossom Capital of the World."
(Source:  www.cherryblossom.com)

Source:  www.arborday.org

The tree that made the Macon Cherry Blossom Festival famous. Fragrant, white-pink flowers; oriental branching pattern; glossy bark; dark-green leaves. Likes full sun, well-drained soil. Grows to 40' to 50'.
(Source:  www.arborday.org)

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Hay House

Source:  www.georgiatrust.org



One of Georgia’s most distinguished structures, the Johnston-Felton-Hay House in Macon was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974. It was built from 1855 to 1859 in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, a marked contrast to the more restrained Greek Revival architecture of the antebellum period.
(Source:  www.georgiatrust.org)

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Woodruff House

Source:  http://www.50plusdc.com/html/body_macon.html



Adjacent to the School of Law is a Greek Revival mansion built in 1836 for a railroad financier and banker. It was designed and built by Elam Alexander, a  local building contractor, architect, business man and philanthropist. The house was once owned by Colonel Joseph Bond, one of the South's wealthiest cotton planters. In 1887 a 16th birthday ball was held in the house for Winnie Davis, daughter of former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Originally known as Overlook Mansion, it was acquired by Mercer University in 1978 and renamed Woodruff House. The University uses the house for banquets,  receptions and alumni events. It is open to the public only during the Cherry Blossom Festival in March, the run up to Christmas and for special events.

(Source:  http://www.50plusdc.com/)

What I'm Reading Now And Some Southern Food

I started My Summer of Southern Discomfort yesterday, but it's been a busy weekend so far so I haven't read all that much.

Source:  Goodreads

Since this is the month of all things southern, thanks to the "Southern Belle Challenge".  I thought I'd share some of the southern things we've cooked this weekend.  Yesterday my husband's family had a family reunion and it was my job to make the banana pudding and the macaroni and cheese.  You can't get more southern than banana pudding and macaroni and cheese!  At the reunion we had barbecue ribs, fried chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, mac and cheese, potato salad, baked beans, broccoli & cauliflower salad, plenty of watermelon, and lots more.  For dessert there was cake and banana pudding.  We played corn hole and the kids played on a tire swing, played volleyball, and rode horses.  It was a very fun day and all very southern!  I must also add that it was very HOT...also southern.

Today after church we had cabbage with polish sausage for lunch, and my husband made fried cornbread.  Again, I'd say fried cornbread is very southern, and I put strawberry preserves on mine.  We had big glasses of unsweetened iced tea and it was yummy!

I'm looking forward to an extra day at home with my family since there's no school or work tomorrow!

Now I'm off to get some reading done...

We Went to the Library!

After I picked my daughter up today, we went to the library.  She's been wanting to check out some Goosebumps books, and I wanted to get some books myself.  She ended up getting ten "Goosebumps" books.

A couple days ago I told you about a reading challenge I'm participating in during the month of September.  It's called the "Southern Belle" challenge, and the idea is to read books set in the South.  It is hosted by Brenda Gail at Curling Up With a Good Book.


I got four books from the library today to get me started...


Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

Source:  www.goodreads.com

The Secret Life of Bees: A Novel by Sue Monk Kidd

Source:  www.goodreads.com

My Summer of Southern Discomfort by Stephanie Gayle

Source:  www.goodreads.com

Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews

Source:  www.goodreads.com