Books for Charleston & Savannah
 

You all have already been so helpful with advice about the trip I'm going to take with my Mom to Savannah and Charleston so I thought I'd keep going with my questions.

Since mother's day is just around the corner, I thought I would get her some "get-in-the-mood gifts" relating to our trip . For example, I know that I will get her Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (both the book and the DVD with strict instructions to read the book first) but I'm having problems adding to that list. Can any of you offer some suggestions?

She already read her Fodors Carolinas and Georgia guidebook and I have the Frommers Portable Charleston and Portable Savannah. If there's another great guide book out there, please let me know.

What else is there? Fiction or non-fiction is fine (as long as it's not too academic). Subjects are not limited and can include historical novels, the civil war, slavery, the Gullah, southern food, novels by southern authors (Pat Conroy comes to mind) or anything else you can think of (except for cook books and garden books). DVDs or suggestions of non-book items are welcome.

Thanks for your help.

The Midnight Book shows Savannah in a very fictionized light. It also strays a pretty good ways from the actual murder. I can't recommend it as a good way of getting to know Savannah. It is about a type of society that is NOT much of the Real Savannah as most of us know it. That book could have been written about just about any place where it didn't have snow on the ground. I don't think it would get her in the mood for Savannah.

Does she like mysteries? Mary Kay Andrews has one, "Savannah Blues." It's not the greatest mystery ever written, but it is a hilariously enjoyable book and paints a very good picture of living and working in the Historic District of Savannah. Much better than "Midnight" You can order it from either Barnes and Nobles or Books-A-Million.

The Mermaid's Chair takes place in a Gullah area.

Sojourn in Savannah has walking tours, a great map, history etc. I would definitey get that one!

aileen, John Berent has said just the opposite and wishes he didn't publish the book as fiction but as non fiction because so much of the book is true. Go figure.

Good books or movies:

Forest Gump
Beach Music (book)
Prince of Tides (book or movie)
The Big Chill
Bagger Vance

GoTravel, he's welcome to his opinion. It's not shared with by a lot of native Savannahians.

Your mother might like to take a picture tour.

http://savannahnow.com/features/slideshows/

http://www.pbase.com/savannahga

There's a lot to see.

John Jakes "Charleston"

John Jakes "Savannah"

both historical novels

Hi wj1, I was just going to post about John Jakes "Charleston..and saw that IamBooth had the same thought. I read "Charleston" before I visited there last April and it truly helped me appreciate this beautiful city so much as I really didn't know much about the history of Charleston.

I didn't know that John Jakes wrote a booked entitled "Savannah", IamBooth. I will have to read that book also as I so enjoyed "Charleston."

wj1, btw "Charleston" has maps in front of the book so it helped with my understanding of where different events took place and it also helped me get oriented when I got to Charleston.

LoveItaly, yeah, I believe it is his latest book, maybe less than 2 years old. It is a charming book and much different than his others. He almost wrote it in "childrens book" fashion, but not quite. As usual he is very accurate in historic details. I enjoyed it very much.

Hi IamBooth, I will get Savanah at my library. It was strange, I was flying to Atlanta and then doing a car trip to Charleston last April with a friend. I was in the clubhouse at the complex where I live a few weeks before my vacation. There are hundreds of books that neighbors have donated so one can take what they like and keep it as long as they wish. I walked in and amongst all of the books I saw "Charleston". How perfect was that? For some strange reason (I read a lot) I was not even familar with John Jakes. Take care, and enjoyable reading to you!!

I LOVED Midnight--and actually the parents of a friend lived in Beaufort and were always invited to his holiday party. Little did they know.
As I understand it, everyone in Savannah was up in arms when the book first came out but now have settled back to reap the enormous benefits it has brought to the city.
I think it would be a great way to start the OP's mom off with a view of Savannah.

I enjoy the Anne Rivers Siddons novels about the Low Country area including Charleston. "ISLANDS" is one of her books she may enjoy.

Eugenia Price wrote several excellent books on the area - "Savannah", "Bright Captivity", and the St Simons trilogy....Amazon has a nice selection of her works in paperback ...these would qualify as historical fiction but are very readable with very believable characters.
Dorothea Benton Frank has several modern fictional works set around the Charleston area that are fun to read...more the "chick lit" type book that is popular nowadays.

I loved "On Leaving Charleston," a book that gave great insight into the natives and mores of Charleston. I think it was by A. Ripley, one of her earlier (good) books. Anyway, after reading the book many years ago, I've always wanted to go there!

Thanks everyone. Your suggestions were really helpful and I'm putting together my list now. (And then I'll look forward to borrowing them when she's done!)

Sweetgrass by Mary Alice Monroe

Mrs Whaley's Garden and Mrs Whaley Entertains are must reads before a Charleston visit.

Laura Childs has a mystery series about a Charleston woman who owns a tea shop and keeps running up against murders. They are light weight and fun to read.

Pat Conroy's "The Prince of Tides" is in my top 3 all time favorite books. I consider it a great work of literature. The imagery is so vivid, you'll be in love w/ the low country before you ever set foot there. I did not care for the movie at all.

(his more recent work "Beach Music" was a huge disappointment)

I agree that Anne Rivers Siddons writes entertaining books if you are in the mood for more of a "beach read".

Make sure you read up on the history of Charleston during the revolution, not just the civil war. The whole story of holding off the British (at least until the next battle) w/ the Palmetto logs at Fort Moultrie is fascinating.