Tag: Fannie Flagg

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Surprised Me

BonnieReadsAndWrites9 Comments

I know it’s Wednesday, but I couldn’t post yesterday, so here’s Top Ten Tuesday a day late. Below are ten books that surprised me.

A girl in a field, facing away, holding a pack of letters behind her back.
a Coffee Cup with Butterfly perched on the side.
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Things We Didn’t Say by Amy Lynn Green: The reason this one surprised me is that this was Amy Lynn Green’s debut novel, and it was completely epistolary (comprised of letters, articles, and other written communications). It was so well done!

The Coffee Shop of Curiosities by Heather Webber: This was the first book I read by Heather Webber, and I discovered she writes wonderful small-town fiction with a touch of magical realism. What shocked me was she had already written 25 books and I’d never discovered her before.

The Thin Place by C.D. Major: This one surprised me because sadly there really is a place in the world where dogs inexplicably jump to their deaths.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg: The ending surprised me, as it did a lot of people.

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver: I was pretty tired of WWII novels, but this is about a safe-cracking criminal family that helped British Intelligence during the war, so surprisingly I found myself reading another WWII novel.

The Long March Home by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee: This is so well written, and again set during WWII, but in the Philippines, and I learned a lot of shocking things about what went on there during the war.

The Exchange by John Grisham: Sadly, this one surprised me because it was so bad. It was supposed to be a sequel to THE FIRM, but it felt like Mitch McDeere was added into a totally unrelated novel just to make some sales.

Horse Show by Jess Bowers: This one is shocking and surprising. This is a collection of short stories, many about how horses were abused and neglected, such as in circuses, on movie sets, and even in the military.

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor: Everyone who reads this blog knows Jodi is my favorite author. But what you may not know is that she didn’t publish her first book until she was 60. That was when she self-published the first book of The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series. She is now a best-sellling author with a major publisher. I bought this book for 99 cents when it came out because I like time travel fiction. I had no idea I was going to read a series that would become like an old friend.

The Nothing Girl by Jodi Taylor: I read this one just because Jodi Taylor was the author. It isn’t Time Travel, so I was skeptical. What it is is a fantasy about how a young girl’s life was saved by a magical golden horse. And it’s so good that I like it just as much as St. Mary’s. That’s what surprised me.

*Top Ten Tuesday is sponsored by That Artsy Reader Girl.

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop

BonnieReadsAndWrites3 Comments
The Sequel to Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Since I reviewed this book for Historical Novels Review, I could not post the review until now. It was actually published last year. This is a treat for Fannie Flagg fans who always wondered what happened to the characters from Whistle Stop!

REVIEW

The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop is the sequel to Fannie Flagg’s novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe. It is a delightful novel that jumps back and forth in different time periods between the 1930s and present day, and tells us the further adventures of Buddy Threadgoode Jr. and others. This book is not a standalone. Readers will greatly benefit from reading the first book, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.

This was a joy to read. It takes us back to the 1930s when Ruth Jamison and Idgie Threadgoode were running their cafe in Whistle Stop, Alabama. It shows the present day where Bud Threadgoode is an old man, and his daughter Ruthie has grown children. And it tells us tales of a younger Bud in different periods of his life. All the popular characters from the first book make an appearance. I especially enjoyed the role of Evelyn Couch in this story. As in the first book, news reports from Dot Weems pop up in between chapters, from all different time periods. It is a story of family, friends, love, and loss, and the weaving together of the time periods shows how friends and family never really leave us.

I truly feel that Fannie Flagg wrote this book for her fans, those of us who have read all of her books, as a way of tying everything together. She catches us up on all the popular characters from Fried Green Tomatoes, and I may have shrieked in delight when a character from Flagg’s other best selling series, the Elmwood Springs books, shows up in Whistle Stop!

Every little nugget and every piece of news about a beloved character felt like a gift from Fannie Flagg to her readers.

I received a free copy of this book from Random House via Historical Novels Review Magazine. My opinions are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fannie Flagg

Fannie Flagg’s career started in the fifth grade when she wrote, directed, and starred in her first play, titled The Whoopee Girls, and she has not stopped since. At age nineteen she began writing and producing television specials, and later wrote for and appeared on Candid Camera. She then went on to distinguish herself as an actress and a writer in television, films, and the theater. She is the bestselling author of Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man; Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe; Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!; Standing in the Rainbow; A Redbird Christmas; Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven; I Still Dream About You; The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion; and The Whole Town’s Talking. Flagg’s script for the movie Fried Green Tomatoes was nominated for an Academy Award and the Writers Guild of America Award and won the highly regarded Scripter Award for best screenplay of the year. Fannie Flagg is the winner of the Harper Lee Prize. She lives happily in California and Alabama.

BUY THE WONDER BOY OF WHISTLE STOP ON AMAZON

FANNIE FLAGG’S FACEBOOK PAGE

The Top 7 Books I Read in 2020

BonnieReadsAndWrites14 Comments

Here are my favorite books of this year. Everyone else is doing a Top 5 or a Top 10. I’m doing a Top 7, mostly because I couldn’t narrow it down to five. Although I have them numbered, those numbers could change on any given day and I just couldn’t leave any of them out. These are all books I read in 2020. Since I’ve been doing reviews for the Historical Novel Society, I’ve found some great historical fiction. I also found an Indie book that I really loved. Below is a list of my favorites with their Amazon links and Amazon book descriptions. Three of them were read for the February issue of Historical Novels Review, so I can’t post my reviews for them until they are published in the magazine. Look for my reviews of those three books in February.

7. Set the Stars Alight

This is riveting dual timeline historical fiction. My Review

6. Doing Time

Jodi Taylor is probably my favorite author. She writes the Chronicles of St. Mary’s, a popular time travel series, and Doing Time is the first in a new spinoff series, The Time Police. My Review

5. The Milk Wagon

This is a great book from an Indie author who wrote a fantastic 80’s thriller, mostly revolving around a group of high school boys. This book has not gotten the attention it deserves and is a hidden gem, in my opinion. My review

4. The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop

I can’t post my review for this title until it is published in Historical Novels Review magazine. For a book description on Amazon, click on the cover.

3. The Edge of Belonging

This is a moving story about adoption and family.

My Review

2. Things We Didn’t Say

I cannot post my review until February, but I will say this is an epistolary historical novel, done solely in letters and written communication. You can check out a description on Amazon by clicking on the cover.

  1. No Ordinary Thing

Again I cannot post my review until February, but this is a Middle Grade Time Travel Fantasy revolving around a snow globe! Click on the cover for the Amazon link and description.