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Bitter Southerner Summer Reading Roundup

Description: The website The Bitter Southerner creates an annual list of new works by (American) Southern authors and about Southern people.

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Rank Title Author Added

1

18,363 members

868 reviews

3.9

4 Members: sturlington, ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

2

The Nickel Boys

by Colson Whitehead

5,780 members

257 reviews

4.2

4 Members: hipdeep, sturlington, elkiedee, steller0707

3

Go Set a Watchman

12,501 members

483 reviews

½ 3.3

3 Members: krazy4katz, sturlington, steller0707

4

The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett

8,143 members

290 reviews

4.1

3 Members: elkiedee, ahef1963, steller0707

5

An American Marriage

by Tayari Jones

4,960 members

284 reviews

3.9

3 Members: ahef1963, ManWithAnAgenda, steller0707

6

by Ann Patchett

4,616 members

205 reviews

3.9

3 Members: sturlington, elkiedee, steller0707

7

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

by Deesha Philyaw

824 members

49 reviews

4.1

3 Members: hipdeep, dara85, steller0707

8

Transcendent Kingdom

3,012 members

134 reviews

4

3 Members: hipdeep, ahef1963, steller0707

9

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev

by Dawnie Walton

942 members

43 reviews

3.8

2 Members: hipdeep, elkiedee

10

Sing, Unburied, Sing

4,993 members

212 reviews

4.1

2 Members: elkiedee, steller0707

11

Bluebird, Bluebird

by Attica Locke

1,265 members

77 reviews

3.8

2 Members: elkiedee, steller0707

12

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

by Grady Hendrix

4,608 members

206 reviews

3.8

2 Members: hipdeep, sturlington

13

The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race

1,027 members

32 reviews

½ 4.3

2 Members: hipdeep, steller0707

14

by Bryan Washington

1,057 members

48 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

15

Redemption Road

902 members

72 reviews

4.1

Member: dara85

16

177 members

6 reviews

½ 4.7

Member: hipdeep

17

The Woods All Black

242 members

12 reviews

½ 3.7

2 Members: hipdeep, sturlington

18

Now Is Not the Time to Panic

by Kevin Wilson

915 members

56 reviews

3.9

2 Members: hipdeep, sturlington

19

by Percival Everett

6,009 members

232 reviews

½ 4.3

2 Members: hipdeep, sturlington

20

Natchez Burning

1,884 members

87 reviews

4

Member: dara85

21

217 members

12 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

22

Heavy: An American Memoir

by Kiese Laymon

1,363 members

48 reviews

½ 4.4

Member: ManWithAnAgenda

23

The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South

by John T. Edge

286 members

5 reviews

3.8

Member: hipdeep

24

Whistling Past the Graveyard

by Susan Crandall

1,033 members

81 reviews

4.1

Member: dara85

25

Johnny's Cash and Charley's Pride: Lasting Legends and Untold Adventures in Country Music

by Peter Cooper

9 members

½ 4.5

Member: hipdeep

26

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

by Anton DiSclafani

1,000 members

82 reviews

½ 3.4

Member: elkiedee

27

Magic City Gospel

by Ashley M. Jones

24 members

1 review

4

Member: hipdeep

28

Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas

by Rebecca Solnit

237 members

5 reviews

4.1

Member: hipdeep

29

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South

by Michael W. Twitty

924 members

28 reviews

4.2

Member: hipdeep

30

by Ann Patchett

3,778 members

173 reviews

4

Member: sturlington

31

I Never Met a Story I Didn't Like: Mostly True Tall Tales

58 members

2 reviews

4

Member: hipdeep

32

The Vaster Wilds

by Lauren Groff

1,235 members

61 reviews

3.9

Member: sturlington

33

Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy

by Anthony Harkins

188 members

4 reviews

½ 3.4

Member: hipdeep

34

Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine

236 members

12 reviews

3.9

Member: hipdeep

35

Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew

by Michael W. Twitty

166 members

4 reviews

4

Member: hipdeep

36

While Justice Sleeps

by Stacey Abrams

1,194 members

59 reviews

3.8

Member: steller0707

37

Victuals: An Appalachian Journey, with Recipes

167 members

4 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: hipdeep

38

SOUL: A Chef's Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes

by Todd Richards

52 members

4

Member: hipdeep

39

The World Is on Fire: Scrap, Treasure, and Songs of Apocalypse

37 members

½ 3.3

Member: hipdeep

40

Jackson, 1964: And Other Dispatches from Fifty Years of Reporting on Race in America

by Calvin Trillin

127 members

6 reviews

½ 4.4

Member: hipdeep

41

My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music's Black Past, Present, and Future

by Alice Randall

61 members

3.8

Member: hipdeep

42

Pit Bull: The Battle over an American Icon

by Bronwen Dickey

177 members

11 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: hipdeep

43

Theft by Finding : Diaries 1977-2002

by David Sedaris

1,786 members

64 reviews

3.9

Member: hipdeep

44

by Olivia Clare Friedman

33 members

1 review

3.1

Member: hipdeep

45

Turnip Greens and Tortillas: A Mexican Chef Spices Up the Southern Kitchen

by Eddie Hernández

78 members

½ 3.5

Member: hipdeep

46

Handmade Gatherings: Recipes and Crafts for Seasonal Celebrations and Potluck Parties

by Ashley English

33 members

1 review

½ 3.7

Member: hipdeep

47

Don't Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You: A Memoir

by Lucinda Williams

169 members

11 reviews

3.8

Member: hipdeep

48

Rednecks: A Novel

by Taylor Brown

158 members

14 reviews

4

Member: hipdeep

49

The Vine That Ate the South

by J. D. Wilkes

94 members

5 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: hipdeep

50

Between Them: Remembering My Parents

by Richard Ford

344 members

13 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: hipdeep

51

Eveningland: Stories

by Michael Knight

55 members

8 reviews

3.9

Member: hipdeep

52

Flight Path: A Search for Roots beneath the World's Busiest Airport

by Hannah Palmer

25 members

4

Member: hipdeep

53

Dimestore: A Writer's Life

325 members

55 reviews

4

Member: hipdeep

54

The Underdogs: Children, Dogs, and the Power of Unconditional Love

by Melissa Fay Greene

76 members

3 reviews

4.2

Member: hipdeep

55

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide

by Carol Anderson

1,639 members

37 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: hipdeep

56

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America

by Nancy Isenberg

2,758 members

89 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: hipdeep

57

Women of the Smokies

by Courtney Lix

24 members

1 review

½ 4.7

Member: hipdeep

58

All the Governor's Men

by Katherine Clark

7 members

3

Member: hipdeep

59

462 members

32 reviews

4.1

Member: hipdeep

60

Over the Plain Houses

by Julia Franks

119 members

6 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: hipdeep

61

by Robert Olen Butler

157 members

13 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: hipdeep

62

That Bright Land

by Terry Roberts

28 members

3 reviews

4

Member: hipdeep

63

The World's Largest Man: A Memoir

by Harrison Scott Key

151 members

8 reviews

4.1

Member: hipdeep

64

by Brian Panowich

506 members

38 reviews

3.9

Member: hipdeep

65

A Clear View of the Southern Sky: Stories

10 members

3.8

Member: hipdeep

66

Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs

731 members

27 reviews

4.2

Member: hipdeep

67

The Class of '65: A Student, a Divided Town, and the Long Road to Forgiveness

by Jim Auchmutey

44 members

1 review

½ 4.4

Member: hipdeep

68

The Nashville Sound: Bright Lights and Country Music

by Paul Hemphill

61 members

2 reviews

½ 3.5

Member: hipdeep

69

Red Dirt: A Tennis Novel

by Joe Samuel Starnes

3 members

5

Member: hipdeep

70

by Lisa Howorth

124 members

5 reviews

2.8

Member: hipdeep

71

by Katherine Faw Morris

90 members

6 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: hipdeep

72

by John Brandon

33 members

3.8

Member: hipdeep

73

Atticus Finch: The Biography

by Joseph Crespino

69 members

4 reviews

3.9

Member: hipdeep

74

Whiskey and Ribbons

by Leesa Cross-Smith

128 members

4 reviews

3.8

Member: hipdeep

75

The Almost Sisters

by Joshilyn Jackson

785 members

71 reviews

4.1

Member: hipdeep

76

A Storytelling of Ravens

42 members

4 reviews

3.8

Member: hipdeep

77

1,092 members

47 reviews

4.1

Member: hipdeep

78

The Hidden Light of Northern Fires

115 members

9 reviews

½ 3.6

Member: hipdeep

79

by Thomas Mullen

246 members

29 reviews

4.1

Member: hipdeep

80

2,652 members

88 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: hipdeep

81

My Exaggerated Life: Pat Conroy

by Katherine Clark

38 members

4 reviews

4.2

Member: hipdeep

82

The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea

by Jack E. Davis

483 members

16 reviews

4

Member: hipdeep

83

Beneath a Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race, and Justice Lost and Found

by Gilbert King

218 members

8 reviews

3.8

Member: hipdeep

84

Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South

by Keri Leigh Merritt

96 members

1 review

½ 3.4

Member: hipdeep

85

The Burning House: Jim Crow and the Making of Modern America

by Anders Walker

70 members

3

Member: hipdeep

86

Secrets of the Southern Table: A Food Lover's Tour of the Global South

by Virginia Willis

41 members

4

Member: hipdeep

87

The Comfort Food Diaries: My Quest for the Perfect Dish to Mend a Broken Heart

108 members

4 reviews

3.2

Member: hipdeep

88

Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: A Cocktail Recipe Book: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks

by Toni Tipton-Martin

44 members

5

Member: hipdeep

89

Pressure Cooker: Why Home Cooking Won't Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It

72 members

6 reviews

½ 3.7

Member: hipdeep

90

Darktown: A Novel (The Darktown Series)

by Thomas Mullen

657 members

51 reviews

4

Member: hipdeep

91

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee

1,413 members

70 reviews

3.8

Member: hipdeep

92

Beyond the Point

by Claire Gibson

294 members

20 reviews

4

Member: hipdeep

93

The Magnetic Girl

by Jessica Handler

59 members

1 review

3.1

Member: hipdeep

94

Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People

234 members

6 reviews

½ 4.3

Member: hipdeep

95

A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, and the Debt Owed to Public HBCUs (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture)

by Crystal R. Sanders

8 members

1 review

3

Member: hipdeep

96

Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide

by Tony Horwitz

555 members

24 reviews

3.9

Member: hipdeep

97

Losing Earth: A Recent History

by Nathaniel Rich

341 members

12 reviews

4

Member: hipdeep

98

Gather at the River: Twenty-Five Authors on Fishing

24 members

3

Member: hipdeep

99

Blood: A Memoir

by Allison Moorer

88 members

6 reviews

4.1

Member: hipdeep

100

by Brian Panowich

168 members

16 reviews

4.1

Member: hipdeep

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About This List

Started: hipdeep
May 2017
Type: Numbered and unnumbered, Adding restricted

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