A Great New Book By Sharyn McCrumb

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FullerH

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Nov 25, 1998
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Sharyn McCrumb's latest novel. St. Dale is just out in paper and I have just started reading it. I laughed my head off through the first three chapters. McCrumb writes two types of stories, very funny and deeply serious, even grim, ones. This is one of her funny ones. It concerns a group of people on a Dale Earnhardt Memorial Tour of NASCAR's Southern racetracks, starting in Bristol, Tenn./Va. Along the way, people will have realizations, "prayers will be answered, secrets will be revealed,bonds will be forged, and no one will leave this journey of self-discovery quite the same."* If any of you see a similarity to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, you got it in one! If the rest of the book is up to the first three chapters, I expect to be in for agreat read!

BTW, some of you may have read her Bimbos of the Death Sun. an absolutely hilarious send-up of sci-fi cons. Her very serious books are her "Ballad Novels" and they are serious, indeed. But they are also extremely well written, with a wonderful sense of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and their people. Ms. McCrumb has a PhD in Appalachian Studies and has written extensively on that area. Possibly the best of the "Ballad Novels" is, IMO, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, but it is followed very closely by The Rosewood Casket and The Songcatcher. But do be warned that these are serious stories, serious in the extreme, even grim. If you saw or read Cold Mountain, she covers some of the same geographic and emotional territory with her Ballad Novel, Ghost Riders, which is also very good.

If you want a sense of the range of her writing ability, try [Foggy Mountain Breakdown and Other Stories[/i], a collection of short stories that shows both sides of her writing skills, the humorous and the serious.

* From the blurb on the back cover of the paperback edition.
 
Great. Thanks. I'm always looking for new authors, especially good ones, which seem to ba a rare find any more...
 
Reading further into the book, it is still humorous, but it is also a very loving look at he NASCAR fan culture with some very funny sidetrips into other aspects of the current Southern culture such as the "Friends of the Goddess" group :D and a wealthy Tidewater Virginia FFV* socially prominent mother who looks down upon all else but her very tight circle of social equals. I had an aunt like that. She died an extremely unhappy woman.

But the most important thing is that McCrumb KNOWS the people of whom she writes and she loves them all, each and every one, for their strengths and for their weaknesses. And she shows us these to us with the humor as well as with the sadness in them.

* First Families of Virginia, descedents of the original Jamestown Colonists
 
I've read Ghost Riders and thought it a pretty good read.

Living within several miles of Cold Mountain, it's always interesting to read historical descriptions of the area as it was back in the day.
 
FullerH said:
Blues, have you read any of her other "Ballad Novels"?
Click to expand...

No, I haven't but I'll be sure to keep her in mind. (Your suggestions always welcome.)

I actually came across her quite by accident at my local library (Transylvania County).

They have (or at least had) a section dedicated to NC authors and/or subject matter and while perusing the volumes there I came across Ghost Riders. (There were two or three other books of interest which were also about the Civil War, Bushwhackers and Zebulon Vance that I read all around the same period but I don't specifically recall the names at the moment.)

Somewhat coincidentally, I finally finished last night Volume III of Shelby Foote's (nearly 3,000 page) account of the Civil War. A great read and a monumental task by the recently departed Foote.

I'll be happy to move on to other topics besides the war now that I'm finally done with the third book. :cool:
 
If you want to read a riotously funny book, try Highland Laddie Gone. In that one, she skewers the foibles of the folks who go to Highland Games in America. I had done that in my younger days and thoroughly enjoyed myself, but was aware of some of the foibles that she skewers so accurately with her humor. Her humor books are so different from the Ballad Novels that it is hard to believe that they are by the same author.

Also, try Bimbos of the Death Sun for a similarly riotous look at s-f conventions.
 
Thanks, I'll save those and check 'em out once I get through the next couple of books on my current list.
 
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