My Southern Journey by Rick Bragg is a
collection of his essays (predominately featured in Southern Living Magazine)
that are homespun, funny, poignant, and will strike a chord on all fronts.
He’s a native of Alabama and his regional spin is
often a salute to his mother. Of course he’s obsessed with football, bass
fishing, mayonnaise, gospel music, and storytelling. He learned to tell stories
by sitting on many a front porch.
This book is easy to dip in and out of, fresh as a summer
breeze after a rain. I laughed out loud at times, and chuckled throughout
reading it. His turn of phrase is a drawl in the best way.
Here are some of the essay titles – For a Vegetable- I’ll
Have White Gravy, Requiem for a Fish Sandwich, Traveling Food, Your
First Oyster, Bad Slaw, Happy As a Pig, The Fine Art of Piddling, and When
Fireworks Go South.
From the introduction, as he was trying to be writer in
Manhattan: There was no room or time to mosey, to dawdle. No one came here
to piddle or loaf. Even the drunks, it seemed, had somewhere to be. But what I
would have given, right then, for one more dinner on the ground, fried chicken
sweating in Tupperware, deviled eggs under wax paper, and pineapple pudding
under glass.
If nothing else, this book will make you hungry. His
descriptions of meats frying – that sizzle of pure grease, desserts with
whipped cream dolloped on top, and heck yeah, that extra slice of pie.
Go on a stroll with Rick Bragg – join him in My
Southern Journey. Sit on a patio or front porch with a big glass of
lemonade and while away the afternoon with this darn good book.
