Top 10 Southern Novels—Do You Agree?
/Harper Lee. Margaret Mitchell. Charles Frazier. They are three of my favorite authors whose books were listed under Flavorwire’s “50 Best Southern Novels Ever Written.” It’s a great list, but the ranking is questionable, not to mention some glaring omissions.
Whether readers like me agree with the selection or not, Flavorwire has succeeded in making us think about —and appreciate anew—the tremendous literary contributions of authors from the American South, as well as great books about the region by non-Southern writers (e.g., Toni Morrison, Jean Toomer). In addition, it made me want to read a number of books on the list I haven’t read yet.
My Top 10
Here’s my own list of top 10 books and their rankings on the Flavorwire list. The Web site snubbed two of my favorite books, which was reason enough for me to create my own list! What do you think of this list?
- “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee (#47)
- “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell (#26)
- “Cold Mountain” by Charles Frazier (#12)
- “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole (#14)
- “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin (#5)
- “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers (#28)
- “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett (Not included)
- “True Grit” by Charles Portis (Not included)
- “Beloved” by Toni Morrison (#7)
- “Light in August” by William Faulkner (#35)
Flavorwire’s Top 50
There are some serious William Faulkner fans at Flavorwire. Eight out of the 50 novels listed below were written by Faulkner. See if you agree with this list.
- “Absalom, Absalom” by William Faulkner
- ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
- “All the King’s Men” by Robert Penn Warren
- “As I Lay Dying” by William Faulkner
- “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin
- “Bastard Out of Carolina” by Dorothy Allison
- “Beloved” by Toni Morrison
- “Big Fish” by Daniel Wallace
- “Cane” by Jean Toomer
- “Child of God” by Cormac McCarthy
- “The Clearing” by Tim Gautreaux
- “Cold Mountain” by Charles Frazier
- “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker
- “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole
- “The Confessions of Nat Turner” by William Styron
- “A Death in the Family” by James Agee
- “Deliverance” by James Dickey
- “Delta Wedding” by Eudora Welty
- “Edisto” by Padgett Powell
- “Ellen Foster” by Kaye Gibbons
- “Father and Son” by Larry Brown
- “A Feast of Snakes” by Harry Crews
- “Geronimo Rex” by Barry Hannah
- “Go Down, Moses” by William Faulkner
- “The Good Lord Bird” by James McBride
- “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell
- “The Hamlet” by William Faulkner
- “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” by Carson McCullers
- “Interview with the Vampire” by Anne Rice
- “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison
- “Kate Vaiden” by Reynolds Price
- “The Known World” by Edward P. Jones
- “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines
- “Lie Down in Darkness” by William Styron
- “Light in August” by William Faulkner
- “Look Homeward, Angel” by Thomas Wolfe
- “The Moviegoer” by Walker Percy
- “The Optimist’s Daughter” by Eudora Welty
- “Other Voices, Other Rooms” by Truman Capote
- “The Prince of Tides” by Pat Conroy
- “Salvage the Bones” by Jesmyn Ward
- “Sanctuary” by William Faulkner
- “Silver Sparrow” by Tayari Jones
- “The Sound and the Fury” by William Faulkner
- “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston
- “ A Tidewater Morning” William Styron
- “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee
- “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- “The Unvanquished” by William Faulkner
- “Wise Blood” by Flannery O’Connor
To read the Flavorwire article by Tyler Coates, click here.