Due South : Dispatches from Down Home

Rating:
Summary: The spirit of the deep south!
Review: I picked up this book one day and decided to give it a read because of the Fannie Flagg blurb on the front. What a treat! R. Scott Brunner has pulled together a collection of southern life that brings out the best, the rediculous and the beloved...and a few things we try to keep hidden. From the 'Bless your heart' rule, to the neighbors who tried to befriend Eudora Welty, there is a bit of everyone you know and love in the words. Never pandering to what the popular belief of what a Southerner should be, he points out what there is to love (and to laugh about) around us, the sights and smells and foods and sounds and people all evoke a south I miss every day of my life. In all this he has also managed to include, or rather infuse the pieces with a gentle belief in the goodness of folks, and some inspiration gleened from everyday. A real charmer of a book.

Rating:
Summary: Dispatches from the south I still miss after 27 years
Review: I picked up this book one day and decided to give it a read because of the Fannie Flagg blurb on the front. What a treat! R. Scott Brunner has pulled together a collection of southern life that brings out the best, the rediculous and the beloved...and a few things we try to keep hidden. From the 'Bless your heart' rule, to the neighbors who tried to befriend Eudora Welty, there is a bit of everyone you know and love in the words. Never pandering to what the popular belief of what a Southerner should be, he points out what there is to love (and to laugh about) around us, the sights and smells and foods and sounds and people all evoke a south I miss every day of my life. In all this he has also managed to include, or rather infuse the pieces with a gentle belief in the goodness of folks, and some inspiration gleened from everyday. A real charmer of a book.

Rating:
Summary: Quick, touching and funny read
Review: Mr. Brunner, a commentator on NPR, has collected some of his musings on the South and being Southern in this wonderful little book. I alternately laughed heartily and sniffled a bit. He has some touching moments, but mostly, if you are Southern, you will just relate. And I finally found out that NOBODY knows who Cooter Brown was.

Mr. Brunner describes being a new father and wonders why mothers-in-law seem to get perverse amusement out of finding out just what has been deposited in a diaper. He also talks about his father's heart surgery, how his wife's grandmother makes little notes about what happened each day and has done so for years, a Leadership Jackson trip into the inner city and becoming the father of twins.

Anyone who is from the South, lives in the South or is just a fan will appreciate this quick read.

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Summary: Down Home Southern Charm Done Up Right
Review: R. Scott Brunner, ocassional commentator on Public Radio in Mississippi and NPR's 'All Things Considered' has written this Southern-fried ditty of humor and warm reminiscenes. 'Due South: Dispatches from Down Home' offers insight on life, family, relationship in Southern culture and language. It's a collection of essays reflecting upon brunner's memoirs that inspires and gives wisdom. Brunner's observations of Southern life as he tells it in a way Southerners talk and live the Southern way.

From the Southern disclaimer "Bless her heart' (Her hair may be blond, bless her heart, but her roots aren't) that became an art form. Culturally correct, a verbal kick in the pants masqueraded as a reassuring pat on the arm. It's fundamental influences of 'How to Rear a Southerner' (with apologies to William Faulkner-the multisyllabic wonder of language-Southern colloquialisms, home-grown, home-cooked food like fish fries, barbeque and cornbread with buttermilk and thriving on sweetea). Then there's customs and etiquette-dressing up for church, rocking chairs on the front porch, getting to know your next door neighbor, we all have an understanding that God, family, country and the nearest SEC football team are all sacred and worth fighting for. You're a true Southerner if you owned at least one Blackwood Brothers album and know who Vestal Goodman is.

If 'Poo-poo Builds Character' in a southern soul then 'Home Cooking and World Peace' aren't too far behind. No pun intended. Who in the world would be so exotic as a Southern town? How would you like to live in a Mississippi town of Chunky? They'd call you a Chunky mayor or Chunky resident. That's a tough one. Add a few more unique names like Nitta Yuma, Pelahatchie, Hot Coffee and Bovina (where folks watch where they step). Southern romance nothin' like it anywhere else. The memories of a snuff-chewin', heavy sweatin' gal you loved when you were just five-years old. The sentiments are Southern smothered on every page from Southern Berlitz, Bible meetin's, sweet potato pie, fishing trips to Southern Provincial, the fox trot and Labor Day. 'Due South' is ful of charm and elegance with honest straightforward style. For the Southern fan a gift to cherish. Brunner reminds us about remembering the important things in life that makes us all different in our ways of tradition, history and culture. I tip my hat to a Southern masterpiece that belongs side Eudora Welty, Walker Percy, Flannery O'Connor and James T. Kennedy.

Rating:
Summary: VERY ENTERTAINING.
Review: This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It was so much more than I expected. It is filled with laughter one minute and tears the next. It is so truly Southern. What a wonderful accomplishemnt Scott has given us the reader of the year!!! His insights into not only the South,rural Alabama, life and all the many "characters" who inhabit his life but each becomes a person who shines out beautifully. What a well writen book to put another Southern author on the best-seller list!! The book wa given to me by 'Aunt Barbara" and Mike and Marla are both/were and still respectively quite dear freinds. His story about them hit home so very deeply!! I want to buy 20 more copies for Christmas and Birthday gifts!!! The best read you'll find in a long time.

Rating:
Summary: Excellently written-Truly the South-Laughter and tears!
Review: This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It was so much more than I expected. It is filled with laughter one minute and tears the next. It is so truly Southern. What a wonderful accomplishemnt Scott has given us the reader of the year!!! His insights into not only the South,rural Alabama, life and all the many "characters" who inhabit his life but each becomes a person who shines out beautifully. What a well writen book to put another Southern author on the best-seller list!! The book wa given to me by 'Aunt Barbara" and Mike and Marla are both/were and still respectively quite dear freinds. His story about them hit home so very deeply!! I want to buy 20 more copies for Christmas and Birthday gifts!!! The best read you'll find in a long time.

Rating:
Summary: Southern Comfort
Review: To read Due South is to close your eyes and smell the night- blooming Jasmine, to feel the tug at the end of your fishing line and to once again dream of holding your Mama's hand as you both sallied forth on a sweet, summer Sunday afternoon. I laughed and cried at Mr. Brunner's memories, because as a fellow Alabamian, I have many of the same long-ago dreams floating around in my mind. Please don't stop here, keep writing until every good rememberance is recorded for your children and mine. This book is, without doubt, the best Christmas gift I received. This man can WRITE.