The Best Book She Ever Read

Categories: Staff Picks , Fiction

When someone brings a book back to the Library saying, “This is the best book I ever read,”  I pay attention to that title.  Even if it’s not the best book I ever read, it’s probably a very good book. 

Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson is one of those titles.  What a gem!  You can tell Jackson is a Southern writer because Alabama is in the title and she’s got one of those names.  I mean the ones we tend to give to girls down South honoring their fathers or other significant men.  I can talk about this because I was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee.  In my own family, my grandmother gave most of her children a variation of her husband’s name, both girls and boys. 

Arlene Fleet from Posset, Alabama tells a story in her own brand of crazy way.  It’s about family, from cousin Clarice to Aunt Florence to Arlene’s mama who is on and off her meds.  It’s about high school, crushes, an angel/devil boy and telling the truth.  It’s about telling the truth, all the versions of truth. 

I only put the book down long enough to order Jackson's second book, Between, Georgia.   

Between, Georgia is another family book, Southern style.  Nonny Frett is at the center of a family feud between the Fretts and the Crabtrees.  Daughter of a Crabtree and adopted by a Frett, Nonny’s adoptive mother Stacia has Usher Syndrome. She is both deaf and blind.  Consequently, Nonny's ability to interpret is much in demand.  She is frequently employed as an interpreter in Athens, Georgia where she lives.  

There are some similarities between the two books.  Strong female characters, Aunt Florence in gods and Aunt Berenese in Between provide a counterpart to the uncertainties of Arlene and Nonny.  Pride and greed flavor both stories.  But the most striking similarity is the author’s ability to keep the reader guessing all the way to the end. 

I hope Joshilyn Jackson will continue to write, both about the South and about families.  She may be the writer of the best book I ever read.