Kathryn Tucker Windham (1918–2011)

2.5 stars. I picked up this slim volume of essays/memoir after a period of reading up on Harper Lee. She was apparently an admirer of this storyteller. After listening to one of her stories on NPR, I can almost hear her voice as I read these stories (which makes me think this would have been such a nice audiobook with narration by the author). They certainly come from a particular time and place. Minstrel shows, a vague dislike of the KKK, and black housekeepers and farm help are discussed without examination. Some stories reminded me of the kinds of tales passed down in my own family - phrases and stories that become such a part of family history that they imbed themselves in the family's everyday language. The book was not stunning, but those were the parts of it that made me smile.… (mehr)

I need something different and it's been waiting for me on my shelf.
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Done now. It's a cute title and fun to ponder but the story didn't really bring it home for me. It starts with "I can't recall when I became aware that an old woman was nudging her way into my life." Throughout the book she refers to this alter ego as "She". The book is mostly full of her memories. Her remembering. Example: The song her cousin sang when she removed splinters. "she was the best splinter remover in the house". Another: The reasons she got woke in the night (to go to the circus, to see shooting stars)

I'm not that fond of memoirs so it didn't work so well for me.… (mehr)