Christmas Book Buying Guide: Top 5 Favorite Books I Read in 2016

At the end of 2014, my daughter Camille asked me about my reading life.  She was stunned to discover that I tended to write more books than I actually read.  My reasoning was simple – if I was sitting down, I needed to be writing. When I decided to use audiobooks, my world opened up.  Suddenly, dog walking and car trips could transport me anywhere.  Last year, I published my “Top Ten Books of 2015.”  This year, I’ve got five… but they are doozies.

In no particular order:

1. Lookaway, Lookaway: A Novel by Wilton Barnhardt

I needed a book for a trip, so I asked for recommendations from Twitter, and vowed to buy the first suggestion.  Wow, was I not disappointed. From the Amazon description:

Steely and formidable, Jerene Jarvis Johnston sits near the apex of society in contemporary Charlotte, North Carolina, where old Southern money and older family skeletons meet the new wealth of bankers, land speculators, and social climbers. Jerene and her Civil War reenactor husband, Duke, have four adult children―sexually reckless real estate broker Annie; earnest minister Bo; gay-but-don’t-tell-anyone Joshua; and naive, impressionable college freshman Jerilyn. Jerene’s brother, Gaston, is an infamously dissolute novelist and gossip who knows her secrets and Duke’s; while her sister, Dillard, is a reclusive prisoner of her own unfortunate choices. When a scandal threatens the Johnston family’s status and dwindling finances, Jerene swings into action…and she will stop at nothing to keep what she has and preserve her legacy. Wilton Barnhardt’s Lookaway, Lookaway is a headlong, hilarious narrative of a family coming apart on the edge of the old South and the new, and an unforgettable woman striving to hold it together.

This is a tale of the modern South, and all of the decadence and double-standards that come along with that.  If you are looking for a sweet southern tale of biscuits and “bless-your-hearts,” you will be disappointed.  Having said that, there’s one Christmas dinner conversation that literally had me laughing out loud at several points, much to my embarrassment since I was reading this in public.  It’s a jewel.

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