Mason Jars in the Flood

I just got hold of a new book of short stories: Mason Jars in the Flood and Other Stories (by Gary Carden). I've read quite a few of the stories in just the few days I've had the book. It's an easy read. The stories are very homey ~ just what you'd like ~ no pretense. They bill the author as a Southern Garrison Keillor, and that's an apt description. The stories are nostalgic without being overly sentimental, and you really get the flavor of Southern speech. By that, I don't mean dialect ~ you don't stumble over the words. There are times when he uses a homonym in place of the actual term, and that might throw off someone from out of town... he uses it in a casual way, to simulate the dialect ~ not in error (or so I presume).

The names alone gave me an old-home feeling: Sizemore, Ridley, Hoyt... and the nicknames are a treat. If you grew up among gossiping old grannys who have a strange, dark outlook on life and dignified, wiry old men in overalls, or fellows named "Bubba" and "Boone," this book will take you right back home...