My Southern Choice - Louisiana

I believe I have decided on my three southern books: Jolie Blon's Bounce by James Lee Burke, Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris, and White Castle of Louisiana by M. R. Ailenroc.

Having been born and raised in Louisiana, I decided to focus on Louisiana as the southern setting for my choices. All three of these novels are set in Louisiana; two of them in the heart of Acadiana, Cajun territory, where I am from. (Yes, I am a Cajun!) One of the postings I read about "what is the south" does not include Louisiana as part of the south, since it is to the west of the Mississippi River. I have also heard people who have visited Louisiana say that it is like going to another country, and that it does not feel like part of the US, much less the south. Having lived in MS since I was 18, I actually agree with this. Louisiana is southern, but it has its own culture, which is very different from the south of MS, AL and GA. It is southern french, cajun, creole, spicy, exotic, wonderful, home. I hope to bring you a taste of my childhood with these three novels.

The first book is James Lee Burke's detective novel starring Dave Robicheaux. This series of books by Burke was recommended by Maggie, and I knew immediately I would read one. Burke is from New Iberia, Louisiana, which is where I was born. The novel is also set in this small Cajun town, where my aunts and uncles still live. I am sure I will enjoy recognizing the various location along New Iberia's main street: the restaurant where the locals gather, the park along the bayou, the drive-in across from the park, and the large white plantation style house at the end of main street where my Aunt Bren was born and raised and still lives today. I choose this particular one of the Robicheaux series because it is about a "jolie blon," which translate from Cajun french as a "beautiful blond." In addition to choosing all of my novels set in Louisiana, I picked novels with strong female influence. This was no exception.

The second novel is by Charlaine Harris. Several of my Southern Buddies recommended one of Harris' vampire novels to me, so I thought I would try one out. I choose Dead as a Doornail because it was the only one of the series I could find in the library at the time. It is the fifth in the series; however, Harris fills in the blanks for you, so I have not felt lost so far. I am enjoying her light-hearted writing style and her humor. Unlike the authors of the other two books, though, I wonder how much time Harris has actually spent in Louisiana. Her book is set in Hotshot, LA, which is a fictional small town. Harris doesn't describe where in LA it is located, but she has Sookie, the main character, driving to Shreveport, listening to a radio station from Baton Rouge, and throwing a LA Tech (in Monroe) student out of a bar. If you look at a map of Louisiana, these towns are HOURS away from each other. This discrepancy did not bother me until Harris described Sookie sitting in a bar in Shreveport listening to a radio station from Baton Rouge. Not possible! That is like us listening to a radio station from Meridian! Hopefully, my knowledge of Louisiana geography will not distract me from enjoying this book.

The last novel I choose is one that has been sitting on my shelf, unread, since I was 16 years old. I decided it was about time I read it. I actually bought it as a souvenir of my 16th birthday spent at Nottoway Plantation in south Louisiana, known as the White Castle of Louisiana. (Click on the link to see a virtual tour of the plantation, still standing today, despite Katrina.) My mother took my best friend and I to spend the weekend at Nottoway Plantation, which is open as a bed-and-breakfast. We stayed in room Seven of the Overseer's Cottage. (You can view photos on the webpage.) Also, after us raving about how wonderful the stay was, my brother spent his wedding night in the bridal suite a few years later. (Check out the private swimming pool attached to the bridal suite on the website.)

During the tour of the plantation grounds, we learned that the current owner, a man from Australia, had restored the home as close as he could to its original state, including the furnishings. The plantation had been built before the civil war by a man named Randolf. He had many children, one of whom was an aspiring writer named Cornelia. In the late 1800's, it was difficult for women to publish novels in the south, so she published her work under the male pen name of M. R. Ailenroc, which is Cornelia Randolf spelled backwards. Her room in Nottoway is still setup as she had it (see the photo to the left) when she was a girl living on the plantation. One of her books, White Castle of Louisiana, is about the plantation itself, and the many parties that took place there when she was growing up. I look forward to reading this novel and reliving my wonderful trip to Nottoway. I will have to go back soon, once the restoration from Katrina is completed. Maybe I will even stay in Cornelia's room!