Monday, March 30, 2009

" In The Company of Masters" Part TWO.............RICK BRAGG

As I continue with my story of an afternoon spent learning
from two Masters of the written word, I must say that these
two authors are as different as a day and night. Having read
and enjoyed works by both, I already knew this. Both of the
books I'd read by Rick Bragg, "All Over But The Shout'n"
and " Ava's Man" were chock full of humor. The storyteller
in the flesh was hilarious! This guy was born to tell a story!



During the introduction of Rick Bragg we learned that he
is the 2009 recipient of "Alabama's Harper Lee Award for
Literary Excellence"! Now that is impressive !!



A born storyteller? I had not thought about this before his
class, but how many people can take their family story, an
everyday story of a" hard row to hoe" and turn it into a series
of three bestselling books? He did, and he did so because he
knows how to tell a story so that the reader is engaged from
the first word to the last.

His first book " All Over But The Shout'n" is his Mother's story
of falling in love with "the bad boy" and the hard struggle of
having to raise her three little boys alone because of it. An
absolute wonderful read!
" Ava's Man", the second book in the series is about his maternal
Grandfather, the man he felt was the greatest man he ever knew!
You will understand why after you read it!
His latest book" The Prince of Frogtown" is the third and final
of the series detailing the life of the bad boy father he never got
to know. I have not read this one but could tell by the questions
from others in the class about this book, that is will be a great read.
I did purchase it and he signed it!

I have to say this was a wonderful 90 minutes! He is truly
a joy to listen to and such an humble, intelligent guy! I would
never hesitate to sit through another class with the Master
Of non-fiction storytelling, Rick Bragg ! A true Southern Writer!







11 comments:

Kay Dennison said...

Sounds great!!!! I really have to read his books!!!

Tess Kincaid said...

Don't you look so lovely with Mr. Bragg!! Fun post, Carol.

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

I was fortunate to hear him speak when All Over But The Shoutin' came out. He is most entertaining, isn't he?!f

Reader Wil said...

Wonderful Carol to rub shoulders with all these great writers. I must read more this summer. I am not going on a holiday, so there must be time for reading!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Oh Carol--- you must be in 7th Heaven, in the company of those special people. WOW--I'm impressed.

I think you would love Serenity Falls BETTER than any of the other cabin rental places near Cosby. This one is more rustic --and private, and you don't have one cabin sitting right next to another one (like some of the rental cabin places are)...

If you ever want more info, I'll be glad to share. We got so much reading done--sitting at that gorgeous cabin.

How are you feeling?
Hugs,
Betsy

Renie Burghardt said...

Hi Carol,

Love the picture of you and Rick Bragg! I must confess that I have only read his first book, which is sitting somewhere on my bookshelf, and I have to find and reread it. Then I will read the next two. How exciting to meet him. I love non-fiction, especially one that tells a great story and is laced with humor.

Another great post!

Hugs,

Renie xox

Kat Mortensen said...

You sure look like you're having a grand ol' time! You must have just been right in your element, Carol.

Kat

P.S. Kev and I are watching "Gone With the Wind" in HD on our PVR (Tivo). He's never seen it and I haven't watched it in years. That Scarlett was one hard-hearted woman, wasn't she?

A Brit in Tennessee said...

You look like your beaming all over next to Mr. Bragg ;)
I can imagine him to be a knee-slappin kind of fella, he looks like a story-teller.
What a wonderful experience, I'm glad you were able to spend time, with your beloved authors.
Yipee !

steviewren said...

My girlfriend and I are both fans of Rick Bragg. She once commented that as much as we like his sense of humor and his writing style, that he would probably live up to his own assessment of himself as a husband...a train wreck. The man knows wince his demons come from.

Eleanor said...

Am I allowed to be jealous? Staying at that B and B, sleeping in that bed and then Master's classes. It sounds amazing.

Anonymous said...

I think you gathered from my previous comment,I like Rick Bragg a lot. Have met him at writers conferences and always enjoy his presentations.
I think you'll also enjoy The Price of Frogtown. I sure did.
Terri
http://www.islandwriter.net