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In a Magnolia Minute John F. Blair, Publisher If by some chance you don’t already know the highway-cleaning witches; the Sign of the Goo-Goo Cluster; or General Beauregard Lee, the Georgia groundhog, then you should get to know Nan Graham. For the past decade, listeners of WHQR-FM, the NPR affiliate in Wilmington, North Carolina, have heard Graham regale them with stories of the South and Southerners, subjects she knows as well as anyone. Best-selling author Pat Conroy—no slouch himself at navigating the cultural byways of Dixie—said Graham “is so relentlessly Southern she makes me feel that I was born in Minnesota.” In a Magnolia Minute, Graham’s second collection of humorous essays, introduces Graham’s notes and observations to those unfortunates who live outside the WHQR listening area. “A major change born of this late-blooming career is that I have become a bottom feeder,” Graham writes in her introduction. “The pressure is on. I am always on the lookout for loony stories, nutty characters, and unique aspects of Southern life.” She’s found them. From the fellow who eats Vicks VapoRub for dessert to her mother’s refusal to acknowledge time zones, Graham’s anecdotes display a keen eye and a finely tuned ear for the absurd and amusing. “Southerners are noted for their exceptional gift of language,” Graham writes. “Even in death, we like to have the last word.” Not all the essays offer belly laughs. Graham writes about watching news broadcasts of soldiers returning home from overseas and remembers when her husband was fighting in Vietnam. She commemorates the death of musicologist Alan Lomax and describes his work with Ruby Pickens Tartt in Alabama’s Sumter County, where Graham spent her summers as a child. She exhorts her readers to collect and record their family’s stories while they still can. From the deepest Delta to Dreamland Barbeque, from the Florida Panhandle to the Research Triangle, In a Magnolia Minute offers a tour of the South unlike any you will find in a travel guide. Along the way, Graham touches on subjects near the heart of any Southerner, such as family, growing up, and growing old. “I consider this book an essential field guide for all the newcomers to our South,” Graham writes. “It will give you a real sense of who and what we are.”
Reviews “Nan Graham is as Southern as black-eyed peas, scuppernong wine, she-crab soup, Crimson Tide tailgating and a dog with ticks. She is so relentlessly Southern she makes me feel that I was born in Minnesota and Bailey White in Ohio!” “Make no mistake: Nan Graham doesn’t forget anything. . . . From her hilarious memory of a sex-ed class featuring dancing sperms wearing top hats and spats to her sweetly funny conversations with her young granddaughter to the miracle of Sydney, the potty-trained Persian, Nan hoards these moments like the last dish of banana pudding. Now, lucky for us, she’s willing to share. In a Magnolia Minute is delicious!” “Nan Graham’s writing is so authentic and irresistible that it makes you wish you were a belle. Indeed, she is a magnolia of the first order and takes her rightful place among the South’s most exciting storytellers. . . . Bravo, honeychile!”
Links Download the reading group guide Visit Nan Graham's Web site at http://www.nangraham.com.
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