Barbecue, laughter, and the occasional side of murder. Meet tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth who ran a diner in Whistle Stop, Alabama in the 1930s, as told by Mrs. Threadgoode to Evelyn (and us) 50 years later. Evelyn has been in need of a jump-start for her middle aged life, making this a great choice for anyone wanting to read about seasoned female protagonists.

After a listener recommended Fannie Flagg on episode 62 of What Should I Read Next, I rushed out and got her latest. This was my first Fannie Flagg novel, and when I started talking about it, you all were quick to tell me that this one wasn't representative of her work and I should read something else! I currently have Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café in progress and Can't Wait to Get to Heaven checked out from the library.

By Fannie Flagg, author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. From the publisher: "Once again, Flagg's humor and affection for her characters shine forth. Many inhabit small-town or suburban America. But this time, her heroine is urban: a brainy, beautiful, and ambitious rising star of 1970s television. Dena Nordstrom, pride of the network, is a woman whose future is full of promise, her present rich with complications, and her past marked by mystery. Among the colorful cast of characters are: Sookie, of Selma, Alabama, Dena's exuberant college roommate, who is everything that Dena is not; she is thrilled by Dena's success and will do everything short of signing autographs for her; Sookie's a mom, a wife, and a Kappa forever; Dena's cousins, the Warrens, and her aunt Elner, of Elmwood Springs, Missouri, endearing, loyal, talkative, ditsy, and, in their way, wise; Neighbor Dorothy, whose spirit hovers over them all through the radio show that she broadcast from her home in the 1940s; Sidney Capello, pioneer of modern sleaze journalism and privateer of privacy, and Ira Wallace, his partner in tabloid television."

I finally picked up Fannie Flagg at the suggestion of a What Should I Read Next listener and I'm so glad I did. From the publisher: "The beloved Fannie Flagg is at her irresistible and hilarious best in I Still Dream About You, a comic mystery romp through the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, past, present, and future."

From the publisher: "With the same incomparable style and warm, inviting voice that have made her beloved by millions of readers far and wide, bestselling author Fannie Flagg has written an enchanting Christmas story of faith and hope for all ages that is sure to become a classic. Deep in the southernmost part of Alabama, along the banks of a lazy winding river, lies the sleepy little community known as Lost River, a place that time itself seems to have forgotten. After a startling diagnosis from his doctor, Oswald T. Campbell leaves behind the cold and damp of the oncoming Chicago winter to spend what he believes will be his last Christmas in the warm and welcoming town of Lost River. There he meets the postman who delivers mail by boat, the store owner who nurses a broken heart, the ladies of the Mystic Order of the Royal Polka Dots Secret Society, who do clandestine good works."