Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg

The Abingdon Book Group had a lovely treat for the holidays, not only did they get to discuss Miss Flagg's very cute book, they did this at a local Indian restaurant. The food & the company was vibrant & everyone had a good time. This is an easy book to read & although not a holiday title, definitely has feel good appeal & is a good read for this time of year. Elner Shimfissle falls out of her fig tree, knocks herself out, and goes on a temporary visit to heaven. Meanwhile her family, friends and neighbors, thinking she is dead, all tell of how she has impacted their lives. The setting is Elmwood Springs, Missouri. It is small town America where everyone knows everyone else. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear what a lot Elner has done and how much she has meant to the folks she knows. Criticism may be that the book is too cutesy and the characters not wholly believable. However it is a charming and entertaining story & recommended for the reader who likes a cosy read.

Fannie Flagg has been an actress and a writer and has been nominated for both the Academy Award and the Writers Guild of America Award. Her book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe was made into a Universal Pictures movie titled simply Fried Green Tomatoes. She lives in two locations in California & Alabama (where she was born).

There are some interesting questions about the book for the individual reader or for book groups, on Fannie Flagg's webpage at Random House.
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/fannieflagg/readinggroups.html

Standing in the Rainbow by Fannie Flagg discussed at Joppa book group

The Joppa Book Discussion Group met on November 20 to discuss Fannie Flagg's book, Standing in the Rainbow. There were 8 attendees.

Everyone seemed to enjoy this book. Some had read it before. When asked what they would like to discuss about the book, most participants responded they would like to talk about the book's depiction of how things used to be in the years after World War II: things were far simpler, safer, people were much friendlier to strangers, and life was slower. Book group members shared stories that they remembered from those times or had happened to their families. One person talked about the milkman delivering milk when she was young in the 60's and placing it in the refrigerator when her family wasn't home. Another talked about her family's German shepherd dog meeting the milkman at his first stop in her town and riding with the milkman to each stop, getting off the truck and then getting back on and riding to the next stop. The German shepherd would get off the truck when it reached the last stop which was their house. The milkman said that he was the best paid milkman, because people were afraid of the dog! Participants felt the book was very believable and indicative of the time period it covered.

This is the synopsis of the book in our catalog:

"Good news! Fannie's back in town--and the town is among the leading characters in her new novel. Along with Neighbor Dorothy, the lady with the smile in her voice, whose daily radio broadcasts keep us delightfully informed on all the local news, we also meet Bobby, her ten-year-old son, destined to live a thousand lives, most of them in his imagination; Norma and Macky Warren and their ninety-eight-year-old Aunt Elner; the oddly sexy and charismatic Hamm Sparks, who starts off in life as a tractor salesman and ends up selling himself to the whole state and almost the entire country; and the two women who love him as differently as night and day. Then there is Tot Whooten, the beautician whose luck is as bad as her hairdressing skills; Beatrice Woods, the Little Blind Songbird; Cecil Figgs, the Funeral King; and the fabulous Minnie Oatman, lead vocalist of the Oatman Family Gospel Singers. The time is 1946 until the present. The town is Elmwood Springs, Missouri, right in the middle of the country, in the midst of the mostly joyous transition from war to peace, aiming toward a dizzyingly bright future. Once again, Fannie Flagg gives us a story of richly human characters, the saving graces of the once-maligned middle classes and small-town life, and the daily contest between laughter and tears. Fannie truly writes from the heartland, and her storytelling is, to quote Time, "utterly irresistible." From the Hardcover edition." Find this book in our catalog