South Carolina Books

This little book is just what it is aiming to be - a neighborhood history, coming alive through residents still living and sharing stories of times past. Realistic black and white photos make it easy to feel a walking down the streets and alleys.

Wilmington has been shown in a lot of movies. It's a beautiful city located in coastal North Carolina. But i have to congrat the authors and other people involved for their job by doing this book. It's absolutely wonderful! Has a lot of information and tons of great pictures. Now that i've read this book, i know why producers and directors choose Wilmington as a location for their movies and series. Really excelent book !

Windows of the Heart: The Correspondence of Thomas Wolfe and Margaret Roberts collects seventy-five letters exchanged between twentieth-century author Thomas Wolfe and his influential grade-school teacher, Margaret Roberts, whom he called "the mother of my spirit". These writings reveal their complicated relationship, and a driving force in Wolfe's life and personal growth. For her part, Roberts was one of Wolfe's strongest supporters of his literary potential since his talent shined through in a writing contest he won at age eleven. Now their letters are published in their entirety for the first time, along with forty-two black-and-white photographs; the result is a welcome addition to literary studies shelves and a "must-read" for anyone seeking to understand more about Wolfe's life and works.

Ably edited for The James Dickey Contemporary Poetry Series, Without A Witness showcases the memorable poetry of Stella Johnston. Johnston uses language to pursue singular details or sequences of images and events within the context of experience and human perception.

"Choice," a leading book review digest, listed "Women and Revolution in Africa, Asia, and the New World" as an Outstanding Academic Book in Political Science for the years 1992-1997. It contains much needed information about women's participation in sixteen revolutionary upheavals -- three in Africa, four in Asia, three in the Middle East, four in Latin America, as well as Afganistan and Yugoslavia. Each chapter covers the status of women before the revolution, their contributions during the revolution, and their postrevolutionary status. "Revolutions" vary from outright war to liberation movements, they rise from different beliefs, and participants set different goals, but one outcome remains the same: in each case, the interests of women are subordinated, a strong commitment to a women's agenda does not emerge. The double message -- that women participate in major ways in reform movements, even violent ones, and that women do not profit correspondingly -- needs to be clear to all those who believe that equal rights have long since been won. Sixteen examples from around the world present a strong message.

Having already read and enjoyed Miles' other book about the islands, I am pleased to say I was again very satisfied with her work on the Lowcountry. The book is very personal yet informative, mixing historical fact with the author's personal touch to really grab your interest. I love the quirky stories, especially the one about Buster the cat. This book is enjoyable and easy to read and will teach you everything there is to know about the Lowcountry from a local's, and therefore, best point of view.

This charming book transforms boring history into an entertaining tale of a girl and her family from Boston living in Charleston, SC during the months leading up to the beginning of the Civil War by the attack on Fort Sumter. The reader senses the inhunanity of slavery through Sylvia's experiences. Your child will understand history like never before after reading this book.

This is NOT a book I typically would have picked up. But I was sitting in a coffee shop/used book store and saw it sitting there. I picked it up, took a look at the first page, and before I knew it, it was 4 hours later and I was completely in love.

This is an incredibly amazing book. After reading the back, I was not sure I wanted to purchase the book, but decided to do so. From the moment I opened the book, I didn't want to put it down. Sheri Reynolds made this book and religious cult come to life in every page.

This is probably going to be one of my top 10 most favorite books. I loved every single part of the book. The ending was soooooo great!

I liked this book a lot. It was very easy to read, a lot of descriptions to give you a good picture in your head. The story was great.

I enjoyed this book enough to finish reading, but I just didn't find the characters believable. The book started off pretty engaging, but really sputtered about 3/4 of the way through.
The main character is a young teenager who has been endoctrinated her whole life into this "cult" however even at a young age her doubts are louder then her faith.
Grampa Hermen leads the congregation and executes punishments however even own wife doesn't care for his leadership and expecially not for the punishement he delivers, she doesn't really listen to his sermons, however she seems to be totally in love with him. huh?

If you love to read books with vivid character descriptions, character you grow to care about, leave this book on the shelf.

If you just want to escape with a quick read you might like this book.

This was the first time i read a book by this author and it will be my last. For some reason i couldn't get into this book, i'm used to contemporary romance and this didn't have it. I feel bad that i only gave it 1 star but some other readers might like it!

Couldn't put this book down and you know a book is really good when reading it makes you laugh out loud!! I have become addicted to Dorthea Benton Frank's writing. I have visited the areas that she writes about and reading her books makes me what to go back to South Carolina as soon as I can.

My neighbor gave this book to take along to the beach. She insisted that I would love it and that it was a great beach read. Well, she was right. Sullivan's Island was a wonderful, moving story. There were bits of humorous moments that kept the story on a lighter tone. Sometimes I couldn't help but laugh out loud and at times I wanted to cry. The characters were seemed real to me and they were people that I could relate to. This book was consistently interesting, and it was hard to put down.

Sullivan's Island is truly a wonderful novel that is straight from the heart about family life. Ms. Frank's real gift is evident in her ability to create such a believable and likeable heroine. The novel is set in the Deep South and if you have ever traveled and spent time in that beautiful area this story will bring back memories of the ocean and marshes of the South. The book is full of the local color and flavor of Charleston's barrier islands and the author does a wonderful job of evoking the laid-back atmosphere of this area. All in all, it was an entertaining read that is ideal for an easy at the beach. I'd gladly recommend this book to all my friends.

This book is written with such flare and polish that it's hard to believe that this is Dorothea Benton Frank's first novel! Her conversational style of writing is highly appealing, and this beautiful saga is full of drama and history. There are no words to describe how much I loved this book!

Oh My Goodnes!!! I lived down in Conway SC. when this all happened and as I read the book I can remember this as if it was yesterday. He is very true and down to the point with every detail. To think that Mr. Registar offered all of his time and help to locate Crystal Faye Todd (even helped at the funeral, sat with her mother, etc.) and he knew the entire time where she was and what happen. I cannot even explain how real and true this book is. He is a great author and if you can ever get your hands on any of his other books I would recommend it.

I bought this book based on all of the five-star reviews and the abject raves from other readers, and am I ever disappointed. It's a run-of-the-mill murder "mystery" that is solved fairly quickly, with an uninteresting departure of focusing on the wrong guy. The "boy next door" stabbed to death 17-year-old Crystal Faye Todd in a monstrous frenzy. But nobody is prepared to believe when DNA points to teen who has given comfort and a shoulder to lean on to Crystal's mother. The murderer's parents believe the police have done a "frame job," and come across as almost comically ignorant. Get ready to read a lot of "it weren't a good thing." An Hour to Kill is a compelling read, but it cannot compare to classics in the "true crime" genre.

True crime is my genre; about the ONLY thing I read. And in many years of reading this genre, I have read many, many books whose setting was in the South, even the deep south Georgia, but I have NEVER run across authors who did such an excellent job (said tongue in cheek)of making the "characters" out to be such hillbillies. Living in a small, southern town myself, I can say this: sure, we have some odd sayings and our own dialect; but, come on, do you have to play on it? Even though I speak "the language" of these people, I still had a very difficult time reading it.

And this has to be the only true crime book I've read to date that included photos, but not any clear photos of the victim or the accused. Readers are provided with a grainy photo atop her headstone, taken at a distance of the victim and one side view photo taken of the accused. But, hey, there is a clear photo of Mickey Spillane and his wife, Jane, for your enjoyment! Go figure!

Throw in that this book plays on the fact that Crystal Faye Todd was murdered by her best friend Ken Register, but we're not given much background information on neither them nor their families; only that they had all been life long friends. Btw, how is that Ken Register was her best friend, but she had refused to date him and told her mother it was because he wanted sex all the time and smelled badly? Doesn't really sound like best friend material but, amazingly, Bonnie Faye Todd considers him as someone she can lean on and trust.

However, if a reader can wade through all that mess, there is a good argument here for the conviction. It was based mainly on past actions of the defendant and primitive use of DNA. Quite frankly, the jury, in my opinion, didn't have enough evidence to convict but read it and form your own opinion. Just plan on having Jethro's voice in your head while you do!

I purchased this book because of the strong reviews. Perhaps the other reviewers have not read a lot of true crime, because there was nothing special about this. Basically, it was a newspaper article extended with a few more facts to make a book. The story is horrifying, but you never really learn much about the people.

An Hour To Kill is the story of a brutal murder in a small South Carolina town. As an avid reader of true crime, I have mixed feelings about the book. There are a number of negatives: The center picture section is weak. There is NO decent picture of the victim, Crystal Todd, merely a tiny blurred picture of her on her tombstone. As she was a high school senior, it should have been relatively easy to at least get a yearbook picture. Also, for no other possible reason than to fill up the section there are pictures of Mickey Spillane and his wife! These people really have nothing to do with the book, except as an afterthought, not even appearing in the book until the last few pages.
There is no depth given to the main characters, Ken Register and Crystal Todd. Due to a lack of information or interest, the authors present them as little more than props around which to base the story of the arrest and trial. This is especially poorly done with Crystal. She is the victim of a brutal murder and we learn virtually nothing about her except that her mother loved her.
There does not seem to have been much in depth research in the writing of this book, which would have helped as the crime is not in itself really that interesting or unusual, except for its sheer brutality,

This book could have been a total true crime trasher due to the serious faults listed above, but it is saved by the authors' narrative abilities.
The writing is crisp and clean. It is for the most part reportorial in nature, and avoids the trap fallen into by lesser true-crime writers, of feeling that they must express their own opinions of the crime. Consequently they do not impose their own personalities on the story, which in my opinion is almost always undesirable in a true crime book. The writers, Hudson and Hills, move the story along briskly and professionally. Ultimately, An Hour To Kill is an easy read, but could have been much deeper.