Books with author Kathryn Tucker Windham

Close your eyes, and you can almost feel the rocking of the chair as you listen. Kathryn Tucker Windham's gentle Southern accent winds its way through these childhood and adult recollections, while her traditional wisdom and sharp sense of humor spin the spell she casts like a blanket over her listeners. Exploring the idea that being with and understanding your family is perhaps the most important lesson of all, Ms. Windham takes us out to her front porch in the morning, to the little Methodist ....

The title story of this collection might have been dubbed "Mother Knows Best". Kathryn Tucker Windham has always had a healthy respect for wisdom, but her true love has always been humor. The stories in this collection reflect her appreciation for traditional values and traditional ways, but they also beguile the listener with that most enchanting of Southern traits, a keen sense of humor. Windham tells us of a tombstone, exquisitely carved with doves, roses, and delicate leaves, that was used as a carving board and confectionary mold in her family's kitchen; of making frog houses in the sand; of a basket made for picking cotton; and of a little fatherless boy learning the ways of men while waiting to have his "ears lowered".

Nowhere are Kathryn Tucker Windham's transcendent themes of community, fidelity, and family more evident than in these stories. The author calls them "recollections of a happy Southern childhood", but her avid admirers would tell you that they are much more than that. Combining her vivid characterization, her affection for the South and its people, her well-seasoned humor, and her distinctive diction (which is clear and mellow as the best distilled liquor), these stories capture something of Southern culture that is in danger of extinction. Just perhaps, by listening to Ms. Windham, some may remember, celebrate, and carry on in ways that will allow future generations of children to have happy memories of families and communities sustained by virtue and tradition.

Jeffrey is the mischievous “something” that has headquarters in the Windham home in Selma. He first made his presence known in October 1966, and since then he has continued, at irregular and infrequent intervals, to clump down the hall, slam doors, rock in a chair, frighten the family cat (now deceased—through no fault of Jeffrey), move heavy pieces of furniture, cause electronic equipment to malfunction, and hide objects. He frequently accompanies Mrs. Windham on her travels, and tales of Jeffrey’s antics are widely recounted. “Nobody has ever been afraid of Jeffrey,” Mrs. Windham says. “He is very convenient to have—we blame everything that goes awry on him. His only purpose for existing (if that word is proper) is to prod me into collecting and preserving ‘true’ ghost stories from throughout the South.”

Nowhere are Kathryn Tucker Windam's transcendant themes of community, fidelity, and family more evident than in these stories. The author calls them recollections of a happy Southern childhood, but her avid admirers would tell you they are much more than that. Combing her vivid characterization, her affection for the South and its people, her well-seasoned humor, and her distinctive diction, these stories capture something of Southern culture that is in danger of extinction. By listening to Ms. ....

The title story of this recording might have been dubbed Mother Knows Best. While Kathryn Tucker Windham has had a healthy respect for wisdom, her true love has always been humor. So the title story here, and the other selections, reflect her appreciation for traditional ways, but not quite as much as they beguile the listener with that most enchanting of Southern ways, a keen sense of humor. Windham speaks of a tombstone, exquisitely carved with doves, roses, and delicate leaves, that was used ....

Kathryn Tucker Windham begins this montage of stories with the sounds of summer and ends with a joyful Christmas memory. The mixture of tales from the mouth-watering description of good Southern food to the story of a governor more familiar with Tom Sawyer than Tom Jefferson comes together to evoke the image of a happy childhood. The title selection shows us how saying things just a little differently can make life more interesting, even when what's different is a little behind the times. Ms. Windham's ....