Dean Faulkner Wells (1936–2011)

Yes, yes, I read cookbooks cover to cover sometimes. Especially when they are as funny as this one. There are some actual usable recipes in here (umpteen ways to make chili), but many of the contributors were having too much fun writing to pay attention to the science of cooking, and I wouldn't try the Flannery O'Connor chili, for instance ("take 1 whole boneless peacock..."), which was submitted by Stewart O'Nan; nor do I think much of William Harrison's method for catching the timber rattler for camp stew (but actually, the stew sounds good!). Many of these are simply hilarious. And then there were the authors who declined to send a recipe, but ended up in the book anyway --Rita Mae Brown, who wrote "My cat, Sneaky Pie Brown, is writing a cookbook for cats, but I don't think dried mole would be appetizing." Or Dean Koontz, who declared "I cook no better than Mr. Toad drove his motor car..." I didn't actually count, but it does seem that Southern writers might be in the overwhelming majority here, which wouldn't be surprising, given that Ms. Wells lived in Oxford, MS, and was a great friend and mentor to many, many authors.… (mere)

Every Day by the Sun (Crown, 2011) is a touching, deeply personal family memoir written by William Faulkner's niece, Dean Faulkner Wells. The author is the daughter of William's youngest brother (also Dean), but due to her father's untimely death in a plane crash it was William ("Pappy") who served as the major father figure in her life.

Both humorous and heart-wrenching, this is an unwhitewashed look at the private life and family history of the famously-private Faulkner clan. Dean doesn't spare the details of her and her family's struggles, from her abusive stepfather to William's alcoholism and affairs, to her grandmother's casual racism. But the book is mostly given to her fond memories of Pappy and his mother (Nannie), clearly two people she loved very much, and the anecdotes and stories she shares come from a perspective no one else can offer.

Very much worth a read as an example of family memoir, or just as a good book.… (mere)

A delightful memoir written by William Faulkner's niece, Dean Faulkner Wells, who just died last year. She and her second husband founded and ran Yoknapatawpha Press, a small regional publishing house named for Faulkner's fictional county. Her book is mainly about her growing up within the Faulkner clan, and while she does not leave out the darker elements of Bill and Estelle's binging and fighting; his endless affairs with young women, or Dean's own mother's abusive second marriage, she doesn't talk about any of those things in much detail either. Her goal, clearly, was to preserve and share her memories of good times and beloved people, one of whom just happened to be pretty famous. From the moment of her birth, four months after her father died in a plane crash, little Dean Faulkner was surrounded by loving grandparents, uncles and aunts, who were all determined to give her the best life possible. Foremost among them, her Uncle Bill (who she and many others in the family called "Pappy") vowed to take care of her, make her happy, and stand in her father's place whenever necessary. The book is full of bits and pieces of treasure---family lore, the laughing moments, the warm and fuzzy bits. Some stories I've heard before, but many more have not been told in all the Faulkner biographies I've read. Ms. Wells had a gift for bringing people to life, and in this short volume has made William Faulkner's wife Estelle a living, breathing, likeable person. I can't recall any of his biographers even having taken a stab at that. If you know next to nothing about Faulkner, you could do much worse than to begin your acquaintance with Every Day by the Sun. And if you've already met, take Ellen Gilchrist's advice and "Burn the deconstructionists' texts", read this book and then read Go Down, Moses, Sartoris and The Reivers (the last two are my recommendations, not Ms. Gilchrist's). Highly recommended; Pappy would have been proud.… (mere)