Kathryn Tucker Windham (1918–2011)

2.5 stars. I picked up this slim volume of essays/memoir after a period of reading up on Harper Lee. She was apparently an admirer of this storyteller. After listening to one of her stories on NPR, I can almost hear her voice as I read these stories (which makes me think this would have been such a nice audiobook with narration by the author). They certainly come from a particular time and place. Minstrel shows, a vague dislike of the KKK, and black housekeepers and farm help are discussed without examination. Some stories reminded me of the kinds of tales passed down in my own family - phrases and stories that become such a part of family history that they imbed themselves in the family's everyday language. The book was not stunning, but those were the parts of it that made me smile.… (mere)

I remember my teacher reading this book to us in elementary school. Or maybe I read it myself. In any case, these are the classic ghost stories that I have recalled all my life. I don't there's any better book of ghost stories than this one. The face in the window and the hole that won't stay filled are the ones that have never left me. But as I was reading, I remembered many of the others as well. The phantom riverboat is also a classic. Windham went on to write a sequel and similar books about the ghosts of other Southern states. My library has them as ebooks, so I plan to read them all.… (mere)