I like it Susan. Far more than I liked Raney, but then I have issues with "southern lit."

I'd put the direct quotes from the book in quotation marks. The way you have it looks sort of like it might be dialog in a screenplay or play.

No dash in final sentence of first para. A comma is sufficient, or if you want more emphasis a period would be better. And 3rd and 4th paras, does Charles', possessive, have a final s? Charles'. Charles's. I think it's without.

It's well-written, a little tantalizing, just what a review of a book you liked should be.

Do you write reviews for your local paper's book page? If not, it's a place to start. Is there a local trade & tourist magazine (usually pulp) for your city or area? They often have book reviews, too. They may not pay anything but a reading copy of the book, but it looks good on your resume, and can be an intro to other writing assignments if they like your work. Just a thought.

If I run across Raney I will definitely give it a read....

I like it Susan. Far more than I liked Raney, but then I have issues with "southern lit."

Interestingly, Edgerton is the only "southern lit" I've run across that I've liked. Everything else I've tried seems all portentous, like somehow being Southern is fraught with incredible meaning and significance in a way that being Western or Yankee isn't.

Overuse of the em dash is one of the verbal tics I'm trying to eradicate. I'll certainly get rid of that one. As for Charles' vs. Charles's, I know Strunk & White say it's the latter, but I should probably actually crack open that AP style manual I bought a few weeks ago and see what the current usage is.

I haven't tried to write reviews for a local paper yet, but it's on my list of things to try soon. My goal is to do a few things like this review and write for my church newsletter between now and the end of the year, and then start submitting to markets that actually pay come January.

Thanks for the feedback!

As for Charles' vs. Charles's, I know Strunk & White say it's the latter, but I should probably actually crack open that AP style manual I bought a few weeks ago and see what the current usage is.

I believe s's is British. But I'm not sure. It's certainly not common where I see it.

Now, I've been told that s' is proper and British, and s's is American and therefore wrong. Certainly in Bridget Jones' Diary they use s'.

I've always been taught that s's is correct except for Moses' and Jesus'. (I just checked the Little, Brown Handbook, which agrees with that and also adds that if the same is a plural already, like Rivers, then it just becomes Rivers'.)

I've always been taught that s's is correct except for Moses' and Jesus'. (I just checked the Little, Brown Handbook, which agrees with that and also adds that if the same is a plural already, like Rivers, then it just becomes Rivers'.)

How very, very strange. Why was I taught that? It *was* a Catholic school, and "Jesus" *was* one of the examples.... Why do Jesus and Moses have honorary plurality, just because they're shiny?

Certainly in Bridget Jones' Diary they use s'.

Nuh-uh. At least in the version here in the US, it's "Jones's"

Why do Jesus and Moses have honorary plurality, just because they're shiny?

Try saying Moses's or Jesus's. Your tongue gets stuck in a sort of Moseseseseses thing. It's because of the double s already at the end.

IIRC, AP style for single possessive proper nouns ending with s is 's.

I know it annoys me, and that it's something that's shifted since I started writing, because I know damned well that all my things had ---s' written on them. (I think a shift in rule that affects your name is more annoying than any other.)