I was perusing my old journals and found the following quote from Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (p. 55):

“They’re afraid to sit next to a nigger and have a meal, but they’ll eat eggs that came right out of a chicken’s ass.”

I remember Fanny Flagg (Patricia Neal) as a celebrity game show regular in the 1970s; she was a minor celebrity actress, but her 1988 novel — which recounts the  burgeoning friendship between two women in Whistle Stop, Alabama — was, in my opinion, her crowning achievement (the book was also adapted into a movie and Fanny Flagg was nominated for a screenplay Oscar).

Fanny Flagg was dyslexic and wrote despite the fact that her inability to spell was a personal embarrassment. The Whistle Stop Cafe was loosely based on the Irondale Cafe, which is apparently still open for business and is renowned for its fried green tomatoes.

If you’re looking for an enjoyable summer read, this might fit the bill (the movie is also quite enjoyable; but, as usual, I preferred the novel).

 

 

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