Sleeping at the Starlite Motel: and Other Adventures on the Way Back Home [Paperback]

Bailey White (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 1996

Anyone who has read her bestseller Mama Makes Up Her Mind--or who has heard her on National Public Radio--knows that Bailey White is one of the keenest observers of Southern eccentricity since Mark Twain. Sleeping at the Starlite Motel revives White's reputation as a master storyteller, Southern division, as it catalogs the oddities of the Georgia town she knows so well.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

NPR commentator and first-grade teacher White (Mama Makes Up Her Mind) here explores the many quirks of the human psyche and the richness and variety of American landscapes. A series of sketches, originals and reprints from Smithsonian and other magazines, recounts her experiences in Virginia, Vermont, Los Angeles and elsewhere but mostly focuses on people and places in and around her native Thomasville, Georgia. There the lives and personalities of local "characters" reflect the intersection of tradition and change in the small-town South. From the 1931 Rose Queen, who still feels that her title gives her the prerogative to pick flowers out of municipal rose beds, to the upstanding Baptist schoolteacher who drags White with her when playing hooky from her computer training course to attend dog races, to the rural folk artist whose hauntingly lovely statues sit in White's yard, White brings to life a host of often odd but always engaging personalities. Her vignettes illuminate the complexities of human relationships and the immense satisfaction that can be derived from an appreciation of nature. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In the South, someone is called an "embroiderer" if they tend to tell true stories with more than a little poetic license. In White's earlier collection (Bailey White: An Interesting Life, Audio Reviews, LJ 2/15/93) it was hard to tell where the truth left off and the embroidery began. Some of the stories in Sleeping at the Starlite Motel, however, have visible if lovely stitches. Still, White's Austenesque observations remain clear-eyed and dead on the mark. As before, her everyday characters are extraordinarily memorable. There's Nockerd Sockett, whose cheerful triumph over earlier tragedies crumbles under the weight of false accusation. There's the fruit-tree man, Red the rat man, and Great-Great Aunt Rose and her exquisite shroud. This gem of a collection, ably read by the author, is sure to have wide appeal and should absolutely be in every library collection.
Reilly Reagan, Putnam Cty. Lib., Cookeville, Tenn.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (April 2, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679770151
• ISBN-13: 978-0679770152
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If it is written by bailey white -- read it!, July 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sleeping at the Starlite Motel: and Other Adventures on the Way Back Home (Paperback)

I urge you to read anything you can that is written by Bailey White. I am currently sharing all three of her books, Mama makes up her mind, Sleeping at the Starlite Motel, and Quite a Year For Plums with my 70 year old mother and my 14 year old daughter. Her writing transcends generations. We read passages outloud to each other. From worms doing gymnastics from the ceilings to every possible strange character, her books are a delight.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect cure for a longing for home, August 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sleeping At The Starlight Motel: And Other Adventures On The Way Back Home (Hardcover)

I was given this book by my advisor when I graduated from High School in Atlanta and was going off to college in New York City. It is a wonderfully witty collection of memories that could be one's own. I found it to be both comical and poinent all and once and fell in love with its words right away. I highly recomend one story in particular called Native Air to anyone feeling a twinge of homesickness for the south or anywhere else.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully done!, January 21, 2000

By 

Angela - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sleeping at the Starlite Motel: and Other Adventures on the Way Back Home (Paperback)

Bailey White's amusing stories supplied a quick and satisfying read. The humor and insight into life made me laugh and think. Some of the more poignant stories still echo in my mind. The voice created by White for these stories is real and it brings her characters and adventures to life.