Customer Reviews

Southern Living (2-year)

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

Having grown up in the heart of Dixie, I've read this magazine all my life, and I preceded its birth by over 10 years. Still have the entire 1974 year down in the ol' homestead (an ultramodern 1970s brick house) in an old cardboard slipcase. It was a wonderful magazine in the 1970s and even into the early 1980s. Today, it is pure garbage. Do not waste your money on a subscription. If you buy one issue, you'll have all the advertising you need, but you'll actually get better advertising of Southern lifestyles by picking up free flyers at various interstate welcome stations. In fact, Southern Living now resembles a magazine comprising interstate brochure writing sandwiched between so many advertisements you cannot make sense of the editorial. I know what I'm talking about. Since it was purchased more than a decade ago by Time-Life, Southern Living has gone steadily downhill. If you want a gardening magazing for the south, choose Garden Gate or Fine Gardening. Or buy books. It's cheaper. If you need travel information, use the internet. If you want home design, forget it. In the 1970s you had houseplans, beautiful landscape designs and decorating ideas. Today, you can get better ideas from a standard like Good Housekeeping or by watching home and garden shows on television. It's really sad how pathetic Southern Living is. If I were employed there as a writer -- and it is not my niche by any means, professional corporate writing is -- I would be a lifeless card-punching automaton regurgitating segment marketing pap. Pulp. Garbage. You can't even wrap a decent mullet with this piece of garbage, they've shrunk the page size.

Having been a subscriber for 14 years I can only say that the new changes are not for the better. New subscribers will never know what they have missed.....but us old timers have lost faith. Who said Southern Living needed to be changed? Shame on those who took a delightful magazine from wonderful to wanting. You should have asked the readers.........we would have shared our positive thoughts with you before you took this "improved?" approach.

Like others, even though I don't live in the South. I have been a subscriber for over 30 years. What they have done to this magazine is a travesty. The things that made Southern Living special (and why so many of us saved old issues) are all gone. The articles are interchangable with the articles in any of a dozen other magazines. For all I know, the articles are written by a bunch of folks in NYC who have never set foot south of the Mason-Dixon line!

I've been a SL subscriber for years. Every Southern woman has to have it. It took a dip in quality in the past five years, but with a new editor the content is becoming more abundant. I look forward to it each month! Purchasing magazines through Amazon are often a lot cheaper than the offers you will get directly from the company. I even tried to renew one year asking SL to match the price that Amazon was offering, but they wouldn't do it.

I'm assuming the changes in Southern Living happened because of the state of the magazine industry, but it's such a shame. SL use to be one of the best. I don't live in the South, but really enjoyed the great articles, travel stories, unique recipes, decorating ideas and beautiful photos. Also liked the fact that the magazine carried its share of ads, but I didn't feel like I was paying for a book of advertising with few articles, the way I do with many magazines.

Now, all that is gone. I don't really even recognize the magazine anymore. Ridiculously short articles with little content, recipes that I've seen a zillion times, nothing really inventive or even fresh, just recycled, watered-down content. The cover photos are the only thing that is as lovely as ever. SL now looks like every other magazine on the stand, even worse than many. Why in the world? Is this what it takes to get readers and advertisers? I can't imagine. I'm hoping that SL doesn't go under, but cannot imagine that this change will help it stay afloat. Sad that it already seems to be gone. Very unfortunate.

Although we live in the midwest, we spent alot of time in the Chesapeake Bay area and it was always wonderful to find articles and recipes from that region. Now, the format has changed and not for the better, if it wasn't for the$5 price tag, I too would not renew.

I have been reading Southern Living for over 30 years. My mother was a loyal subscriber, so I've seen this magazine monthly since about 1977 and have all of Mom's annual cookbooks in addition to all the ones I've purchased over the years. All that said, the publication has changed markedly over the past couple of years. All of the recipes used to be from readers, now they are mostly from the publisher. Also, instead of projecting a "warm and fuzzy" neighborly feeling, most of the articles, features and ads are upscale and impersonal. Really a shame, it was such a great publication. "Southern Lady" is reminiscent of the old Southern Living.

I still subscribe to Southern Living because it does still contain some good articles and recipes. The magazine has degraded through the years and is now lots of advertisements and less useful information.

A great resource for folks who are young marrieds, young families or anyone who is new to the South. Lots of ideas about things to do, places to go and good eating--recipes and restaurants. Always beautifully layed out and photographed. Love it. The Amazon price makes this the best way to buy.

I'm a little disappointed that one week after renewing our subscription, we received an ad from Southern Living magazine offering a 13 issue renewal for $10.00. We had paid what was indicated as 'the lowest rate" of nearly $20.00