I discovered Julia Reed several years ago in Fetch, an on-line magazine produced by an upscale shopping site. I chuckled at her wit. As a true Southern belle, she regaled me with her classic style and her penchant for food and drink. When I saw that she had a new book, I was quick to get my hands on a copy. 
I enjoyed South Toward Home. I read it as a group of short stories rather than from cover to cover—a few chapters at a time made it a nice little appetizer. She covers all manner of Southern life from critters to humidity, from hunting to debutante balls. Since I share the same regional background, and about the same time frame, many of her recollections were poignant to me. And I loved her Play List! Any Southern songfest without Poke Salad Annie is just not right! 
I’d recommend this book for any true Southerner, or someone who wants to be.
I received an advanced readers copy of this book from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.  Thanks to both.

Having spent time in the South and ready many books (fiction and non-fiction) set there, I so wanted to enjoy reading this book.  Every region of the U.S. has it quirks and “isms”.  It is always fun to learn about them especially when the author pokes fun at him/herself.  However, I found that the writing style was a bit sophomoric.  If I had to read “I digress” one more time, I would have screamed.  Unlike books that have recipes at the end of each chapter, the couple that were incorporated were haphazard and did not add to the book.  Maybe they should have been grouped together at the end of the book.  I can understand why others enjoyed this book and why I am probably in the minority.  That is why there are so many options in the greater reading world.  Thank you, NetGalley,

Well, if you’re a baby boomer who really likes booze, you really might like this book, because it is a very boozy book. If you don’t drink, however; or do drink, but don’t feel compelled to laugh, or even crack a smile, every time alcohol consumption is mentioned in a memoir; many of the stories in this book might bore you. If you’re an animal lover you might like some of the included stories, but probably not the ones that animal killers might like. If you’re a person who likes individuals who have had privileged childhoods, and who are really into name-dropping and shout-outing in their memoirs, you will definitely like this book. 

Not that any of the three aforementioned things are sins, but they all unfortunately heavily contributed to the feelings of exclusivity while reading Julia Reed’s writings. One couldn’t help but get the feeling while reading that one was being seen as privileged to read the adventures in this book. Moreover, if one had never lived in the areas of the country that Ms. Reed lived in, or had the experiences she had, one really wasn’t going to completely understand or appreciate what one was reading. Nevertheless, that was okay, as long as one laughed at the appropriate times while reading, such as every time booze was mentioned, particularly in excessive quantities.

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 
From the publisher --- 
In considering the pleasures and absurdities of her native culture, Julia Reed quotes another Southern writer, Willie Morris, who said, “It’s the juxtapositions that get you down here.” These juxtapositions are, for Julia, the soul of the South, and in her warm-hearted and funny new book, South Toward Home, she chronicles her adventures through the highs and the lows of Southern life—taking us everywhere from dive bars and the Delta Hot Tamale Festival to an impromptu shindig on a Mississippi River sandbar and a coveted seat on a Mardi Gras float. She writes about the region’s music and food, its pesky critters and prodigious drinking habits, its inhabitants’ penchant for making their own fun—and, crucially, their gift for laughing at themselves.
With her distinctive voice and knowing eye, Julia also provides her take on the South’s more embarrassing characteristics from the politics of lust and the persistence of dry counties to the “seemingly bottomless propensity for committing a whole lot of craziness in the name of the Lord.” No matter what, she writes, “My fellow Southerners have brought me the greatest joy—on the page, over the airwaves, around the dinner table, at the bar or, hell, in the checkout line.” South Toward Home, with a foreword by Jon Meacham, is Julia Reed’s valentine to the place she knows and loves best.

As a woman born and raised in southern CANADA, this book made me laugh out loud at times at the depiction of "the South" - we could not be more different. The quirkiness of these southern states is presented in a delightful manner: I laughed out loud at times and said "WTH" to myself at others. Any fan of fun writing that is self-deprecating yet insightful and the of human condition will enjoy this book: I certainly did!

As usual, Ms Reed succeeds in making one happy to be living in the south. Her descriptions are spot-on, and, oh, how she entertains in a grand fashion.

Thanks for allowing me to read this  As I read this book,  I could feel my southern accent getting thicker. Very funny. Loved the humor and the name dropping. The author caught the South and New Orleans as they are.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher.  This was a very funny book and made me absolutely roll about laughing