South of Broad by Pat Conroy

When it comes time to choose the last book of the summer, I am always torn. So little time, so many books - as the saying goes. But when I read an article in Southern Living Magazine about the new Pat Conroy novel set in Charleston, South Carolina, I went out and bought the book the day it went on sale. I'm a sucker for Conroy's blowsy prose. This book is supposed to be Conroy's love song to Charleston, and it is. The plot drags on, the characters are caricatures (the Southern debutante, the first Black Police Chief, the buxom film star), but my friend Anne once said reading Conroy is like reading whipped cream. So put a cherry on the summer! It has been a great summer for reading.