This spring I am reading Stoner by John Williams, Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson, and The New Life by Tom Crewe. I've read them all before at different times, but it sounded good to read them together as a sort of playlist. I guess I like books set in the late 1800s–early 1900s right now. I get enough of the present day the rest of the time.
What would be a good book to add that fits or contrasts?
by Low_water_crossing
3 Comments
Have you read Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, or Willa Cather? They’re all classic American writers of that period who mostly dealt with outwardly ordinary somewhat typical Americans as characters.
*The Martian Chronicles* by Ray Bradbury. Seriously. I read (technically re-read) this recently and the whole time I was reading it I was thinking, “this is less science fiction and more *Winesburg, Ohio*. . . in space”. Then, when I was finished I read the introduction where Bradbury states he was very inspired by *Winesburg, Ohio*.
Winesburg & Stoner are wonderful books. Dreiser, Lewis and even the Bradbury are great recs. Maybe also some Eudora Welty or Flannery O’Connor? And maybe William Maxwell’s So Long, See You Tomorrow.