Somewhere out there, I read a review for a book ( probably from an independent flyer I picked up this summer.) and all I remember about the review is, If you live in a small town or want to live in a small town, this book captures it perfectly.
I cannot remember the title, author or sex of author. I am fairly certain it is fiction.
It has been tickling my brain for weeks and all my amazon searches are coming up dry.
I know this is vague…
Was the book kinda dark and gritty? Meth dealers and murder and incest and such? If so, the book might have been Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock.
Gilead? Kind of a long shot, I guess, but you should read it anyway. 
It’s a pastor in a small town writing letters to his young son who he knows will grow up without him.
A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel?
Haven’t read it, but something in your post made me wonder if this could be it. Almost certainly not, but oh well.
Possibly one of these?
[ul]
[li]If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska by Heather Lende[/li][li]Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry[/li][li]Small Town Bound by John Clayton[/li][/ul]
I don’t think it was dark and gritty. I am thinking it was more pastoral and pleasant.
This is going to drive me nuts.
I assume you meant a small town in the United States. You might need a different book for, say, a small town in India, but for the U.S. even after 75 years there is no better picture of small town life than Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street.
If it was reviewed somewhat recently, Richard Russo’s latest (last year) is Bridge of Sighs and is definitely about living in a small town.
Not Main Street or Bridge of Sighs. I have, however, made note of them for future reading.
I’ve sent an email to the indy store up in Traverse City that I went to in July groveling for help or linky goodness.
If anything comes of this, I’ll keep you posted.
The Jan Karon books? I’ve never read them, but I think they are set in a small town.
The town is Mitford & yeah, pastoral (in both senses of the word) and pleasant describe the series.
But given SU’s non-religious bent, I’m not sure it would be them.
You’re not thinking of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon books, are you?
Might this be it?
Moving to a Small Town by Frank Levering and Wanda Urbanksa
It’s not Lake Wobegon or any of the Jan Karon ( I’ve read a couple of those.)
It wasn’t any major writer out there, I think, or the name would have stuck with me.
I did get an email back from the store and when they get a chance they will put their heads together and see what they can come up with.
I’m fairly certain it isn’t Moving to a Small Town. I am certain it is fiction. It if isn’t fiction, then it is one of those nonfiction small town charming kinda books. Not a Help Book. That book looks interesting, though.
Not exactly about small town living, but critically acclaimed and set in small town settings - An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England:
Maybe one of Gail Frazer’s Lumby books? The Lumby Lines is the first one.
They’re good fun!
Population: 485 came in from the library yesterday and I am totally and completely in love with this book.
Thank you!