# 'Small-town America' Literature - recommendations? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888 "2004-12-15T00:47:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/1 "2004-12-15T00:47:36Z")
Three days off from work, sick with the ferschlugginah flu, so I’ve been rereading some small-town American themed literature, and forgot how much I’ve liked it. Already finished Dreiser’s _An American Tragedy_, Sinclair’s _Arrowsmith_, Wilder’s _Our Town_ \*\*, and currently in the middle of Master’s _Spoon River Anthology_. _To Kill A Mockingbird_ is next on the list. Rather like the idea of small adorable town America with all the horrible scandals and such. And of course, I’m playing Aaron Copland as background music. Never had an actual course on American literature, so what are your favorites to recommend while I recuperate? Aw heck, any movies (or movie versions of the above) you’d recommend along the same theme? \*\* Yeah, it’s drama, but it fits my theme ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/2 "2004-12-15T01:12:24Z")
“The Last Picture Show” and “Texasville,” by Larry McMurty. The movie of “Picture Show” is a pretty decent adaptation, and “Texasville” wasn’t bad, although it didn’t make me roar with laughter in places the way the book did. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/3 "2004-12-15T01:14:21Z")
> [@Katriona](#): > > “The Last Picture Show” and “Texasville,” by Larry McMurty. The movie of “Picture Show” is a pretty decent adaptation, and “Texasville” wasn’t bad, although it didn’t make me roar with laughter in places the way the book did. Dunno if those really meet your definition of ‘literature,’ but I enjoyed them. Heh-as an English lit major, I read my share of ‘trash’ just to stay sane at times. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/4 "2004-12-15T01:19:09Z")
Pretty much anything (that I’ve read, at least) from Garrison Keillor sounds like it would fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/5 "2004-12-15T01:44:40Z")
Almost anything by the great Booth Tarkington. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/6 "2004-12-15T01:49:44Z")
[Plainsong](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375705856/qid=1103075450/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/103-8813941-7179024?v=glance&s=books&n=507846), by Kent Haruf (National Book Award Finalist). Also Eventide by the same author, same setting. Plainsong is fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/7 "2004-12-15T01:52:47Z")
**Babbitt** by Sinclair Lewis. The book is not what people think it’s like. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/8 "2004-12-15T02:11:43Z")
These may be too rural, but Bobbie Ann Mason Gurney Norman Chris Offut (son of SF/Fantasy author andy offut) Suddenly, I’m not sure if I’m spelling Offut correctly, but am too lazy to go look. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/9 "2004-12-15T02:19:09Z")
Sherwood Anderson’s _Winesburg, Ohio_ should be right up your alley given the books you listed in the OP. (In fact, I was surprised it wasn’t on your list already!) One of the more memorable legs of the literature marathon that was my AP English class… ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/10 "2004-12-15T02:28:16Z")
Another vote for Sherwood Anderson here. _Winesburg, Ohio_ is excellent. You might also enjoy books and stories by Willa Cather. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/11 "2004-12-15T02:32:44Z")
**Paradise Falls** by Don Robertson is small town American life just after the Civil War. The book is huge – it was published in two volumes – but there’s no padding and it doesn’t feel bloated. It’s in my all time top ten, for whatever that’s worth. 🙂 Somebody’s gotta do it – don’t forget **Peyton Place** by Grace Metalious, and **Salem’s Lot** by Stephen King, which was Peyton Place with vampires. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/12 "2004-12-15T02:35:50Z")
Another vote for **Winesburg, Ohio** , one of my favorites ever. Sinclair Lewis’s **Main Street** is awfully good too. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/13 "2004-12-15T02:43:27Z")
_Cold Sassy Tree_ Trust me. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/14 "2004-12-15T02:52:31Z")
Richard Russo’s _Empire Falls_ If you like children’s novels, there’s Kate DiCamillo’s _Because of Winn Dixie_. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/15 "2004-12-15T02:55:58Z")
Another huge vote for **Winesburg, Ohio** - amazing book, underrated author who influenced the Big 4 - Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner and Steinbeck. Also agree with **Babbitt** - amazing book. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/16 "2004-12-15T07:11:29Z")
_Babbitt_ is a fine novel, but it is not about a small town. The city of Zenith has skyscrapers, factories, and suburbs. The [opening sentence](http://pd.sparknotes.com/lit/babbitt/section1.html): > [@](#): > > The towers of Zenith aspired above the morning mist; austere towers of steel and cement and limestone, sturdy as cliffs and delicate as silver rods. They were neither citadels nor churches, but frankly and beautifully office-buildings. May I recommend instead Green Town, Illinois, the hometown of 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding in the magical summer of 1928: Ray Bradbury’s _[Dandelion Wine](http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dandelion/)_, one of the most exhilirating reading experiences I ever had. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/17 "2004-12-15T08:15:01Z")
But before you read anything else, read _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving My then sixteen year old granddaughter begged me to read it and now everyone in my family has (thirty somethings to sixty somethings). ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/18 "2004-12-15T09:04:13Z")
Richard Russo again - but \*Nobody’s Fool \* instead. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/19 "2004-12-15T10:21:54Z")
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’d already read _Winesburg, Ohio_ waaaay back in 10th (?) grade, but that one is definitely on my list (don’t have a copy at the moment, else I’d prolly have finished it by now). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888/20 "2004-12-15T10:45:08Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > But before you read anything else, read > > _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving This is one of the best novels I have ever read. And most of John Irving’s other stuff is set in smalltown America. I heartily recommend DBC Pierre’s fantastic debut novel _[Vernon God Little](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0156029987/qid=1103107602/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-1075096-9869718?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)_, which won the Man Booker Prize in 2003. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-town-america-literature-recommendations/279888.md?page=2)