100 Must-Read Books of the American Midwest

100 Must-Read Books of the American Midwest Recently, the Midwest lost one of its most prolific and wonderful writers Jim Harrison. If you havent had a chance to read any of his work, I highly encourage picking something up at your local used bookstore whenever you have a chance. Hes a great writer and one of the pioneers of what many people associate with Midwestern literature. His indelible mark on the literary scene in my home state of Michigan is undeniable. The Midwest produces a spectacular gamut of novelists, poets, essayists, collagists, etc. The region is home to some of the most established creative writing programs in the U.S., as well as a ton of awesome literary journals and quarterlies. The writers included on this list are connected to the region in various ways, some more loosely than others. A couple quick notes: -Not all of the books included on this list are inherently Midwestern. Many of the authors were born in the region, while others moved to teach there or wrote books that take place there. If something seems out of place, rest assured theres a connection, even if its not transparent. -My personal reading preferences lean toward fiction and poetry, leading to an under-representation of the Midwests fantastic nonfiction writers. -This is only a miniscule sampling of the Midwest. Sorry if I missed your favorite. Feel free to leave a polite note in the comments. -I did not include more than two works by any single author, even the ones I love and adore. Theyre in alphabetical order by first name and there is no ranking system. -This list is mainly designed to introduce a wide range of fantastic Midwestern literature rather than focus solely on canonized classics. -Disclaimer: As a native Michigander and current grad student in Northwesterns creative writing program, youll find slight biases toward authors related to those aspects of myself. Aleksander Hemon The Lazarus Project Alice Fulton Palladium (Worked at UMich at time of publication) Alice Randall The Wind Done Gone Angela Flournoy The Turner House (Set in Detroit) Annie Dillard Pilgrim at Tinker Creek  (Born in Pittsburgh. I constitute the west half of Pennsylvania as Midwest) Annie Dillard For The Time Being Barack Obama The Audacity of Hope Barack Obama Dreams from My Father Bonnie Jo Campbell American Salvage Bonnie Jo Campbell Q Road Carolyn Forche Blue Hour Catie Disabato The Ghost Network Chad Harbach The Art of Fielding Chester Himes If He Hollers Let Him Go (Missouri native) Chester Himes Blind Man with a Pistol Chigozie Obioma The Fishermen  (Did his MFA at UMich, also now teaches in the Midwest at U of Nebraska) David Foster Wallace Infinite Jest (Professor at Illinois State University at time of publication) Diane Seuss Wolf Lake, White Gown Blown Open Elizabeth Mccracken The Giants House Elmore Leonard Get Shorty Erik Larson The Devil in the White City Ernest Hemingway The Nick Adams Stories Ernest Hemingway In Our Time Ethan Canin A Doubters Almanac Eula Biss On Immunity: An Inoculation Eula Biss   Notes From No Mans Land Garrison Keillor Lake Wobegon Days Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Gillian Flynn Gone Girl Gloria Stienem My Life on the Road Gwendolyn Brooks Annie Allen Gwendolyn Brooks Maud Martha Jack Gilbert Monolithos, Poems 1962 and 1982 (Another Pittsburgh native) Jane Smiley   A Thousand Acres Jeffrey Eugenides The Virgin Suicides Jeffrey Eugenides   Middlesex Jim Harrison Legends of the Fall Jim Harrison The Raw and the Cooked: Adventures of a Roving Gourmand John Williams Stoner Jonathan Franzen The Corrections Kali Vanbaale The Space Between Kent Haruf Plainsong Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse Five Langston Hughes Not Without Laughter Langston Hughes The Weary Blues Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairie Laura Kasischke Lilies Without Laura Kasischke Eden Springs Linda Gregerson Magnetic North Lorna Beers Prairie Fire Louise Erdich The Plague of Doves Louise Erdich The Round House Mardi Jo Link Bootstrapper Margaret Walker Jubilee Margaret Walker For My People Margo Jefferson Negroland (Born in Chicago) Margo Jefferson   On Michael Jackson Marilynne Robinson Housekeeping Marilynne Robinson Gilead Mark Twain The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Marlon James A Brief History of Seven Killings (Professor at Macalester College) Matt Bell Cataclysm Baby Matt Bell In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods MFK Fisher Serve It Forth MFK Fisher Consider The Oyster Nam Le The Boat (Iowa Writers Workshop grad, read the first story in this collection and youll see why I counted it as Midwestern, though Les stories are set around the world) Nelson Algren The Man with the Golden Arm Nickolas Butler Shotgun Love Songs Patricia Hampl The Florists Daughter Rebecca Makkai The Hundred-Year House Richard Wright Native Son Robert Hayden Selected Poems by Robert Hayden Robert Hayden Collected Prose: Robert Hayden Ross Gay Against Which Ross Gay Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude Roxane Gay An Untamed State Sandra Cisneros The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros Women Hollering Creek and Other Stories Saul Bellow The Adventures of Augie March Sherwood Anderson Winesburg, Ohio Sinclair Lewis Main Street Sinclair Lewis Babbitt Steve Amick The Lake, The River, and The Other Lake Stuart Dybek The Coast of Chicago Ted Kooser Sure Signs Ted Kooser Winter Morning Walks: 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison Teju Cole Open City (Born in Kalamazoo and attended K College) Teju Cole Every Day is for The Thief Theodore Drieser Sister Carrie Theodore Roethke The Waking Theodore Roethke On Poetry and Craft: Selected Prose and Craft of Theodore Roethke Thomas McGuane Ninety-Two in the Shade Toni Morrison The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison Beloved Upton Sinclair The Jungle Wallace Stegner Angle of Repose Willa Cather My Antonia Willa Cather O Pioneers! William Gass The Tunnel William Gass Middle C Editors note: for selections where the Midwest connection wasnt obvious based on the authors birthplace or setting of the book, I asked the author to add a line of explanation. Thats why some books have those, but most do not. See our other 100 Must-Read Books of [Whatever place or genre] here!