Best of the Midwest part one

"O Pioneers!" by Willa Cather & other great Midwestern novels

When I talk about “adventurous reading” as I often do, I usually mean reading into other cultures, other experiences, other lives lived quite differently than ours.

Which means I haven’t done as much exploration as I should have of the stories that hold a mirror up to the Midwest.

So, a couple of weeks ago I asked you for your favorite books set in the Midwest and so many terrific novels came back to me via Twitter that I’m making this a two-part Thread.

Now, any Midwestern-based list, in my view, simply must begin with Willa Cather and her wonderful novel, “O Pioneers!” Blizzards, drought, resilience, hardship and harsh Great Plains beauty — this story has it all. I think “O Pioneers!” was Cather’s best.

Here are some of the Midwestern novels you love: “Plainsong” by Kent Haruf. “This Tender Land” by William Kent Krueger. “Peace Like a River” by Leif Enger and Louise Erdrich’s wonderful “The Round House” and her earlier novel, “The Beet Queen.”

Heidi wrote of cherishing Faith Sullivan’s novels, “Cape Ann” and “The Empress of One,” both set in the fictional Harvester, Minn. The bookies at the Loft Literary Center weighed in with “Prairie Lotus” by Linda Sue Park and Brandon Taylor’s “Real Life.”

And Amy, you made me so happy when you put “Caddie Woodlawn” on the list — a book I’ve loved since my grade school teacher read it to us chapter by chapter.

So, that’s just a taste of the novels that show us who we are here in the Midwest. Next week, more to come.

And if I haven’t mentioned your favorite novel set in the Midwest — put it on my list by tweeting me @KerriMPR.

— Kerri Miller