Nickolas Butler's first novel was the internationally best-selling and prize-winning Shotgun Lovesongs, which has been optioned for film development and has been translated into ten languages. Beneath the Bonfire, a collection of short stories, followed a year later. In 2017, he published The Hearts of Men which was short-listed for two of France’s most prestigious literary prizes even before its American publishing. His new book is Little Faith.One of Butler's top ten books set in the American midwest, as shared at the Guardian:
Gilead by Marilynne RobinsonRead about the other entries on the list.
In fiction, we often talk about “what is at stake” in a story: what propels a reader through a narrative, and why should they care? It is through the eyes of Robinson’s 77-year-old minister John Ames that we understand the stakes here are essentially time. He’s running out of time and every action he makes, every feeling and every perception he has, is that much heightened.
Gilead is on Joanna Cannon's top ten list of clerics in fiction, The Telegraph's list of eight books every dad should read, Allegra Frazier's top five list of diary novels, Michael Arditti's ten best list of fictional clerics, Ayad Akhtar's list of three notable books on faith in the US, Michael Crummey's top ten list of literary feuds and Geraldine Brooks's five most important books list; it is a book Dalia Sofer would like to share with her children.
Also see: eight essential Midwestern novels by women, ten must-read books that take place in the Midwest, and thirteen great books out of the Midwest.
--Marshal Zeringue
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