Looking for suggestions

[NatalieWould]

I've just read and loved Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster which was a comforting read (spontaneous buy after browsing children's section). It made me realise that I like American female writers. I've enjoyed Louisa M. Alcott, Curtis Sittenfeld, Joyce Carol Oates and Edith Wharton. What else would you recommend? Any literary criticism ideas welcome too. I also love Patricia Highsmith. Any ideas? TIA.

The Help was ace, if you haven’t red it already. I listened to it as an audiobook with two different actors reading the two ‘voices’, which really added to it. Fantastic on the social history of the South too.

I also enjoyed E Annie Proulx, particularly her short stories.

Thank you UrbaneSprawl. I've read The Help and really enjoyed it too. I haven't tried any E Annie Proulx stories so I could give them a go. Thank you for recommending!

Carson McCullers, Willa Cather, Sue Monk Kidd, Elizabeth Strout... I’ll hold off bombarding you with loads!

Anne Tyler

Laura Ingalls Wilder (the Little House on the Prairie series)? The initial books are certainly aimed at a younger audience than Little Woman, but the latter books are much more mature.

I read them alongside a biography of LIW and found them a really interesting insight into the romanticizing of the American pioneer era and the lives of woman in the period.

They are heavily based on LIW own life and it's terribly interesting which bits she chose to gloss over etc.

Thank you MealyPotatoes, Lucylugs and PCohle that's really useful! I like the idea of reading the LIW biography alongside the books.

Sara Paretsky if you like private detective type novels. They are very much about living in Chicago.

She's Canadian but Carol Shields is also good, similar kind of style to Anne Tyler.

Thanks Cedar03. I will give her a go. I love the suggestions I'm getting! Much appreciated all

I thought I was alone in my love for Daddy Long Legs! Upon reflection, the relationship is a bit dubious, but Judy is such a lively and exuberant character, she sweeps you along. There is a sequel, although I can’t recall the title.

If you like vintage writers, you might enjoy Gene Stratton Porter’s Girl of the Limberlost. It’s many years since I read it last, but I adored it as a teenager. She has other books as well. She’s a writer in the sentimental vein of Anne of Green Gables, but the landscape is amazingly evocative.

Thanks DancelikeEmmaGoldman. Yes Daddy Long Legs is a bit dubious in that way. I was interested in how the writer was interested in education of girls. I think the sequel is Dear Enemy. Thanks so much for your recommendation!

Ooh dancelikeEmmaGoldman I also loved A Girl of the Limberlost! Was that the one with the amazing packed lunch?!

natalie Edna Ferber wrote some great stories about a travelling petticoat saleswoman in I think early 1900s America. Roast Beef Medium is one. Very enjoyable and free online!

The Light Between The Oceans. The book is far better than the film.
Loved it.