The Pugilist at Rest: Stories34 reviews Thom Jones Back Bay Books, 1994 jones is more than flavor of month -- he's the real thing + Darn fine + Must read Vietnam literature + altered consciousness             Kentucky Straight: Stories10 reviews Chris Offutt Vintage, 1992 Magic... + Rural anarchy + Inside Straight ... + From The Holler + A voice as clear as spring water.             Heat and Other Stories4 reviews Joyce Carol Oates Dutton Adult, 1991 Oates is a master of the short story! + Heat Is An Apt Title + Oates's best collection yet! + A well builder book             Hell and Ohio: Stories of Southern Appalachian3 reviews Chris Holbrook Gnomon Press, 1995 Hell of a Book + This is a well-written book by a master of the short story. + Holbrook depicts modern Appalachia at a crossroads. I wish more people would discover this talented author. Because his publisher had limited distribution power, this book got lost in the shuffle and it's just not fair. This is one of the best short story collections of recent years, full of powerful plots and prose so beautiful that it ...             Knockemstiff48 reviews Donald Ray Pollock Doubleday, 2008 Welcome to planet Knockemstiff! + America's Lumpenproletariat ... + knockemstiff + Wow + Stories better than the one I just read.             One Hundred Years of Solitude (P.S.)55 reviews Gabriel Garcia Marquez Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006 Hater of Magic + Garcia Marquez is great! + Excellent, but not typical of Marquez. I knew I would hate the book. I can't stand magic, fantasy books or huge sprawling books. The short elegant novel is for me. But I thought I'd just try a few pages. A day later, my work copletely ignored, I emerged exhausted but exilerated. Yet, this is one of the greatest books I've ever read ...             Tobacco Road47 reviews Erskine Caldwell University of Georgia Press, 1995 Debasing, but not necessarily limited to Southerners... + This South Should Never Rise Again + Tobacco Road, a Must-Read I find it rather humorous to note that not only do the majority of the people getting offended by this work of literary brilliance hail from south of the Mason-Dixon, but also that no one seems to have a clue of Caldwell's primary intention. His always-controversial characters, particularly the ...             Child of God59 reviews Cormac McCarthy Vintage, 1993 McCarthy's tale of a Southern Ed Gein where Horror becomes Art + Good, but not McCarthy's best + Road Lovers, Start Here I love horror of any kind; novels, short stories, movies, you name it. Being from Tennessee, I'm especially drawn to "rural legends" about backwoods boogie men that you often wonder are or aren't lurking somewhere off in the woods beyond your back doorstep. My first McCarthy book was "Blood ...             Birds of America: Stories84 reviews Lorrie Moore Picador, 1999 A Christmas Appreciation of Lorrie Moore + For anyone with a child interned at the hospital... + Discovering Lorrie Moore + What wonderful stories!             Town Smokes: Stories5 reviews Pinckney Benedict Ontario Review Press, 2002 Damn good stuff + good fun + As original and powerful as Joyce's "Dubliners." + Literature at Its Best             The Light the Dead See: Selected Poems of Frank Stanford5 reviews Leon Stokesbury University of Arkansas Press, 1991 A poet of great beauty + How the populace has run off the path + "born and raised in Pineola" + More People Should Read Frank Stanford + A Stunning vision of Death in everyday Life.             As I Lay Dying191 reviews William Faulkner Vintage, 1991 Homegoing + Worth the effort! + A Grim, Morbid, and Compelling Tale + Now I can get them teeth...             The Collected Stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer14 reviews Isaac Bashevis Singer Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1983 Magnificent and Masterful, Spirited and Profound + Isaac Bashevis Singer Stories + Wonderful tale telling history + Wonderful storyteller             The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut (Signet)935 reviews Stephen King Signet, 1991 outstanding vision + Stephen King's Greatest Novel + Stephan King's Best + One of his crowning achievements + One of the longest (and greatest!) books you'll read...             The Ballad of the Sad Cafe: and Other Stories31 reviews Carson McCullers Mariner Books, 2005 Carson's Ballad is Beautiful + Essential Americana + sure, McCullers' concerns are weighty and everything... + A HAUNTING STORY             Fight Club: A Novel643 reviews Chuck Palahniuk W. W. Norton, 2005 a thought-provoking book + A sacred, unique snowflake of special unique specialness. + Every teenager needs to read this novel! + Fight Club - Palahnuik can do no wrong + This book is still a beautiful and unique snowflake.             The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake16 reviews Breece D'J Pancake, John Casey, ... Back Bay Books, 2002 Reality in Fiction + Astonishing. + A Modern Classic + Write what you know + Collected Stories of a Work in Progress             Dead Souls: A Novel33 reviews Nikolai Gogol Vintage, 1997 Dead Souls: Translation is Everything + An Incredibly Funny Social Satire + definitely worth a read! + A Charming Russian Masterpiece + Russian satire at its best.             Above the River: The Complete Poems6 reviews James Wright Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992 Universality in Regional Voice + Sublime Poetry Slightly Flawed by Format + flawless poetic mastery? + flawless poetic mastery? + Thought-provoking AND understandable contemporary poetry!             Geek Love: A Novel246 reviews Katherine Dunn Vintage, 2002 indescribable, amazing,my favorite book of all time. no contest + Absolutely Stunning Masterpiece + It IS Different, Thank God + Mesmerizing yet stomach-churning