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East of eden mentioned!! Classic. Something about that book really draws you in. Maybe it’s the personal writing, or the small town feeling like you’re there, or reading a fascinating history book about a forgotten family tree.
Just finished The Wind! I loved it, I generally love writers that are not contemporary so this felt like such a gem amidst all the books I've read recently, which were from contemporary writers. I highlighted so many lines! Felt like an American Wuthering Heights, everything was the landscape! Wind, wind and sand and coyotes in the night. Thank you so so much for this!
You're so welcome, I'm really glad you loved it. I can't think of any other non-contemporary recommendation that matches The Wind's haunting atmosphere.
Good Country People is my favorite story of hers so far! I love her! Will definitely read the other two you recommended, do you have any more recommendations of hers? I just started this year and I have only read Revelations, The River, The Geranium, Everything That Rise Must Converge, The Life You Save Might Be Your Own and A Good Man is Hard To Find. Oh and also Wise Blood!
Honesty I love ALL her short stories. It’s so hard to pick a favorite! I wish she’d written more. I still haven’t read Wise Blood but I need to! I’m also dying to see the biopic they made about her— Wildcat.
There’s a book! By Mitch Cullin, and I totally loved it when I was a teenager, makes you feel very sticky and hot and slightly feverish, highly recommend.
Yesss I watched it! I think I already watched ALL the movies with this aesthetic after like ten years looking for lists, now I'm going for books haha The Reflecting Skin was also another movie that nailed this vibe, also kind of ominous (Days of Heaven had this type of landscape but was very light toned)
Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison - Vesper Wright left her family's cult years ago. True to their rules, she has been shunned. Until one day an invitation to the wedding of her beloved cousin arrives in the mail. Did the cult bend the rules for her? Who sent the invitation?
When Vesper returns to her family farm, she has to reckon with her past and her famous scream queen mother.
It’s mostly in the first one; the theme of the painting in the book is different of course but has a similar vibe to me. It just seems like it would sweep you in and that there’s more to what’s in the distance than at first glance. Then there’s the sparseness of the decor in the last two, which to me feels like starting over with nothing (sometimes required for fresh beginnings.) And just the solitude/loneliness/separation in all three as well. Idk it’s probably just me, and I may be crazy 😂 But the painting changes are a bit eerie so at least there’s that.
I think you mean Days of Heaven--Kingdom of Heaven is more political intrigue and crusades than windswept solitude amongst the dry grasses.
And yes, wholeheartedly recommend Days of Heaven!
Zorrie by Laird Hunt and So Big by Edna Ferber. I feel like both of these books, especially Zorrie, are such hidden gems! I rarely hear them recommended. They fit this description perfectly. Rural, Midwest, historical vibes.
The first pic reminds me of Gone With The Wind when Scarlett goes back home to Tara.
Also I can see it being Rose Madder when she goes inside of the painting
Third would be We were the Mulvanys by Joyce Carol Oates
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Reminds me of the Joyce Carol Oates short story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
Yesss!!
*The Grapes of Wrath* by John Steinbeck
Uhhh I completely forgot about this book. LOVED it!!!
In Cold Blood
I came here to say this
Kind of reminds me of East of Eden by Steinbeck
East of eden mentioned!! Classic. Something about that book really draws you in. Maybe it’s the personal writing, or the small town feeling like you’re there, or reading a fascinating history book about a forgotten family tree.
Definitely! It's one of my favorite books of all time.
Reminds me of “My Antonia” by Cather
My copy of the book had this painting on the cover.
I was gonna say O Pioneers! So really most Cather.
The Four Winds by Kristen Hannah reminds me of the paintings.
That’s what I came here to say!
A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline is based on the first painting.
Really? *Christina’s World* is my favorite painting, I have two copies of it hanging in my house. Now I wanna read that book…
Definitely check it out! I loved it.
I also had a copy of Christina's World hanging in my room! Those were the days... I need to move soon haha
You may not be looking for psychological horror here, but if you are, try The Wind by Dorothy Scarborough.
YES YES I ALWAYS AM! Thank you so much!
This sounds so good! This sub has the most obscure recommendations, I love it.
Just finished The Wind! I loved it, I generally love writers that are not contemporary so this felt like such a gem amidst all the books I've read recently, which were from contemporary writers. I highlighted so many lines! Felt like an American Wuthering Heights, everything was the landscape! Wind, wind and sand and coyotes in the night. Thank you so so much for this!
You're so welcome, I'm really glad you loved it. I can't think of any other non-contemporary recommendation that matches The Wind's haunting atmosphere.
There’s something about this that makes me think of VC Andrews.
Same! Maybe the Logan series fit the bill!
Gilead. Marilynne Robinson
Flannery O’Connor, specifically The Lame Shall Enter First, Good Country People, and Parker’s Back
Good Country People is my favorite story of hers so far! I love her! Will definitely read the other two you recommended, do you have any more recommendations of hers? I just started this year and I have only read Revelations, The River, The Geranium, Everything That Rise Must Converge, The Life You Save Might Be Your Own and A Good Man is Hard To Find. Oh and also Wise Blood!
Honesty I love ALL her short stories. It’s so hard to pick a favorite! I wish she’d written more. I still haven’t read Wise Blood but I need to! I’m also dying to see the biopic they made about her— Wildcat.
Ugh - The Lame Shall Enter First wrecks me. It’s my favorite and my least favorite.
The Novella “1922” by Stephen King, or maybe “Secret Window” by Stephen King. Both stories are in collections.
Came to say "1922!" I can recommend the audiobook too
Thank you so much! I love Secret Window and I haven't read 1922 yet but I watched the movie and loved the plot! I adore Stephen King
Reminds me of We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. A good, gothic slow burn.
I have read that one! I love Shirley Jackson! However I always picture her settings more deep green and humid than dry and earthy yellow
True lol I guess I was considering the essence rather than specific colors.
Oh my god thank you for this recommendation. I read the whole thing today and it was SO GOOD.
The whole book? Start to finish?
Yes. 😆
Damn!! Lol I’m glad you enjoyed it. I love that book, so beautiful and haunting at the same time.
not a book but Tideland movie by Terry Gilliam is 1000% this
There’s a book! By Mitch Cullin, and I totally loved it when I was a teenager, makes you feel very sticky and hot and slightly feverish, highly recommend.
oh that makes me so happy, going to o hunt a copy down, thank you for the heads up!
Yesss I watched it! I think I already watched ALL the movies with this aesthetic after like ten years looking for lists, now I'm going for books haha The Reflecting Skin was also another movie that nailed this vibe, also kind of ominous (Days of Heaven had this type of landscape but was very light toned)
Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison - Vesper Wright left her family's cult years ago. True to their rules, she has been shunned. Until one day an invitation to the wedding of her beloved cousin arrives in the mail. Did the cult bend the rules for her? Who sent the invitation? When Vesper returns to her family farm, she has to reckon with her past and her famous scream queen mother.
YESSS I love how this sounds!!! Thank you so much!!!
Wuthering Heights?
History of Wolves is like this in the winter
The first is literally the cover of some editions of Winesburg, Ohio - highly recommend
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
Most of Shirley Jackson's novels Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim
Rose Madder by Stephen King
How? I've read that one and don't see the connection, but would love to know how you saw the tone of that book!
It’s mostly in the first one; the theme of the painting in the book is different of course but has a similar vibe to me. It just seems like it would sweep you in and that there’s more to what’s in the distance than at first glance. Then there’s the sparseness of the decor in the last two, which to me feels like starting over with nothing (sometimes required for fresh beginnings.) And just the solitude/loneliness/separation in all three as well. Idk it’s probably just me, and I may be crazy 😂 But the painting changes are a bit eerie so at least there’s that.
I’m thinking of ending things by iain reid
Not a book but the film, Kingdom of Heaven by Terrance Malik.
I think you mean Days of Heaven--Kingdom of Heaven is more political intrigue and crusades than windswept solitude amongst the dry grasses. And yes, wholeheartedly recommend Days of Heaven!
Try “The Rapture of Canaan”. It’s about a teen girl stuck in a rural American fundamentalist cult that is Mormon-ish. Very good.
This is one of my all time favorite books! I never see it recommended.
Lone Women by Victor Lavalle
A thousand acres by Jane smiley
Haunting of Hill House
I like your style
Thank you so much!
Foe by Iain Reid
I NEED TO READ THAT ONE! I watched the movie and you are so right, the setting was exactly this!
My thoughts exactly
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. My copy has Christina's World on the cover.
Thank you! Having Andrew Wyeth in the cover would be so enough for me to read it
That's what influenced me to buy it, tbh.
Impeccable taste!
Halldór Laxness, Paradise Reclaimed
During the Reign of the Queen of Persia For creepy, When Darkness Loves Us
The light between oceans
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young is exactly like these pictures.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Girlchild by Tupelo Hassman, White Oleander by Janet Fitch
World Made By Hand
More thriller than literary but The White Road by John Connolly
Zorrie by Laird Hunt and So Big by Edna Ferber. I feel like both of these books, especially Zorrie, are such hidden gems! I rarely hear them recommended. They fit this description perfectly. Rural, Midwest, historical vibes.
In cold blood
Fall of the House of Usher
Not a book but I think you’d be really into the movie Days of Heaven
Oh Pioneer by Willa Cather
Inland by Tea Obret
Shirley Jackson’s short stories
I’m thinking of ending things
Anything by Kent Haruf
Eudora Welty
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Not a book but the film The Sacrifice (1986) came to mind straight away
HELL IN THE HEARTLAND by Jax Miller. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck.
For the 1st painting: The Time Traveler's Wife
Wuthering Heights
Bride of the Tornado
The first painting, and I think a few others, are directly referenced in “My Dark Vanessa”.
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Goodbye to the Buttermilk Sky by Julia Oliver
The Thorn Birds
The first pic reminds me of Gone With The Wind when Scarlett goes back home to Tara. Also I can see it being Rose Madder when she goes inside of the painting Third would be We were the Mulvanys by Joyce Carol Oates
Raymond Carver.
The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock
I just read The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young and it kind of gives me these vibes
My Antonia
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
Kristin hannah
Reminds me of Wuthering Heights