“I’d like to recommend the great and criminally undersung novelist Wright Morris. In spite of winning the National Book Award twice, Morris, a Nebraskan who spent much of his life in the Bay Area, remains unknown to too many readers. Last year was the hundredth anniversary of his birth. Among his many novels, three have been really essential to me: The Field of Vision, Ceremony in Lone Tree, and Plains Song. Morris took incredible narrative risks, and each time I reread his books I am more astounded by the things he is able to get away with. Each year I reread Plains Song, and each year my heart gets broken again. And why is having your heart broken so inspiring? I’m not sure, but I find this so.”
—Peter Orner, author of Love and Shame and Love (Little, Brown, 2011)
Photo credit: Traci Griffin