7. St. Paul
Until They Bring the Streetcars Back by Stanley Gordon West
Yes, yes — much of Jonathan Franzen’s Earth-shaking new book Freedom is set in St. Paul. But to really get a feel for the city, we suggest Stanley Gordon West’s novel, which takes place in the city, just after World War II. In this wrenching story, quaint, mid-century optimism gives way to a morass of violence and incest, as Cal Grant risks everything to save a girl from her horrifying life.
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Comments (26)
I love that 2 of the 4 cities I’ve lived in in the last 5 years are on this list! Also, I’ve tried to read Geek Love so many times, but every time I end up disturbed and confused…
I love that Atlanta is on the list! We are slowly becoming quite the place to read! :) e
Where’s Boston? Boston is one of the top cities where people read. You can’t get on a T car without seeing half the people riding with a book.
Los Angeles…? Hello…?
Not incidentally, Gore V. took a mad dog beating and was spit on by Norman Mailer. Indeed Mailer used to refer to him as, “My own personal punching bag.” Hilarious stuff.
Love how CT held the study but does not make the list.
[...] If you’re into this kind of thing, here are book recommendations for each of the top 10 cities. [...]
What? Philadelphia isn’t on the list? We have more colleges than any other city in the US and a thriving spoken word scene, creative writing programs, One Book One Philadelphia, more arts festivals than you can shake a stick at, a sell-out library series, and much, much more. This list is not at ALL accurate. Somebody was just assigned a fluff piece to write. This article is total bullshit.
Berkeley? Brooklyn? Cambridge? Philadelphia? Madison, Wisc? This list doesn’t seem well researched. And while San Francisco is certainly noted for queer literature, hello, Beats? City Lights?
Perhaps the study only looked at book sales (meaning, self-help, diet, romance, and so forth). I can’t imagine we’re actually looking at “literature” in these figures…
Astute observation, Lauren. I think you’re probably right. Perhaps the Flavorwire editors will list the criteria they used to construct this list.
Full list:
http://www.ccsu.edu/amlc2010
Guys, the “criteria” are pretty clearly stated above — the list comes straight from the study cited in the intro.
Uhhh . . . how about re-reading the article Lauren. Perhaps a self-help book is in your future.
[...] and 7, respectively. Flavorwire picked a book to represent each city: for Minneapolis, they picked The Night of the Gun by David Carr, and for St. Paul, Until They Bring the Streetcars Back by Stanley Gordon West. [...]
kelly, your civic pride outshines your reading comprehension skills.
Very surprised Cincinnati didn’t make the list considering we have the busiest circulating library in the US.
I absolutely love the fact that my city of Atlanta is on this list. I wish it had a better book to represent it though. Just cause its made into a blockbuster movie doesn’t mean it’s a literary class. May I suggest “Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn” as an alternative? Excellent book.
What about Trenton, NJ?
Seriously. A Parisian friend was planning a trip to Trenton to see where the Stephanie Plum stories take place– until I (Trenton born) advised against it. I was never one for destroying the literary illusion.
I don’t know how this list is determined, but I’d propose Houston for this list, despite the fact that the rest of America thinks we’re a bunch of numbskulls. Houston has four universities and a nationally renowned medical center, a number of independent bookstores, a well-respected MFA program (University of Houston) which has a faculty of well-known writers (Antonya Nelson, Tony Hoagland, etc), a reading series that just this year has already hosted Carlos Fuentes and Salman Rushdie, plus so many other readings and booksignings that you could go to one every night if you wanted to.
since when is St. Louis a Southern city?
[...] took this a step further and did the best books from the most literate cities. Pretty cool. This entry was written by [...]
I was looking for “Devil in the White City.”
[...] recently wrote a great post on 10 pieces of literature to match a recent survey of America’s most literate cities. In addition to giving me more [...]
[...] recently wrote a great post on 10 pieces of literature to match a recent survey of America’s most literate cities. In addition to giving me more [...]
[...] The Twin Cities are regularly rated among the most literary cities in the country (check out Flavorwire‘s pairing of top cities and books set in them) and Minneapolis has been voted the best biking [...]
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