#173. "O Pioneers" by Willa Cather

When most stories about the Midwest pop up, they're usually of the triumphant cowboys who fight bad guys and save desert towns. For as fun as the western genre is, it isn't a complete portrait of America as it evolved over the 19th century. Willa Cather knows this better than anyone and produced a handful of fiction that perfectly captured the joys of smalltown life. In a Nordic community inhabited in the norther corners of the Midwest, the story unfolds with a simple view of a world that was starting to take shape. Every small innovation is complimented by traditions and community that build something endearing and sweet along the way. It's in these small, episodic encounters that life happens. As a result, it's one of the purest, more enduring portraits that American fiction has produced.

#172. "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

As centuries have carried on, the topic of colonization becomes more widely discussed. At the time of Joseph Conrad's publication of his timelesss novel "Heart of Darkness," European authors romanticized the weary traveler. These were men who helped to exoticize worlds different from their regal lifestyle. While Conrad's contribution seems like the same as usual, what he ends up creating is one of the greatest indictments of colonization that fiction had seen. With a protagonist who continually insults the residents of the jungle communities he inhabits, there is a sense of disgust in even being there. Despite being the outsider, the efforts to make him the expert only reflect how lacking the nature of assumptions are. With a third act that finds white guilt and isolation taking a toll on a supporting character, everything comes together in a radical, stunning fashion that shows the heart of a cruel man who ends not with understanding but with even more disconnect than what he went in with. 

#171. "One Day" by David Nicholls

Few romance novels have a gimmick as brilliant as David Nicholls' "One Day." In an effort to understand a relationship through minimalist details, he chooses to explore how a couple reunite once a year to figure out where they are in life. What starts as bright-eyed youths with their own aspirations slowly evolves into different career paths. While later chapters feature them not interacting at all, the early run is some of the finest explorations of the optimism of love and how brilliant everything seems at the offset. With the shift of each decade (both of characters and time) comes new challenges to the novel. New worldviews form and the concept of desire shifts slightly. Can love sustain the struggles of time, or is everything doomed to be forgotten? Certain people remain pivotal to personal growth. Time moves on, but the memories don't. This novel is nostalgic and glossy without resorting to kitsch. Instead, it feels raw, honest, and likely to leave the reader contemplative of their own relationships.

#170. "Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn

One of the greatest gifts that Gillian Flynn has a writer is knowing how to make the nasty appealing. In one of her earliest novels, "Sharp Objects" reflects a woman's complicated journey with family whose tensions are resurrected when she's forced to return to her hometown. Despite being an investigative reporter who is used to difficult subject matters, there is something about this particular case that bothers her on a deep level. It could be because of how it drags up unhealthy coping behaviors as harsh comments lead her to potentially relapse. As everything falls apart, the novel becomes of the most perplexing views of self-harm that 21st century fiction has provided. Even in its sensationalized approach, Flynn doesn't romanticize the condition. Instead it becomes a character study that takes familiar tropes and makes for a pulpy page-turner that does enough right to foreshadow one of fiction's most impressive young careers to date.

#169. "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

For generations now, Margaret Atwood's seminal novel "The Handmaid's Tale" has been considered haunting less because of what it says but more what it predicts. In a dystopian future, women have become second-class citizens and are forced to wear restrictive clothing as their homelife becomes a prison. The inability to express oneself outside the maternal roles has resonated with many who find the subtext to be more than allusions. Given her history of feminist criticism, Atwood's most popular work remains vital. The darkness is sure to cause a goosebump or two. Even then, it's not without some levity as characters find humor in their increasingly mundane lives, doing everything to stave off insanity. The results are a powerful cautionary story that encourages the reader to be aware of the world around them, questioning whether the slow decline into oppression can be attributed to their neutrality or if the collective system was always a bit hopeless to a few evil powers.

#168. "Dog Man: The Scarlet Shredder" by Dav Pilkey

At this point, readers will know whether they are on board with the Dog Man series. Having usurped its status as the Captain Underpants spin-off, it has managed to develop its own strange lore that has become more engrossing and substantial than anything Dav Pilkey has written. What's been especially exciting is finding the author move between juvenile humor and deeply emotional pathos. The results continue in this graphic novel that finds the absurd premise dovetailing with a familiar vulnerable core that delivers another reliable entry. It may not be the most memorable book in the series, but Pilkey has found a way to keep the series alive with a youthful bouyancy that encourages them to give into their creative pursuits and find their own adventure worth following.

#167. "Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert

Upon its release, "Madame Bovary" was considered a controversial text that reflected the downfall of moral women. As a story about a chaste lady giving into carnal desire, it reflected a shift towards a more independent era that was uncommon for the 19th century. As a story that revels in realism and modernist technique, it explores the interiority of its character while placing her in a series of situations that conveys the emotional depths of a figure in desperate need of connection. The results are not without tragedy, though the journey does a fantastic job of showing the highs and lows of frivolous lifestyles. Thanks to Gustave Flaubert's prose, it never strays too far into seediness and instead works as a commentary on why the unexamined life is ultimately meaningless. There has to be risks and failure to appreciate its larger purpose, and nobody achieves it quite like Madame Bovary.