Someone else mentioned Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbirdge". It's the one of his 5 major novels I haven't read. "Far From the Madding Crowd" and "Return o

Someone else mentioned Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbirdge". It's the one of his 5 major novels I haven't read. "Far From the Madding Crowd" and "Return of the Native" are okay, but the two that really are magnificent are: "Jude the Obscure" - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/153 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/153 "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/110 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/110 You can sense his fury at the society he was depicting. You might not want to read either of these, particularly "Tess", if you're prone to depression. Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Frontier in American History" (1921) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22994 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22994 This collection leads off with Turner's essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" (1893). It's considered by some the most influential historical essay about America ever written. Historians went back and forth on his claims for decades, and people pointed out many issues with them. It seems like the critics predominate now. But it's still worth reading, particularly since (right or wrong) his ideas influenced the way we think of ourselves. Turner was a very good writer - he was a noted orator, and his essays have an oratorical quality - and the other essays in the collection are pretty good, too. Owen Wister, "The Virginian" - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1298 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1298 Zane Grey, "Riders of the Purple Sage" - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1300 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1300 And the sequel: "The Rainbow Trail" - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5067 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5067 "The Virginian" (1902) and "Riders" (1912) established many of the themes and tropes for the "standard" western, and they're still fun to read. But the genre comprises many other kinds of writing - e.g. A. B. Guthrie, Elmer Kelton, and the next writer. Willa Cather's novels: The "plains trilogy" (the stories are set in Nebraska and Colorado, but otherwise unrelated): "O Pioneers!" (1913) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24 "The Song of the Lark" (1915) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44 "My Ántonia" (1918) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19810 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19810 And not quite a hundred years ago, but a wonderful novel: "Death Comes for the Archbishop" (1927) - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69730 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69730 A few brief mentions: James Joyce's "Ulysses", though I had a tough time getting through it; some of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories (e.g. "The Minister's Black Veil"); "Njal's Saga" (I liked the Penguin edition with the translation by Magnusson and Pallson); the great works of classic fantasy (Lord Dunsany, E. R. Eddison, William Morris, Arthur Machen); the essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.