If it's a feel-good novel you seek, I don't recommend Sherwood Anderson's collection of short stories. Despite the uniqueness of the work, I "left Winesburg feeling terribly sorry for just about every character who passed through its pages,.As usual, I read up on the author and the history of the book. Widely regarded as the"first piece of truly 'modern' American fiction," Winesburg, Ohio was published in 1919 and, not surprisingly, was poorly received by inhabitants of the midwestern town on which the stories were based. I assumed Anderson wrote himself into the vignettes as the sympathetic observer, George Willard, whom several characters (or, perhaps more accurately, "grotesques" as Anderson calls them with) confide in--the remaining figures cobbled together from people whom he knew in his youth.
Whether this book is actually a novel, a series of sketches, or a short story cycle seems to still be a matter of dispute by literary critics; but, as far as influences go, Hemingway, Bradbury, Lovecraft, Oates, and others have been profoundly influenced by the symbolism, structure and striking subject matter of the book.
Winesburg seems like your typical small town where still waters run deep. To the outside world, the town's substantial segment of lonely-hearts appear as typical quiet folk, though only the reader is privy to their darkest secrets: unrequited love, jealousy, latent homosexuality, dreams unfulfilled and self-pity.
On a bit of a lighter note, I recommend checking out this Onion article.
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