Event: Let's discuss Stoner by John Williams.
Canonical Status: A Rediscovered "Modern Classic."
*Stoner* has a unique publication history. When it was published in 1965, it sold under 2,000 copies and went out of print. However, after it was reissued in the 2000s, it underwent a massive critical revival, famously called "the perfect novel" by critics and authors like Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes.
While it missed the early 20th-century traditional lists (like the *Modern Library 100 Best Novels* list from 1998), it now routinely appears on 21st-century rankings, "Top 100 Overlooked Classics," and curated "Greatest American Novels" lists.
Page count: \~280 to 320 pages (the standard New York Review Books edition is \~288 pages, while the Vintage edition is \~320 pages).
Word count: \~70,000 words.
Reading time: \~4.5 to 7 hours (depending on reading speed).
Audiobook length: \~9 hours and 46 minutes (narrated by Robin Field).
