Stoner by John Williams

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).