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Happy birthday to Carson McCullers 💃 the lovely lady is 107 years young today. You should read her if you have not. She writes about lonely, love-starved weirdos, and without self-snitching too much, I can say she is a very important writer to me and a writer who has given me more love through her books than any stupid floozy ever managed.
I recommend The Heart is a Lonely Hunter first, as that is my favourite of hers. It is a little unfocused and scattered, but it contains a sort of comprehensive overview of her work. She did not really stray from themes of isolation and love throughout her career, nor did she in her personal life, so whichever book you pick up, you will be getting variations on the different kinds of pain these feelings bring. Her second novel, The Member of the Wedding, is the best technically, as she specifically traps the pain of not belonging to a group and longing for love. All of her books are amazing, with exception to Clock Without Hands, but she was made regarded by strokes, so please forgive her. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is a very special book to me, though, so I will always put that first.
Glad to see her get the love she deserves. I read The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter when I was 17 or 18, and she gave voice and depth to the feelings of deep and irreconcilable isolation and a horror at the casual cruelty and stupidity of small-town American life that I had always felt, but never been able to articulate. HBD to a real Georgia peach.