Winesburg, Ohio

When a picture he had painted was under discussion, he wanted to burst out with something like this: "You don't get the point," he wanted to explain: "the picture you see doesn't consist of the things you see and say words about. Thre is something else, something you don't see at all, something you aren't intended to see. Look at this one over here, by the door here, where the light from the window falls on it. The dark spot by the road that you might not notice at all is, you see, the beginning of everything. There is a clump of elders there such as used to grow beside the road before our house back in Winesburg, Ohio, and in among the elders there is something hidden."

Sherwood Anderson, "Loneliness"

Read all of Winesburg, Ohio. for free on Google! It is a beautiful collection of interconnected short stories that doesn't get nearly as much attention as it deserves. It's one of my all time favorites, and definitely a classic!