Anne Tyler wrote her first novel, If Morning Ever Comes, when she was only 23. Seventeen novels later, Tyler remains a popular and gifted portrayer of contemporary family life in America. She sets most of her novels in Baltimore, where she has lived the majority of her life, and imbues her novels with casts of convincing characters all facing some sort of crisis, usually involving their family. Tyler is often labeled a recluse; she rarely grants interviews, and does not travel to promote her books. 

The first book I read by Tyler, 1991’s Saint Maybe, remains my favorite of hers. Here, she deftly depicts the role religion plays in the life of Bedloe, who feels guilty after the death of his brother and sister-in-law, quitting his job to concentrate on raising his brother’s kids to fulfill the moral obligation he feels he has. She is perhaps best known for 1985’s The Accidental Tourist, which depicts a middle-aged travel guide writer finding love in the wake of his son’s death, and her Pulitzer Prize-winning Breathing Lessons (1988), describing the decades-long marriage of two characters driving in a car.

Tyler’s novels are comfortable; that word is the best I can conjure to mind to describe how it feels to cozy up with one of her books. Her characters are often conflicted, but never too conflicted—so far, she has not written from the perspective of a serial killer. Her characters are not too diverse, either. If I had to sum up her characters, I’d describe them as good-hearted, sometimes misguided individuals, who assume responsibilities in their family or environments but often find their best intentions thwarted.

This would be my one complaint against Tyler, who I do read and love: her characters’ problems are too cliche at times, and the plots tied up too neatly at novel’s end. I hope, one day, she writes of a gay man’s struggle for acceptance in his Midwestern conservative family, or a lesbian’s allegiance to her longterm partner who’s dying in the hospital. These plots would be well-handled in Tyler’s hands, and she is the author I would most like to see tackle such relevant topics.

Her style is simple; most of the books I’ve read by her are compulsively readable, which is, for me, why I read books. Below are the novels I’ve read by her; bolded titles are ones that were my picks.

• The Tin Can Tree (1965)
• A Slipping-Down Life (1970)
• Earthly Possessions (1977)
• Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982)
• The Accidental Tourist (1985)
• *Breathing Lessons (1988)
• Saint Maybe (1991)
• Digging To America (2006)
• Noah’s Compass (2010)

*Currently reading