Cheever's 1978 The Stories of John Cheever won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. This collection contains the best of Cheever's short fiction spanning his career, providing the new student of his work with a solid starting point.

The Wapshot Chronicle (1957), the 1958 National Book Award winner, is the story of Leander Wapshot, a ferryman who abandons his family and his two sons. The sequel, The Wapshot Scandal, was well received.

Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary (1857) is the story of a dissatisfied woman who seeks a more invigorating life for herself. She pursues younger men but remains unfulfilled. Although deemed scandalous at the time of its publication, the work is considered a classic by modern standards.