C.J. Spataro is an award-winning short fiction writer whose work has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies including Taboos & Transgressions, Iron Horse Literary Review, december, Sequestrum, and Exacting Clam. She directs the MFA in Creative Writing and the MA in Publishing programs at Rosemont College and was a founding partner of Philadelphia Stories. Her debut novel, More Strange Than True, was published by Sagging Meniscus Press in June 2024 and was recently named to Reactor’s Can’t Miss Indie Speculative Books for Spring.
At Electric Lit Spataro tagged eight "novels set in Philly with mostly happy endings," including:
Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew QuickRead about another novel on the list.
Okay, so Pat Peoples might want to fight you. He’s that rabid Eagles fan that if pushed too far, will definitely take a swing at you. If you’ve never read Quick’snovel it is well worth the time. While the film adaptation is wonderful all on its own and totally worth watching, the novel more fully explores the depths and severity of Pat’s mental health issues, exacerbated by a traumatic brain injury. It also more fully explores his beautiful but very strange relationship with Tiffany, a young widow struggling to come to terms with her own mental health challenges. Silver Linings Playbook also gives you a fairly accurate picture of an average Eagles fan, someone willing to do the chant or sing the fight song in almost any situation, whether it is appropriate or not. By turns, funny, sweet, and sad, this novel is, like all the others on this list, one that will leave you feeling satisfied and hopeful.
The Silver Linings Playbook is among Jeff Somers's five most disastrous dinner parties in fiction, Lauren Passell's top eleven Manic Pixie Dream Girls in fiction, Jill Halfpenny's six best books, the Barnes & Noble Review's five top books on football, and the eight book adaptations that won 2013 Golden Globe awards.
The Page 69 Test: The Silver Linings Playbook.
--Marshal Zeringue
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