If you are new to Wendell Berry's work, you might start or continue your reading with one of these. The list is based solely on my own preferences. (Br. Tom)
Site News: Wendell Berry fiction listed in Narrative Order
02 January 2021
Many long-term followers of Wendell Berry's fiction have become used to reading the work as it appears, more or less in order of publication. I'm a particular fan of this approach. It includes the joy of discovering new insights or shifts of perspective "in real time" along with the author. But clearly this isn't the only way to read the news of Port William. A growing number of readers want to experience it imaginatively from an historical point of view, as in "What are the oldest tales of Port William? And how did they grow?"
More and more often, I find people on social media asking about where to begin reading Wendell Berry or what to read next. There is help for them HERE. And lately there's another concern among readers who are looking for an orderly and complete-as-possible immersion into the life of Port William. Counterpoint Press began to help these folks back in 2004 with the release of That Distant Land, whose Table of Contents lists not only short stories but novels, as well, according to their narrative chronology. This was followed in 2012 by A Place in Time. In 2018 this work continued when The Library of America published Wendell Berry: Port William Novels & Stories, The Civil War to World War II.
Leaning on these three works and a range of other resources (along with good nudges from members of The Wendell Berry Society at Facebook), I've put together a list of all presently available Port William fiction according to their narrative order— the chronological order in which the events of the stories take place— right HERE.