First published in 1965, Stoner was not initially a popular success, despite glowing reviews. However, the novel was rediscovered in the early 2000s, and has gone on to become an international bestseller, with many considering it the quintessential American novel. In his entry in Ig's Bookmarked series, best-selling author Steve Almond writes about why Stoner has endured as a classic, and the manner in which the book speaks to the impoverishment of the inner life in America. Almond uses the novel as a springboard to share his own struggles as a writer, a father and husband, and, finally, as a middle-aged man grappling with his own mortality.