Finished "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and really enjoyed it. It was Smith's first book and was a sensation in 1943 for several reasons.
1)It was her FIRST book
2)It was HER first book
3)Had very poor immigrant working class heroes
4)Had frank sexuality and sexual amoral behavior
5)Female protagonist
6)Analysis in simple words of a failed father figure
7)Was taken for a near autobiography, although recent study suggests not.

It was a very rewarding book, and within the book the central family raises its children by reading from two books: The (Protestant) Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare.

As for Hemingway, I agree his stuff is simply hypnotic. I find Orwell similar in his ability to get important ideas across with simple words, and I think both were geniuses.

Robert B Parker is readable but doesn't really deliver for me, He and Kinky Friedman are in the same league, simple words, repetitive situations, non-clever plots and a kind of self indulgence like including pets as main characters for no obvious reason. A purer example of their style with pages dripping in testosterone would be Mickey Spillane rather than Hemingway. Diluted Spillane at that, whi ch is probably a good thing.

For the real mccoy check out John D MacDonald who could deliver on pretty much any topic; he was a genre maker with powerful imagery. Even the titles of his books rock, the best example being "One Monday We Killed Them All." His main characters presaged the sensitive male (who still had a pair). He also included a dawning ecological awareness which was very unusual for his time. Carl Hiaason's works are offshoots of MacDonald.

Greatest overall American writer: I'm a traditionalist, it's hands down Mark Twain. Before I left high school I read the collection of all his short stories and they covered a great range, including outer space, angels named Satan as best friends, and his satire of the Sherlock Holmes mystery.

I think Charles Dicken is going to move up to one of the ALL TIME GREATS as in Shakespere level, if he isn't there already. A Dickens book is a universe.