Jane Smiley's new novel, Some Luck (out in October), is the clearest distillation of the trend: cornfield, broad blue sky, barn.

Some Luck, by Jane Smiley.

Another cornfield, another clear-blue sky: Flight 232 (out in July).

Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival, by Laurence Gonzales.

More fields—not corn this time: The Road Back to Sweetgrass (September).

The Road Back to Sweetgrass, by Linda LeGarde Grover.

A more crowded cover, Keeping the Bees (paperback issued this past May), keeps the green-field-blue-sky combo.

Keeping the Bees, by Laurence Packer.

And here's the parenting book version: Freeing Your Child From Anxiety (reissued in July).

Freeing Your Child From Anxiety, by Tamar Chansky, Ph.D.

Nora Roberts' The Fall of Shane Mackade (July), swaps the early-morning filter for a dusty dusk.

The Fall of Shane Mackade, by Nora Roberts.

Wildflowers instead of cornstalks on Marilynne Robinson's Lila (October).

Lila, by Marilynne Robinson.

A little perspective: Jo-Ann Mapson's Solomon's Oak (reissued in paperback this year) has the field in the distance.

Solomon's Oak, by Jo-Ann Mapson.

Splendor in the Grass

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