Sketches/Vignettes?

So I'm trying to propose a course of reading for an independent study I'm applying to take next quarter. It's a creative writing thing, so the idea is that you read some material but also produce writing. I'd like to focus on sketches or vignettes, so I'm looking for books of sketches/vignettes. No specific time period, but I'd eventually like to propose a course of reading that ranges from the 1700s/1800s to the modern era (with slightly more emphasis on contemporary literature). I'm probably going to do Dickens' Sketches by Boz, and I have heard that Mark Twain wrote a book of sketches, but other than that I'm a little stuck. I'd also be interested in reading a book of vignettes that are all connected to each other -- something like The Spoon River Anthology, but in prose instead of verse. I thought that a group of English majors would be the best place to ask for thoughts/suggestions on other authors or books that I might want to look at. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks muchly. :)