Oh, right. Well, novels fur sure then. I'm interested in reading genuine literature not that romantic rubbish one can stumble across an Wattpad 😂. And with reference to the availability, I'll just borrow them from the Uni library.
For instance, could Hawthorne be a right choice for a non-native but quite advanced reader? (don't know whether you are American or not though)

I am American, and Hawthorne is comparable to Hardy in that they are both authors whose works were included in the literary canon for years, and some of their books (and poems) were required reading for many high school and university students through the 20th century. However, neither author reflects contemporary society, so that is why I suggest you might look at literary prize lists. If you are looking specifically for American authors, there are Pulitzer prize lists: https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/219

By "genre" I meant realistic fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, mystery, fantasy, etc., all of which can include novels.

I looked up "American post modern authors" and there is a huge list on Wikipedia, where you can click on an author and read more about him/her https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_postmodern_writers.

@silviola Wattpad has good books but they aren't easy to find 😪.

I'll recommend Wuthering heights, the literature students in my school read it. George Orwell's 1968 [I'm not sure of the book title].