Why I should Read Flannery O'Connor

I have been trying to expand my reading list lately, especially to include more modern American writers. It seems, although I am one of those annoying people who wear red, white, and blue on the Fourth of July and still believes in the American Idea (life has not yet been able to beat that out of me), I show a shocking proclivity for tea and English novels. 
My brother, who is in seminary, recommended Flannery O'Connor.
"I want to read Americans," I said.
"She is," he said. "Southern. You'd like her. And she's Catholic with an Irish wit.'
That intrigued me. I have a very Irish name, but the Good Lord saw fit to leave me without the blessing of Irish Blarney. Nevertheless, I have resisted getting one of her books because, hey, I've got Trollope and Dickens and a huge stack of Star Trek novels to read and, anyway, etc, etc, etc.
Then I found these quotes:

The first made me laugh. The second made me decide that I'd be going to the bookstore on my lunch break. Sometimes, little brothers do know best.