“The Great American Read” is a new series premiering on PBS on May 22nd at 8pm ET focusing on the 100 best-loved novels in America. Below is the booklist. I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts. Which have you read? Which do you recommend? Which might you now read?
1984George Orwell
A Confederacy of DuncesJohn Kennedy Toole
A Prayer for Owen MeanyJohn Irving
A Separate PeaceJohn Knowles
A Tree Grows in BrooklynBetty Smith
The Adventures of Tom SawyerMark Twain
The AlchemistPaulo Coelho
Alex Cross Mysteries (Series)James Patterson
Alice in WonderlandLewis Carroll
AmericanahChimamanda Ngozi Adichie
And Then There Were NoneAgatha Christie
Anne of Green GablesLucy Maud Montgomery
Another CountryJames Baldwin
Bless Me UltimaRudolfo Anaya
The Book ThiefMarkus Zusak
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoJunot Diaz
The Call of the WildJack London
The Catcher in the RyeJ.D. Salinger
The Chronicles of Narnia (Series)C.S. Lewis
The Clan of the Cave BearJean M. Auel
The Coldest Winter EverSister Souljah
The Color PurpleAlice Walker
The Count of Monte CristoAlexandre Dumas
Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoyevsky
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-TimeMark Haddon
The Da Vinci CodeDan Brown
Don QuixoteMiguel de Cervantes
Doña BarbaraRomulo Gallegos
Fifty Shades of Grey (Series)E.L. James
Flowers in the AtticV.C. Andrews
Foundation (Series)Isaac Asimov
Game of Thrones (Series)George R R Martin
Gone with the WindMargaret Mitchell
The Grapes of WrathJohn Steinbeck
Great ExpectationsCharles Dickens
The Great GatsbyF. Scott Fitzgerald
Gulliver’s TravelsJonathan Swift
The Handmaid’s TaleMargaret Atwood
Harry Potter (Series)J.K. Rowling
Hatchet (Series)Gary Paulsen
Heart of DarknessJoseph Conrad
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The GalaxyDouglas Adams
The Hunger Games (Series)Suzanne Collins
The Hunt for Red OctoberTom Clancy
The IntuitionistColson Whitehead
Invisible ManRalph Ellison
Jane EyreCharlotte Brontë
Jurassic ParkMichael Crichton
Left Behind (Series)Tim LaHaye / Jerry B. Jenkins
The Little PrinceAntoine de Saint-Exupéry
Little WomenLouisa May Alcott
Lonesome DoveLarry McMurtry
Looking for AlaskaJohn Green
The Lord of the Rings (Series)J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lovely BonesAlice Sebold
Memoirs of a GeishaArthur Golden
The NotebookNicholas Sparks
One Hundred Years of SolitudeGabriel Garcia Marquez
Outlander (Series)Diana Gabaldon
The OutsidersS. E. Hinton
The Picture of Dorian GrayOscar Wilde
The Pilgrim’s ProgressJohn Bunyan
The Pillars of the EarthKen Follett
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen
Ready Player OneErnest Cline
The ShackWilliam P. Young
The Sirens of TitanKurt Vonnegut
The Sun Also RisesErnest Hemingway
Swan SongRobert R. McCammon
Tales of the City (Series)Armistead Maupin
Their Eyes Were Watching GodZora Neale Hurston
Things Fall ApartChinua Achebe
This Present DarknessFrank E. Peretti
To Kill a MockingbirdHarper Lee
The Twilight Saga (Series)Stephenie Meyer
The Wheel of Time (Series)Robert Jordan
Where the Red Fern GrowsWilson Rawls
Wuthering HeightsEmily Bronte
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 
I think I read 42! -Nora
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wow! I think 33 for me.
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Wow! There are so many good books on this list (and bad…I’m looking at 50 Shades of Grey). However, I will say the two most meaningful books are War and Peace and Crime and Punishment. They are some of the best portrayals of human nature I have ever seen, though I still haven’t successfully completed either of them.
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I agree that I would not read some of the books, especially ones like Fifty shades…I have read quite a few of the ones on the list and hope to read more. Thanks for sharing the ones you liked. Now that I have read Anna K, I need to give War and Peace a go.
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