I love to read. over the course of the last two decades, I’ve had bouts of voracious reading followed by extended bouts of next to nothing. I find it’s not the actual reading that’s a chore, it’s finding the next book. For a long time, I refused to read fiction, feeling that I was somehow wasting my time with stories instead of facts. once I’d mined a topic to my satisfaction, I’d spend months trying to muster enough interest and engagement to tackle something else. other years, I would cling to a fictional author or series and, when it was over, I would fall into the same trap.
nearly three years to the day, i ended up east of eden. It was in the midst of this Steinbeck kick that I realized there was a treasure trove of rich American literature that I was completely unaware of. the next few weeks were spent searching the internet for a compelling list of classic American novels.
You are reading: American classic books top 100
I finally came to a list of 100 American literature titles compiled by American literature professors. It’s not a perfect list by any means, but it was worth it. after a quick scan of the list, I determined that I had already read 13 puny titles, and set about starting on the remaining 87.
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For about a year I studied the first half of the books on the list. at which point I lost interest and decided on something else or stopped reading altogether for a few months. for the next two years, it was an on-and-off affair, every now and then I’d get caught up in some novel I really hated. I put the list up about 9 months ago and watched the small stack of ten or so already purchased books gather dust in the corner of my room. About three months ago, I decided to give it another try. there were some books in the queue that I really didn’t want to read, but I kept going and finally managed to finish this week.
The experience was challenging but more rewarding than I expected. because the books were chosen by teachers, there was a clear preference for stories about minorities; frankly, books he would never otherwise have considered. It was one of these threads that almost got me off the list for good: a group of books clustered toward the bottom of the list about first-generation Latin American immigrants, often based on the same tired script. could have done with two instead of six. In addition, there were four Toni Morrison books. the first three of which I really didn’t like. Every time I thought about retaking the list over the past year, a 300-page Morrison book, sitting on top of the stack, made a mockery of my commitment. To my complete surprise, I ended up really enjoying Morrison’s latest book (Song of Solomon).
issues emerged. African-American authors generally condemned racial inequalities, while African-American female authors more often criticized the pervasive violence of African-American patriarchy. Native American authors generally did not write about the evil of the white man but about fear of ostracism from their own community. Nearly every story of Latin American women recounts coming of age in America with traditional parents, sexual awakenings, and the inevitable discovery that her ethnic culture was filled with previously unknown beauty and poetry. the handful of works on the list were very powerful, two-day reads that somehow cut to the core of man’s fallibility and mortality.
one of my favorite books, ethan frome, told the disastrous story of a man who decides to leave his wife for a beautiful young woman, who was even more powerful because it followed one of my least favorite books, the awakening, about a a mother and a wife who decide she doesn’t like her family anymore and leaves them to lead a much more interesting and successful life as a budding artist.
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The final image that emerges from this tapestry of stories reveals a country of outsiders: immigrants, outcasts, poor, busy and disfigured by constant warfare but, for the most part, optimistic and hungry for adventure. exercise has forever changed my understanding of this country.
If you’re like me and have a hard time deciding on new books to start with, I encourage you to look up a similar list and give it a try. there’s something funny about picking up a book blindly, knowing nothing about the plot or even the genre. there is no doubt that after a little dedication, you will obtain a new and unexpected truth.
After a couple of books on the post list I wanted to get to, I think I might choose another list. I have already found one that is a bit more ambitious than this one. wish me luck!
top 5
a prayer for owen meany – john irving ethan frome – edith wharton native son – richard wright moby dick – herman melville a meeting of old men – ernest j gaines
full list:
1. the great gatsby – f. Scott Fitzgerald 2. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne 3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Mark Twain 4. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck 5. To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee 6. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. salinger 7. the grapes of wrath – john steinbeck 8. their eyes looked to god – zora neale hurston 9. the crucible – arthur miller 10. the things they carried – tim o’brien 11. the awakening – kate chopin 12. ethan Frome – Edith Wharton 13. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury 14. A Happening in the Sun – Lorraine Hansberry 15. The Red Badge of Courage – Stephen Crane 16. The House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros 17. The Jungle – Upton Sinclair 18. a separate peace – john knowles 19. the sun also rises – ernest hemingway 20. anthem – ayn rand 21. the old man and the sea – ernest hemingway 22. as i die – william faulkner 23. the color purple – alice walker 24. goodbye to arms – ernest hemingway 25. the secret life of bees – sue monk kidd 26. invisible man – ralph ellison 27. native son – richard wright 28. my antonia – willa cather 29. narrative of the life of frederick douglass, an American Slave – Frederick Douglas 30. Loved – Toni Morrison 31. Hiroshima – John Hersey 32. Moby Dick – herman melville 33. one flew over the cuckoo’s nest – ken kesey 34. little black – richard wright 35. bless me, last – rudolfo anaya 36. death of a salesman – arthur miller 37. in cold blood: a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences – truman capote 38. a lesson before dying – ernest j. Earnings 39. Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 40. The Poisonous Forest Bible – Barbara Kingsolver 41. The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison 42. The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner 43. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain 44. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller 45. The chosen one – chaim potok 46. east of eden – john steinbeck 47. i know why the caged bird sings – maya angelou 48. walden and other writings – henry david thoreau 49. the bean trees – barbara kingsolver 50. billy budd – herman Melville 51. The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother – James McBride 52. Maggie – Stephen Crane 53. Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison 54. The Turn of the Screw – Henry James 55. Woe, Babylon – pat frank 56. annie john – jamaica kincaid 57. the call of the wild – jack london 58. cold mountain – charles frazier 59. fallen angels – walter dean myers 60. for whom the bell tolls – ernest hemingway 61. the spring – ayn rand 62. into nature – jon krakauer 63. the last of the mohicans – james fenimore cooper 6 4. A Prayer For Owen Meany – John N Irving 65. Pudd’nhead Wilson – Mark Twain 66. El Camino – Cormac McCarthy 67. Sula – Toni Morrison 68. When I Was Puerto Rican: A Memory – Esmeralda Santiago 69. The Namesake: A novel – jhumpa lahiri 70. the absolutely true diary of a part-time indian – sherman alexie 71. all the pretty horses – cormac mccarthy 72. ceremony – leslie marmon silko 73. the five people you meet in heaven – mitch albom 74. the liberty writers diary – erin gruwell 75 .johnny got his gun – dalton trumbo 76. the light in the woods – conrad richter 77. oh pioneers! – willa cather 78. from the dust – karen hesse 79. mcteague – frank norris 80. dumb and lone ranger fistfight in the sky – sherman alexie 81. dreaming in cuban – cristina garcia 82. before we were free – julia alvarez 83. The Autobiography of Malcolm X – Malcolm X with Alex Haley 84. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman – Ernest J. Gaines 85. Candy – Sandra Cisneros 86. The Dollmaker – Harriette Anrow 87. Ellen Foster – Kaye Gibbons 88. Fences – August Wilson 89. An Old Men’s Reunion – Ernest J. gaines 90. the glass castle – jeanette walls 91. chasing cacciato – tim o’brien 92. how the garcia girls lost their accents – julia alvarez 93. relatives – octavia e. butler 94. little women – louisa may alcott 95. a streetcar named desire – tennessee williams 96. a yellow raft on blue water – michael dorris 97. our town – thornton wilder 98. go tell it on the mountain – james baldwin 99. mule bone : a comedy of black life – langston hughes & zora neale hurston 100. if beale street could talk – james baldwin
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