The Great American Read

PBS rules! A two-hour television special about books? Who thinks of something like this? Only PBS. Not only a TV special, but several more episodes to follow in the fall.

What’s it all about? America gets to vote on their favorite novel!

A preliminary poll resulted in a list of 100 books. Now you can join an online book club, share your story about which novel has had the biggest impact on your life and take a quiz to see how many of the 100 you have read (I’ve read 62, not as many as I would have thought!)

Much to my surprise, the list of books is in alphabetical order by title. The librarian in me found that odd, so I searched around and found that you can also sort it by author – except it is by the author’s FIRST name. That is so not helpful! (Obviously, a librarian was not involved in this process.)

So I created my own lists. The entire list alphabetical by author’s last name; then I created other lists breaking out fiction, science fiction & fantasy, young adult, children’s and Spanish. That is how my library does it, but your mileage may vary, etc. For instance, on the PBS special, the host, Meredith Vieira, noted that about 25% of the titles on the list were science fiction or fantasy. At my library, less than 10% are filed that way, most are in Fiction because they are considered classics or they are in Young Adult (like The Hunger Games & the Twilight books.) The Harry Potter books are the only books that straddle two specific lists, both YA and children’s, because at my library, they are shelved in both. And because I am a librarian and we love to spread good information far and wide, I’m sharing my lists here.

Great American Read Library List (complete list, alphabetical by author’s LAST name!)

	AUTHOR	TITLE
1	Achebe	Things Fall Apart
2	Adams	The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy
3	Adichie	Americanah
4	Alcott	Little Women
5	Anaya	Bless Me, Ultima
6	Andrews	Flowers In The Attic
7	Asimov	Foundation (series)
8	Atwood	The Handmaid’s Tale
9	Auel	Clan of the Cave Bear
10	Austen	Pride and Prejudice
11	Baldwin	Another Country
12	Brontë, Charlotte	Jane Eyre
13	Brontë, Emily	Wuthering Heights
14	Brown	The Da Vinci Code
15	Bunyan	The Pilgrim’s Progress
16	Carroll	Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
17	Cervantes	Don Quixote
18	Christie	And Then There Were None
19	Clancy	The Hunt For Red October
20	Cline	Ready Player One
21	Coelho	The Alchemist
22	Collins	The Hunger Games (series)
23	Conrad	Heart Of Darkness
24	Crichton	Jurassic Park
25	Díaz	The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
26	Dickens	Great Expectations
27	Dostoyevsky	Crime and Punishment
28	du Maurier	Rebecca
29	Dumas	The Count of Monte Cristo
30	Ellison	Invisible Man
31	Fitzgerald	The Great Gatsby
32	Flynn	Gone Girl
33	Follett	The Pillars of The Earth
34	Gabaldon	Outlander (series)
35	Gallegos	Doña Bárbára
36	García Márquez	One Hundred Years of Solitude
37	Golden	Memoirs of a Geisha
38	Green	Looking for Alaska
39	Haddon	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
40	Heller	Catch-22
41	Hemingway	The Sun Also Rises
42	Herbert	Dune
43	Hesse	Siddhartha
44	Hinton	The Outsiders
45	Hunt	Mind Invaders
46	Hurston	Their Eyes Were Watching God
47	Irving	A Prayer For Owen Meany
48	James	Fifty Shades Of Grey (series)
49	Jordan	The Wheel of Time (series)
50	King	The Stand
51	Knowles	A Separate Peace
52	Koontz	Watchers
53	LaHaye	Left Behind (series)
54	Lee	To Kill a Mockingbird
55	Lewis	The Chronicles of Narnia (series)
56	London	The Call Of The Wild
57	Lowry	The Giver
58	Martin	Game of Thrones (series)
59	Maupin	Tales of The City (series)
60	McCammon	Swan Song
61	McMurtry	Lonesome Dove
62	Melville	Moby-Dick
63	Meyer	The Twilight Saga (series)
64	Mitchell	Gone with the Wind
65	Montgomery	Anne of Green Gables
66	Morrison	Beloved
67	Orwell	1984
68	Patterson	Alex Cross Mysteries (series)
69	Paulsen	Hatchet (series)
70	Peretti	This Present Darkness
71	Puzo	The Godfather
72	Rand	Atlas Shrugged
73	Rawls	Where the Red Fern Grows
74	Reynolds	Ghost
75	Robinson	Gilead
76	Rowling	Harry Potter (series)
77	Saint-Exupéry	The Little Prince
78	Salinger	The Catcher in the Rye
79	Sebold	The Lovely Bones
80	Shelley	Frankenstein
81	Smith, Betty	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
82	Smith, Zadie	White Teeth
83	Souljah	Coldest Winter Ever
84	Sparks	The Notebook
85	Steinbeck	The Grapes of Wrath
86	Stockett	The Help
87	Swift	Gulliver’s Travels
88	Tan	The Joy Luck Club
89	Tolkien	The Lord of the Rings (series)
90	Tolstoy	War and Peace
91	Toole	A Confederacy of Dunces
92	Twain	The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
93	Vonnegut	The Sirens Of Titan
94	Walker	The Color Purple
95	Weir	The Martian
96	White	Charlotte’s Web
97	Whitehead	The Intuitionist
98	Wilde	The Picture of Dorian Gray
99	Young	The Shack
100	Zusak	The Book Thief

Great American Read Library List (Fiction list, alphabetical by author)

AUTHOR	TITLE
Achebe	Things Fall Apart
Adichie	Americanah
Alcott	Little Women
Anaya	Bless Me, Ultima
Andrews	Flowers In The Attic
Atwood	The Handmaid’s Tale
Auel	Clan of the Cave Bear
Austen	Pride and Prejudice
Baldwin	Another Country
Brontë, Charlotte	Jane Eyre
Brontë, Emily	Wuthering Heights
Brown	The Da Vinci Code
Bunyan	The Pilgrim’s Progress
Cervantes	Don Quixote
Christie	And Then There Were None
Clancy	The Hunt For Red October
Cline	Ready Player One
Coelho	The Alchemist
Conrad	Heart Of Darkness
Crichton	Jurassic Park
Díaz	The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
Dickens	Great Expectations
Dostoyevsky	Crime and Punishment
du Maurier	Rebecca
Dumas	The Count of Monte Cristo
Ellison	Invisible Man
Fitzgerald	The Great Gatsby
Flynn	Gone Girl
Follett	The Pillars of The Earth
Gabaldon	Outlander (series)
García Márquez	One Hundred Years of Solitude
Golden	Memoirs of a Geisha
Haddon	The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Heller	Catch-22
Hemingway	The Sun Also Rises
Hesse	Siddhartha
Hurston	Their Eyes Were Watching God
Irving	A Prayer For Owen Meany
James	Fifty Shades Of Grey (series)
King	The Stand
Knowles	A Separate Peace
Koontz	Watchers
LaHaye	Left Behind (series)
Lee	To Kill a Mockingbird
London	The Call Of The Wild
Maupin	Tales of The City (series)
McCammon	Swan Song
McMurtry	Lonesome Dove
Melville	Moby-Dick
Mitchell	Gone with the Wind
Montgomery	Anne of Green Gables
Morrison	Beloved
Orwell	1984
Patterson	Alex Cross Mysteries (series)
Peretti	This Present Darkness
Puzo	The Godfather
Rand	Atlas Shrugged
Robinson	Gilead
Salinger	The Catcher in the Rye
Sebold	The Lovely Bones
Shelley	Frankenstein
Smith, Betty	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Smith, Zadie	White Teeth
Souljah	Coldest Winter Ever
Sparks	The Notebook
Steinbeck	The Grapes of Wrath
Stockett	The Help
Swift	Gulliver’s Travels
Tan	The Joy Luck Club
Tolstoy	War and Peace
Tolstoy	War and Peace
Toole	A Confederacy of Dunces
Toole	A Confederacy of Dunces
Twain	The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Vonnegut	The Sirens Of Titan
Walker	The Color Purple
Whitehead	The Intuitionist
Wilde	The Picture of Dorian Gray
Young	The Shack

Great American Read Library List (Sci Fi & Fantasy list, alphabetical by author)

AUTHOR	TITLE
Adams	The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy
Asimov	Foundation (series)
Herbert	Dune
Hunt	Mind Invaders
Jordan	The Wheel of Time (series)
Martin	Game of Thrones (series)
Tolkien	The Lord of the Rings (series)
Weir	The Martian

Great American Read Library List (Young Adult list, alphabetical by author)

AUTHOR	TITLE
Collins	The Hunger Games (series)
Green	Looking for Alaska
Hinton	The Outsiders
Lowry	The Giver
Meyer	The Twilight Saga (series)
Reynolds	Ghost
Rowling	Harry Potter (series)
Zusak	The Book Thief

Great American Read Library List (Children’s list, alphabetical by author)

AUTHOR	TITLE
Carroll	Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Paulsen	Hatchet (series)
Rawls	Where the Red Fern Grows
Rowling	Harry Potter (series)
Saint-Exupéry	The Little Prince
White	Charlotte’s Web

Great American Read Library List (Spanish book)

Gallegos

Doña Bárbára

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