10 Books Every American Should Read

[Hot4Latinos]

I would add "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

And every gay man should read "At Swim, Two Boys," by Jamie O'Neill. It's difficult but worth it.

 

[RobinGoodfellow]

What a great thread! I would add Farenheit 451; Le Morte d'Arthur; Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius.

So....any American authors...?

(I abhor Mark Twain.)

How come? So few writers have so much that has remained so relevant for so long. Most authors have just one or two books that stay relevant beyond whatever inspired the author in the first place...

And for the list: Slaughterhouse Five, Nature (Ralph Waldoe Emerson), Walden, Twice-Told Tales (Nathaniel Hawthorne), and Moby Dick....

RG

 

[Hot4Latinos]

Another great book.

Gertrude Stein: The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas

If U like Alice B. Toklas you should read "Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal," by Jeanette Winterson

 

[Hot4Latinos]

Michael Cunningham: A Home At The End Of the World

MC will most certainly NOT stand the test of time. He's the most overrated writer of our generation. The film versions of his novels are better than the books and that should tell you something.

 

[Hot4Latinos]

If U like Alice B. Toklas you should read "Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal," by Jeanette Winterson

You might like this as well:
http://www.granta.com/Archive/115/All-I-Know-About-Gertrude-Stein/1

 

[mightbe]

So....any American authors...?

I would think that Ray Bradbury assumes that role. Too bad he just recently died. I enjoyed many of his works.

As for an addition to what's already been said, I'd add The Sound and the Fury, and A Rose for Emily (both Faulkner) and The Snows of Kilimanjaro (Hemingway).

 

[Kulindahr]

Someone mentioned science fiction. For that, the classic The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein, must be included.

 

[opinterph]

Someone mentioned science fiction. For that, the classic The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein, must be included.

And perhaps Stranger in a Strange Land.

 

[JayHawk]

Ahh you've touched my heart with Heinlein... many other great selections above and some of which I have not read and should add.

For an American author and a damn good read I would recommend "From Beirut to Jerusalem" by Thomas Friedman. An amazingly good read that will put some perspective to that region of the world.

 

[GhostMost]

I just realized that you may be the first person I have ever heard with that reaction. Not that it isn't valid, it's just not something you hear very often.

Yeah I no I get that all the time, as well as to me saying I hated 1984. Loved the thought process behind it though. Brave New World just seemed better sorted out and presented. Atlas Shrugged should definitely be on as well.

 

[Rolyo85]

False for Atlas Shrugged...

And this is quickly turning into "my favorite books". If the topic is "...that every American should read", then there needs to be a purpose to the selection.

Otherwise I can just list a bunch of science fiction for no other reason than that some examples of it are amazing literature. But do I think "every American should read them"? Definitely not.

 

[TX-Beau]

Fuck Ayn Rand, a more unrealistic portrayal of capitalism cannot be found. What she did was apply her frustrated communist fervor to a capitalist idea that never existed and never realized she never left her ideological past behind. She simply swaped one for the other and pretended there was a difference.

What every American should read is "A Handmaids Tale," Margaret Atwood. That's a hell of a lot more relevant.

 

[Sexpun de Come]

I'd remove GWTW also, as it's (IMO) too apologist about slavery. It's very good about over coming great obstacles, however. Someone once called GWTW the last Confederate victory of the Civil War. It also white washes (NO PUN INTENDED) the beginnings of the Klan

I'd actually disagree with that. You have to keep in mind that GWTW was written from a southern belle's POV, so of course it's going to be white washed. If you read a story about WW2 from a nazi soldier's POV it would also white wash the atrocities of the holocaust. I'm not saying the characters weren't racist--because they were. I'm saying that GWTW gets a bad rep because it wrote about slavery realistically through the eyes of a southerner in the late 1800's.

Also I probably quoted you incorrectly. Little new here.

 

[EastMed]

^ Absolutely spot on. I couldn't agree more.

Genre fiction is a particular strength of American literature.
This should surely be considered for the top 100:

Ursula K Le Guin: The Left Hand Of Darkness

 

[palemale]

False for Atlas Shrugged...

And this is quickly turning into "my favorite books". If the topic is "...that every American should read", then there needs to be a purpose to the selection.

Otherwise I can just list a bunch of science fiction for no other reason than that some examples of it are amazing literature. But do I think "every American should read them"? Definitely not.

Good point. Perhaps we should discuss why we added books to the list. I chose "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" by Jane Jacobs because it explains what makes cities so dynamic and how the urban planning of the last century harmed cities by destroying the very things that made cities dynamic. She criticized the reliance on the car in urban planning and the disdain for the street life of cities that made them so vibrant. Jacobs was one of the community leaders that stopped Robert Moses' attempt to put a highway through Greenwich Village.

I chose "Naming Names" because it describes the McCarthy Era blacklists, what made them effective attacks on our freedom and how the attacks on our freedoms could have been blunted.

I chose "Manufacturing Consent" because it explains the how the profit motive of our corporate controlled media dictates what the media chooses to report on and how it distorts public understanding of current events.

 

[Rolyo85]

What every American should read is "A Handmaids Tale," Margaret Atwood. That's a hell of a lot more relevant.

Atwood is a genre traitor

 

[Ben1]

"The Time Of Our Singing" (2003) Richard Powers

"One hundred years of solitude" (1967) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"The Master Butchers Singing Club" (2003) Louise Erdrich

"Flanagan`s Run" Tom McNab

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (1922) F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Child 44" (2008) Tom Rob Smith

"The Grass Harp" (1951) and "In cold blood" (1966) by Truman Capote

"The name of the rose" (1980) Umberto Ecco

 

[Telstra]

No one mention the Bible ...............
I thought it was Americans best seller.

 

[JayHawk]

Telstra we already have enough fiction on the list..

 

[Telstra]

But i want all Americans to fear god !!!