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Post by RobbyKay on May 13, 2018 22:46:51 GMT
Hi Peas Who Read; PBS announced their list of 100 Great American novels, and they are planning a show to run on May 22 to narrow it down to one great book. Here is a list of the titles: Great American ReadHow many have you read? Is your favorite book part of the list? What books made the list that make you think "What?" Are there any titles you can think of that are missing from the list? |
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kibblesandbits
Pearl Clutcher
At the corner of Awesome and Bombdiggity
Posts: 3,305 
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Post by kibblesandbits on May 13, 2018 23:03:25 GMT
Your link comes right back here. Try This
I've read a majority of the list - 67. Interesting list. Twilight? hmmmm |
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Post by SockMonkey on May 13, 2018 23:06:58 GMT
That list is... interesting. I've read 48 of them, and of the ones I haven't read, I have no interest. Moby Dick? Keep it.
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Post by refugeepea on May 13, 2018 23:17:06 GMT
I got as far as Flowers in the Attic and cannot take that list seriously.  I HATED A Prayer for Owen Meany. Stupid self righteous little twerp. Why was Anne of Green Gables listed?  ETA: It should be Great All Time Reads list. Not all of the authors are American. |
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Post by ntsf on May 13, 2018 23:23:23 GMT
I've read 38...mostly the older classics... I happened to really like moby dick and war and peace.. but I would never read twilight series...
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Post by peasapie on May 13, 2018 23:37:10 GMT
I read 57 of those. I never agree with any superlative list of books, and this one is no exception, but I like that they included Things Fall Apart, which is often left out of such lists and which I think is an incredibly insightful book. Always fun to take these little quizzes - thanks for sharing!
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Post by questioning on May 13, 2018 23:37:32 GMT
Interesting mix on the list. I've read most of the older ones, classics, and even tried Twilight when our tween set was reading it. I could not get into it, that's my polite summary. I thought the same about the Fifty Shades books.
I'm not a big sci-fi fantasy reader so coming up short there. With so many other good books to read I don't know if this list will challenge me to broaden my horizons or dig into more of what I love.
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Post by breakfastattiffanys on May 13, 2018 23:46:03 GMT
I read 40, it was an interesting list. I guess I’m confused as to what criteria was used? Some titles listed were classics, some were far from it. I wouldn’t consider Wurhering Heights a good read, for example. Thanks for sharing though! I always mark book lists in case I need an idea of what to read next!
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Post by Skellinton on May 14, 2018 0:08:19 GMT
Now, Anne of Green Gables is my favorite book ever, but it is not American, not set in America, not written by an American, doesn’t even mention America and the author was pretty much only in America to settle lawsuits about the book. It doesn’t belong on this list. I am sure there are others, Rebecca springs to mind. Daphne DM was British, the book takes place primarily in England, although I do believe the second Mrs. DeWinter was American? In any event, super weird there are so many really, truly non American books on this list.
As far as the list goes, ignoring the title, there are several that probably don’t belong there. Twilight, Flowers in the Attic and 50 Shades, I am looking at you.
What exactly was the criteria, I wonder? The Twilight and 50 Shades may be wildly popular but they are poorly written and will not stand up to the test of time.
I would have added Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne and maybe even Peter Pan.
I also enjoy Catcher in the Rye, but Salinger’s other works are much, much better. 9 Stories is brilliant.
The Bell Jar could have been on there, along with My Name is Alice.
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hutchfan
Drama Llama
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Post by hutchfan on May 14, 2018 1:06:06 GMT
I can understand why many would not put Flowers in the Attic on the list. But this book series is one of my favorites, I read this as a teenager and I actually had nightmares over those books but they have stuck with me all these years.
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Post by scrapmaven on May 14, 2018 1:12:47 GMT
The following is only my opinion.
Seriously? 50 Shades of Grey? I read the books, but, really? I thought it was 70% porn and 30% plot and that's being generous.
Twilight? Again, fun read, enjoyed the books, but great literature it is not!
Memoirs of a Geisha is my favorite adult novel. For those readers who haven't read it, I can't say enough about it. It is so beautifully written and you're just so drawn into the story. It is emotional and powerful.
Harry Potter is well, great. J.K. Rowling managed to get kids to love books and embrace the words on the page. She did the same for many adults.
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breetheflea
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,894
Location: PNW
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Post by breetheflea on May 14, 2018 3:15:14 GMT
Pride and Prejudice is not an American Novel...
I've read 39 but some of the series one's I marked as read, even if I haven't read all of them. I am surprised as I was an English major and read a lot, that I didn't get at least half. Then again 50 Shades of Grey is on there so I will never read all 100 and wonder who wrote this list...
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Post by joblackford on May 14, 2018 5:06:09 GMT
hehe, yeah, these lists are always controversial! I always wonder if that's intentional... ("can you believe what's on this list?!" sharing) I've only read about 32, although in at least one case I've read one book in a series listed but that doesn't count because I haven't read the others... Not that it matters, but it's a bit odd that The Giver was listed as a stand alone book, as was Clan of the Cave Bear, even though they're part of a series, but I don't get credit for reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe! My assessment of the list was that it was a weird mixture of truly terrible (popular) books (and some popular books I enjoyed, for better or worse), classics (some overrated, many not American in the slightest, but read by Americans I guess), and some good/important books that I definitely need to read sometime. Life is too short to read books you hate, so I will be satisfied with reading the graphic novel version of Moby Dick >.< and the most I will read of 50 Shades is the awesome review where someone cataloged how many times the character's "inner goddess" was mentioned (and other repetitive cliches). But when I read them, way back when, I love Clan of the Cave Bear, and Flowers in the Attic, and I didn't care that they were terrible! Read all the books (you want)! |
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desertgirl
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by desertgirl on May 14, 2018 12:06:08 GMT
Love Chinua Achebe, peasapie . I assigned Things Fall Apart to a group of honors 8th graders once. I never had such good discussion in our little group. And scrapmaven , I remember liking Memoirs of a Geisha, too, although I would never assign it to 8th graders hahaha. I would have recommended it to a few whose parents would have approved. Lists are for all of us to spark a memory of a good book, perhaps to reread it, or to give us an opportunity to question a book you were forced to read or kept reading long after it kept your interest and attention. PBS is no better than your own judgment or the judgment of people whose opinion and reading tastes are yours, too. If it means more people will read, bring on list after list after list! |
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Post by peasapie on May 14, 2018 12:41:02 GMT
Love Chinua Achebe, peasapie . I assigned Things Fall Apart to a group of honors 8th graders once. I never had such good discussion in our little group. And scrapmaven , I remember liking Memoirs of a Geisha, too, although I would never assign it to 8th graders hahaha. I would have recommended it to a few whose parents would have approved. Lists are for all of us to spark a memory of a good book, perhaps to reread it, or to give us an opportunity to question a book you were forced to read or kept reading long after it kept your interest and attention. PBS is no better than your own judgment or the judgment of people whose opinion and reading tastes are yours, too. If it means more people will read, bring on list after list after list! So well said. And desertgirl, I also assigned it to my students! There is no single book list (or music list, or art list) that will satisfy everyone, but it's a good starting point for thinking and discussion. SaveSave |
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Post by Fidget on May 14, 2018 12:50:30 GMT
Only 28 for me, a few of them I started and couldn't finish so I did not count them. There are some on the list that I can't figure out why. Others have already mentioned them - Flowers in the Attic, 50 Shades - Really?  |
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Post by Prenticekid on May 14, 2018 15:17:10 GMT
It is kind of funny that on a thread about reading, not everyone is reading! LOL It is the 100 most LOVED books of Americans as determined by a NATIONWIDE SURVEY. Hope that dispels any confusion evidenced in some posts about what books made the list or how the books were determined. It's all right on the website the linked here.
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Post by lynnek on May 14, 2018 15:45:37 GMT
I am anxious to watch the series and see how it plays out because, yes, there are a lot of different tastes that could be appeased by that list. I myself have only read 28 of them. My classics reading is seriously lacking!
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Post by scrapsotime on May 14, 2018 15:58:30 GMT
I've read 50.
I read 2 chapters of the first 50 Shades book and gave it away. I just couldn't read any more of that bad writing.
I won't read Twilight. I did watch the first movie and hated it.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on May 14, 2018 16:09:55 GMT
I saw this list last week; I've only read about 35 of the books on the list (and that's being generous, since I'm still in the process of reading all the GoT novels), and some of the books I'm fairly certain I read back in high school (like A Separate Peace and The Outsiders).
I was really surprised at a few of the entries on the list-- like the Twilight novels? huh? I'll have to look at the list again.
ETA: this explains a bit more of why some of the books ended up on the list: from the website: the show "explores and celebrates the power of reading, told through the prism of America’s 100 best-loved novels (as chosen in a national survey)."
I was also surprised to see Clan of the Cave Bear on the list...
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Post by Darcy Collins on May 14, 2018 16:42:41 GMT
I've read 61 - although that's being generous as I haven't read all of the LOTR or one of the other series. I think it shows just how diverse the reading public is in on what they'd call their favorite....
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Post by colleen on May 14, 2018 17:00:13 GMT
All I can say is that if 50 Shades is your most loved book, you need to read more. A lot more.
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Post by auntkelly on May 14, 2018 17:02:41 GMT
It is kind of funny that on a thread about reading, not everyone is reading! LOL It is the 100 most LOVED books of Americans as determined by a NATIONWIDE SURVEY. Hope that dispels any confusion evidenced in some posts about what books made the list or how the books were determined. It's all right on the website the linked here. After I read your post, I went back and read the blurb on the website about how the list was developed. As I understand it, a polling organization polled a cross section of 7200 Americans and asked them to name their all-time favorite novel. Then an advisory board consisting of "13 literary industry professionals" was allowed to select novels for discussion and possible inclusion on the list (one per advisory member). I would really like to know which books on the list were added by the 13 literary industry professionals and which novels were bumped off the top 100 list by the inclusion of the panel's choices. I know it's PBS's list and they can compile it any way they want but it just seems elitist to me to survey 7200 people and then have a panel of 13 people who could knock some books off the list and substitute their choices to be on the list. It reminds me of the famous line from Animal Farm (one of my all-time favorite novels): "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." |
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Post by crimsoncat05 on May 14, 2018 18:34:26 GMT
"PBS and the producers worked with the public opinion polling service “YouGov” to conduct a demographically and statistically representative survey asking Americans to name their most-loved novel. Approximately 7,200 people participated."
I hope they explain how they felt they could get a demographically and statistically representative survey with only 7,200 participants. I'd really like to know more details- like: What was the age range? education level? income level? geographic area covered by the survey? how many books on average did the participants read per year??
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Maybe if someone doesn't read many books at all, then the popularity of the 50 Shades books would have gotten someone to actually read the book(s) but how that would translate to one of those books being your answer to "what is your most-loved novel (of all time, I'm assuming)" still escapes me.
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Post by caspad on May 14, 2018 19:23:56 GMT
I've read 38 of the 100. Like someone else said, there's lots of books on there that I don't care to read.
Heck, most of the ones I did read were for school and are definitely not my "most-loved novels of all time".
No thank you to rereading things like Wuthering Heights and Heart of Darkness and Jane Eyre.
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breetheflea
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Post by breetheflea on May 14, 2018 20:06:51 GMT
The average American reads one book a year, or some statistic that is really depressing. Now the list makes more sense  ETA: Ok I looked it up, it's actually five books per year. Still depressing but better I guess. |
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Just T
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Post by Just T on May 14, 2018 20:22:02 GMT
All I can say is that if 50 Shades is your most loved book, you need to read more. A lot more.  |
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I HATED A Prayer for Owen Meany. Stupid self righteous little twerp.
