100 Best American Authors
American authors that write about the American experience.
| 1 |
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee   4.18 avg rating — 888,324 ratings
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| 2 |
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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain   3.74 avg rating — 509,448 ratings
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| 3 |
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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 3.70 avg rating — 665,308 ratings
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| 4 |
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The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 3.73 avg rating — 663,078 ratings
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| 5 |
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The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 3.81 avg rating — 136,423 ratings
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| 6 |
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Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 3.71 avg rating — 539,025 ratings
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| 7 |
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The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Writings by Edgar Allan Poe 4.03 avg rating — 38,735 ratings
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| 8 |
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The Collected Poems, Complete and Unabridged by Robert Frost 4.21 avg rating — 7,661 ratings
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| 9 |
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Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 3.87 avg rating — 318,010 ratings
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| 10 |
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East of Eden: by John Steinbeck 4.30 avg rating — 88,588 ratings
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| 11 |
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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 3.27 avg rating — 149,801 ratings
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| 12 |
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Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller 3.40 avg rating — 44,320 ratings
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| 13 |
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The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 3.49 avg rating — 108,292 ratings
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| 14 |
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Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton 3.24 avg rating — 27,981 ratings
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| 14 |
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The Complete Poems by Emily Dickinson 4.21 avg rating — 13,843 ratings
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| 16 |
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Columbine by Dave Cullen (Goodreads Author) 4.26 avg rating — 10,465 ratings
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| 17 |
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Little Women (Little Women, #1) by Louisa May Alcott 3.93 avg rating — 473,551 ratings
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| 18 |
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum 3.93 avg rating — 52,439 ratings
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| 19 |
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Moby-Dick by Herman Melville 3.31 avg rating — 203,529 ratings
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| 20 |
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Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut 3.89 avg rating — 311,723 ratings
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| 21 |
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Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman 4.09 avg rating — 21,251 ratings
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| 21 |
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Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 4.16 avg rating — 266,797 ratings
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| 23 |
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Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner 3.91 avg rating — 10,035 ratings
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| 24 |
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In Cold Blood by Truman Capote 3.93 avg rating — 163,326 ratings
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| 25 |
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Tennessee Williams: Plays 1937-1955 by Tennessee Williams 4.54 avg rating — 190 ratings
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| 26 |
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The Color Purple by Alice Walker 4.06 avg rating — 86,965 ratings
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| 27 |
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Catch-22 by Joseph Heller 3.94 avg rating — 117,130 ratings
score: 730,
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9 people voted
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| 28 |
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O Pioneers! by Willa Cather 3.75 avg rating — 9,427 ratings
score: 715,
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8 people voted
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| 29 |
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Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote 3.85 avg rating — 32,205 ratings
score: 687,
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9 people voted
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| 30 |
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Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson 3.79 avg rating — 7,715 ratings
score: 668,
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7 people voted
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| 31 |
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The Complete Short Stories by Ernest Hemingway 4.30 avg rating — 6,704 ratings
score: 646,
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8 people voted
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| 32 |
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Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser 3.55 avg rating — 7,484 ratings
score: 641,
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7 people voted
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| 33 |
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Rabbit, Run by John Updike 3.51 avg rating — 12,338 ratings
score: 631,
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8 people voted
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| 34 |
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The Crucible by Arthur Miller 3.47 avg rating — 68,199 ratings
score: 627,
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8 people voted
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| 35 |
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Charlotte's Web by E.B. White 4.07 avg rating — 178,364 ratings
score: 610,
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7 people voted
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| 36 |
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The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James 3.69 avg rating — 13,308 ratings
score: 601,
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7 people voted
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| 36 |
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Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill 4.01 avg rating — 7,025 ratings
score: 601,
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7 people voted
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| 38 |
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Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger 3.97 avg rating — 56,894 ratings
score: 590,
and
7 people voted
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| 39 |
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On the Road by Jack Kerouac 3.63 avg rating — 79,465 ratings
score: 580,
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7 people voted
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| 40 |
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A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway 3.66 avg rating — 55,763 ratings
score: 556,
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7 people voted
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| 41 |
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The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 4.09 avg rating — 408 ratings
score: 535,
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7 people voted
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| 42 |
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A River Runs Through It and Other Stories by Norman Maclean 4.06 avg rating — 6,445 ratings
score: 534,
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7 people voted
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| 43 |
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The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler 4.03 avg rating — 17,159 ratings
score: 533,
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7 people voted
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| 44 |
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The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers 3.87 avg rating — 23,599 ratings
score: 531,
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6 people voted
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| 45 |
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God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut 3.85 avg rating — 14,985 ratings
score: 520,
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6 people voted
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| 46 |
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The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara 4.15 avg rating — 17,543 ratings
score: 482,
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6 people voted
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| 47 |
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Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau 3.93 avg rating — 7,149 ratings
score: 481,
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6 people voted
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| 48 |
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The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper 3.45 avg rating — 15,927 ratings
score: 468,
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6 people voted
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| 49 |
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The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton 3.89 avg rating — 28,433 ratings
score: 466,
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6 people voted
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| 50 |
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Chicago Poems by Carl Sandburg 4.03 avg rating — 487 ratings
score: 464,
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6 people voted
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| 50 |
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Main Street and Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis 3.98 avg rating — 60 ratings
score: 464,
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6 people voted
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| 52 |
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Light in August by William Faulkner 3.88 avg rating — 14,699 ratings
score: 458,
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5 people voted
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| 53 |
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Flannery O'Connor : Collected Works : Wise Blood / A Good Man Is Hard to Find / The Violent Bear It Away / Everything that Rises Must Converge / Essays & Letters by Flannery O'Connor 4.57 avg rating — 1,146 ratings
score: 445,
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5 people voted
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| 54 |
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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 3.88 avg rating — 103,922 ratings
score: 434,
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6 people voted
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| 54 |
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All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren 4.03 avg rating — 12,552 ratings
score: 434,
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5 people voted
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| 56 |
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey 4.12 avg rating — 96,629 ratings
score: 431,
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6 people voted
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| 57 |
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The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett 3.87 avg rating — 15,783 ratings
score: 422,
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6 people voted
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| 58 |
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The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck 3.86 avg rating — 60,243 ratings
score: 419,
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5 people voted
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| 59 |
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Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand 3.75 avg rating — 73,068 ratings
score: 411,
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5 people voted
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| 60 |
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Three Plays: Our Town / The Skin of Our Teeth / The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder 3.95 avg rating — 259 ratings
score: 398,
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5 people voted
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| 61 |
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In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck 3.82 avg rating — 2,571 ratings
score: 390,
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5 people voted
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| 62 |
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Herzog by Saul Bellow 3.75 avg rating — 3,835 ratings
score: 389,
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5 people voted
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| 63 |
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Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather 3.75 avg rating — 6,780 ratings
score: 387,
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4 people voted
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| 64 |
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Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane 3.31 avg rating — 1,904 ratings
score: 371,
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5 people voted
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| 65 |
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Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin 4.00 avg rating — 7,821 ratings
score: 358,
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5 people voted
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| 66 |
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Beloved by Toni Morrison 3.67 avg rating — 67,970 ratings
score: 354,
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6 people voted
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| 67 |
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou 3.96 avg rating — 48,352 ratings
score: 341,
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5 people voted
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| 68 |
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The Stand by Stephen King 4.26 avg rating — 94,206 ratings
score: 339,
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4 people voted
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| 69 |
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The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk 4.11 avg rating — 3,802 ratings
score: 338,
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5 people voted
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| 69 |
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A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (Goodreads Author) 4.17 avg rating — 73,573 ratings
score: 338,
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4 people voted
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| 71 |
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The Awakening by Kate Chopin 3.58 avg rating — 43,789 ratings
score: 326,
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4 people voted
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| 72 |
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American Pastoral by Philip Roth 3.85 avg rating — 12,230 ratings
score: 322,
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4 people voted
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| 73 |
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Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin 4.15 avg rating — 6,123 ratings
score: 319,
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4 people voted
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| 74 |
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Rabbit Angstrom : The Four Novels : Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit is Rich; Rabbit at Rest by John Updike 4.30 avg rating — 619 ratings
score: 318,
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4 people voted
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| 75 |
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The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton 3.95 avg rating — 123,986 ratings
score: 317,
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4 people voted
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| 76 |
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Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier 3.63 avg rating — 48,230 ratings
score: 300,
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4 people voted
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| 77 |
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Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury 3.96 avg rating — 12,291 ratings
score: 289,
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3 people voted
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| 78 |
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Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner 4.21 avg rating — 11,989 ratings
score: 288,
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3 people voted
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| 79 |
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Cuba Libre by Elmore Leonard 3.43 avg rating — 1,220 ratings
score: 287,
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3 people voted
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| 80 |
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Cannery Row by John Steinbeck 3.92 avg rating — 27,327 ratings
score: 279,
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3 people voted
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| 81 |
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A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole 3.84 avg rating — 56,998 ratings
score: 276,
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3 people voted
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| 82 |
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The Call of the Wild, White Fang and Other Stories by Jack London 3.80 avg rating — 4,211 ratings
score: 271,
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4 people voted
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| 83 |
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My Ántonia by Willa Cather 3.67 avg rating — 37,373 ratings
score: 270,
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3 people voted
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| 84 |
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Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey 4.21 avg rating — 5,038 ratings
score: 263,
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4 people voted
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| 85 |
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The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron 3.88 avg rating — 2,607 ratings
score: 261,
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4 people voted
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| 86 |
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Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon 4.02 avg rating — 8,630 ratings
score: 244,
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3 people voted
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| 87 |
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The Chosen by Chaim Potok 3.98 avg rating — 25,981 ratings
score: 238,
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3 people voted
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| 88 |
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The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams 3.55 avg rating — 26,495 ratings
score: 236,
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4 people voted
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| 89 |
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Travels With Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck 3.98 avg rating — 14,875 ratings
score: 235,
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3 people voted
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| 90 |
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The Collected Poems by Langston Hughes 4.30 avg rating — 2,674 ratings
score: 227,
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3 people voted
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| 91 |
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The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy 3.92 avg rating — 4,607 ratings
score: 219,
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3 people voted
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| 92 |
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Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace 4.30 avg rating — 12,902 ratings
score: 197,
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2 people voted
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| 93 |
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The Funhouse by Dean Koontz 3.31 avg rating — 5,848 ratings
score: 193,
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2 people voted
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| 93 |
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The Talisman by Stephen King 4.00 avg rating — 25,182 ratings
score: 193,
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2 people voted
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| 95 |
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Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 4.40 avg rating — 27,749 ratings
score: 190,
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2 people voted
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| 96 |
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In the American Grain: Essays by William Carlos Williams 3.99 avg rating — 270 ratings
score: 189,
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2 people voted
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| 96 |
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The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne 3.30 avg rating — 8,776 ratings
score: 189,
and
2 people voted
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| 98 |
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American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis 3.72 avg rating — 34,716 ratings
score: 188,
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2 people voted
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| 98 |
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Close Range by Annie Proulx 3.97 avg rating — 4,223 ratings
score: 188,
and
2 people voted
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| 100 |
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Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet 3.94 avg rating — 2,386 ratings
score: 181,
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3 people voted
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Lists are re-scored approximately every 500 seconds.
Comments (showing 1-18 of 18) (18 new)
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The Scarlet Letter is not absent from the list; I voted for it. It is, in fact, #8.You could, of course, vote on it yourself; the form to add books to the list is at the right-hand side of the page.
This list should really just be called 100 best American books as authors appear more than once and that seems to be the way the ranking works.Also Ian Banks (author of the wasp factory #82) is not American he is Scottish so he shouldn't be on here, however good/relevant to this list his book may be.
Hieveryoneilovebookstoo wrote: "This list should really just be called 100 best American books as authors appear more than once and that seems to be the way the ranking works.Also Ian Banks (author of the wasp factory #82) is n..."
Also James Joyce #134 is Irish.
I swear I'm not just looking for mistakes
Hieveryoneilovebookstoo wrote: "Hieveryoneilovebookstoo wrote: "This list should really just be called 100 best American books as authors appear more than once and that seems to be the way the ranking works.Also Ian Banks (auth..."
Leo Tolstoy #197.....?
Hieveryoneilovebookstoo wrote: "Hieveryoneilovebookstoo wrote: "Hieveryoneilovebookstoo wrote: "This list should really just be called 100 best American books as authors appear more than once and that seems to be the way the rank..."Paolo Coelho #210.
Removed, for not being by an American:The Wasp Factory, by Iain M. Banks
Ulysses, by James Joyce
The Man in the Iron Mask, by Alexandre Dumas
The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
Tess of the D'Urbevilles, by Thomas Hardy
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
Company, by Max Barry
The Alchemist, by Paolo Coelho
You could add it; it's easy to add books to a list. At the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."
I'm really surprised that Stephen King's books are considered over Henry Miller's, who does not even appear in this list. I mean, I got nothing against King's books, but Miller has been much more influential to literature (not only American) than King, I would say. I would even favor Charles Bukowski and William Burroughs over King. I could mention several books by all of them, but it's so obvious that I don't even bother.What about, Norman Mailer, Tom and Thomas Wolfe, etc.
You could add Miller's books. It's easy to add books to lists. At the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."
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