I took the liberty to delete "Pride and Prejudice" -- Jane Austen was a great writer, but she was manifestly NOT American ...

Fiction only?

There already was some nonfiction on the list when I voted, so I added a few more nonfiction titles (shrug).

Lara, it's your list, though ... nonfiction OK?

Non-fiction is perfectly fine. That's why I titled it "Best Books" rather than "Novels". Have fun listing!

Themis-Athena wrote: "I took the liberty to delete "Pride and Prejudice" -- Jane Austen was a great writer, but she was manifestly NOT American ..."

The Secret Garden needs to go, too.

Hmm. Frances Hodgson Burnett was born in Britain, but she lived in the U.S. for much of her adult life, became an American citizen in 1905 and also died in the U.S. (in 1924). "The Secret Garden" was published in 1911, so arguably it IS the work of an American author. (So, for that matter, is "A Little Princess," which was published in 1905.) "Little Lord Fauntleroy" was first published in 1885 -- likewise when she had already been living in the U.S. for a considerable time (though "technically" still being a British citizen).

Again, though, it's your list ... if you don't want Hodgson Burnett's books here I'll be happy to delete them. :)

Spam alert! #2.

Yech. Lara, do you want obvious spam entries to be removed?

Removed for not being by an American woman:
The Catcher in the Rye

Removed Tobacco Road, by a man.

There's a fair amount of self-published author spam on here. Lara, do you want the list to reflect some kind of objective idea of "best", or are you okay with author voting circles in which Goodreads authors get all their colleagues and cronies to vote their books onto lists? I'm referring to "Secrets of the Realm" by Bev Stout at #2, plus I see four books by "Amanda Springer" where it looks like she and her family members voted the books on.

Essays of E.B. White also by a man.

Removed.

The author of The Secret Garden was from Manchester, England.