The List!

[Marnie]

PBS polled America for their favorite books! They created a list of the top 100! They are now challenging America to read as many of the books on the list and vote for your favorites! You can vote everyday! Who is excited to read away!?!

The List!
1984-George Orwell
A Confederacy of Dunces-John Kennedy Toole
A Prayer for Owen Meany-John Irving
A Separate Peace-John Knowles
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn-Betty Smith
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer-Mark Twain
The Alcemist-Paulo Coelho
Alex Cross Mystteries (Series)-James Patterson
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland-Lewis Carroll
Americanah-Chimamanda Nogzi Adichie
And Then There Were None-Agatha Christie
Anne of Green Gables-Lucy Maud Montgomery
Another Country-James Baldwin
Atlas Shrugged-Ayn Rand
Beloved-Toni Morrison
Bless Me, Ultima-Rudolfo Anaya
The Book Thief-Markus Zusak
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao-Junot Diaz
The Call of the Wild-Jack London
Catch 22-Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye-J.D. Salinger
Charlotte's Web-E.B. White
The Chronicles of Narnia (Series)-C.S. Lewis
The Clan of the Cave Bear-Jean M. Auel
The Coldest Winter Ever-Sister Souljah
The Color Purple-Alice Walker
The Count of Monte Cristo-Alexandre Dumas
Crime and Punishment-Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Tie-Mark Haddon
The Da Vinci Code-Dan Brown
Don Quixote-Miguel de Cervantes
Dona Barbara-Romulo Gallegos
Dune-Frank Herbert
Fifty Shades of Grey (Series)-E.L. James
Flowers in the Attic-V.C. Andrews
Foundation (Series)-Isaac Asimov
Frankenstein-Mary Shelley
Game of Thrones (Series)-George R.R. Martin
Ghost-Jason Reynolds
Glead-Marilynne Robinson
The Giver-Lois Lowery
The Godfather-Mario Puzo
Gone Girl-Gillian Flynn
Gone with the Wind-Margaret Mitchell
The Grapes of Wrath-John Steinbeck
Great Expectations-Charles Dickens
The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald
Gulliver's Travels-Jonathan Swift
The Handmaid's Tale-Margaret Atwood
Harry Potter (Series)-J.K. Rowling
Hatcher (Series)-Gary Paulsen
Heart of Darkness-Joseph Conrad
The Help-Kathryn Stockett
The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy-Douglas Adams
The Hunger Games (Series)-Suzanne Collins
The Hunt for Red October-Tom Clancy
The Intuituionist-Colson Whitehead
Invisible Man-Ralph Ellison
Jane Eyer-Charlotte Bronte
The Joy Luck Club-Amy Tan
Jurassic Park-Michael Crichton
Left Behind (Series)-Ti LaHaye/Jerry B. Jenkins
The Little Prince-Antoine de Saint-Exurpery
Little Women-Louisa may Alcott
Lonesome Dove-Larry McMurtry
Looking for Alaska-John Green
The Lord of the Rings (Series)-J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lovely Bones-Alice Sebold
The Martian-Andy Weir
Memoirs of a Geisha-Arthur Golden
Mind Invaders-Dave Hunt
Moby-Dick-Herman Melville
The Notebook-Nicholas Sparks
One Hundred Years of Solitude-Gaberiel Garcia Marquez
Outlander (Series)-Diana Gabaldon
The Outsiders-S.E. Hinton
The Picture of Dorian Gray-Oscar Wilde
The Pilgrims Progress-John Bunyan
The Pillars of the Earth-Ken Follett
Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen
Ready Player One-Ernest Cline
Rebecca-Daphne du Maurier
The Shack-William P. Young
Siddhartha-Hermann Hesse
The Sirens of Titan-Kurt Vonnegut
The Stand-Stephen King
The Sun Also Rises-Ernest Hemingway
Swan Song-Robert R. McCammon
Tales of The City (Series)-Armistead Maupin
Their Eyes Were Watching God-Zora Neale Hurston
Things Fall Apart-Chinua Achebe
This Present Darkness-Frank E. Peretti
To Kill a Mockingbird-Harper Lee
The Twilight Saga (Series)-Stephenie Meyer
War and Peace-Leo Tolstoy
Watchers-Dean Koontz
The Wheel of Time (Series)-Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson
Where the Red Fern Grows-Wilson Rawls
White Teeth-Zadie Smith
Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte

Watch the Show!
https://www.pbs.org/video/launch-spec...

Vote for your Favorite Book!
http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american...

Share your Story with PBS about your favorite book(s)!
http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american...

[Genevieve]

I need to start checking off what I have and haven’t read. Interesting choices for the list. Many expected but some surprises!

[Marnie]

Instead of reading together, we have discussion boards for each book. This is to help accommodate to everyone, we all have different life's and things going on and all read at different paces. Please share your review of the book(s) when you are done reading them. If you have read any in the past, please share your thoughts on the board to help the discussion. Enjoy Reading Everyone!

[NancyJ, Moderator]

Oh my, Marnie. Thank you for setting all this up!!!

This group is still very new, and new people will be joining every day. So please don't give up on the idea of group reads and buddy reads. We might just need a few days or so to build up to it.

You suggested having a group read every week. We know this pace would be hard for a lot of people, but we all don't have to read every book every week. Instead of planning to "complete" a new read each week, perhaps we might think of "starting" one each week or every other week. That way, we could have a focus book for those who like to read with others, but everyone can still go at their own pace. Does that make sense?

[Hal]

I like that I idea NancyJ of having a focus book every other week and allow folks to go at their own pace if needed. I know with me, if I'm on vacation I will have no problem completing a book or more a week (depending on the vacation) but otherwise a little slower pace or at own pace helps.

[NancyJ, Moderator]

Hal wrote: "I like that I idea NancyJ of having a focus book every other week and allow folks to go at their own pace if needed. I know with me, if I'm on vacation I will have no problem completing a book or m..."

Great. Let's get a few more responses and pick one book to start. Marnie had an emergency, and I'm exploring to see what options I have as a (first time) moderator.

[Skye]

Marnie, thanks so much for the list! There are many I have read, there are many I haven't, some I would love to read, others I would not care to read, and some I would adore rereading.

[Colleen]

@Nancy - that sounds good.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks for adding this list.

To coin Charlotte (Charlotte's Web) 🙄 that's SOME list!!

I have read about 20 of them, and added about 20 more to my tbr.

[Skye]

I agree!

[Tammy]

I've read about 66 - 68 of the GAR books (I seem to read better than I count). In fact I just finished Crime and Punishment today. I'll probably just float in and out of discussions, but don't have any plans to re-read the ones I've read. There are a few that I don't know if I'll ever have any desire to read (50 Shades books, Jurassic Park and, oh heavens, The Count of MC and The LOTR seris). I'm game for the rest! I'll defer to the group for book choices!

[Skye]

Tammy, that is simply amazing: I won't read 50 Shades, Jarassic Park, but what LOTR/)
I am surprised that Stieg Larsson wasn't on the list---one of the best trilogies I have ever read!

[NancyJ, Moderator]

Tammy wrote: "I've read about 66 - 68 of the GAR books (I seem to read better than I count). In fact I just finished Crime and Punishment today. I'll probably just float in and out of discussions, but don't have..."

Skye wrote: "Tammy, that is simply amazing: I won't read 50 Shades, Jarassic Park, but what LOTR/)
I am surprised that Stieg Larsson wasn't on the list---one of the best trilogies I have ever read!"

Tammy, congrats! Let me know if you'd like me to add any more books to the last discussion area - Other GAR books.

I'm also planning to skip those books, except for Count of Monte Cristo. It was so good I'd like to read it again.

Skye, LOTR is Lord of the Rings. I saw the movies, and I'm in no hurry to read the books, but if it wins I'm committed to reading at least Fellowship of the Ring.

I would have liked to see the Stieg Larsson books on the list too. They could represent the strong mystery/thriller literature coming from Sweden and nearby countries. I'll bet they did pretty well in the survey, but not well enough to make the list. If this list was created in 2010, they would be on the list. When Larsson died, I thought that would be the end of the series, but I see a new author has been allowed to continue the series. Have you tried one yet?

[Skye]

I read The Hobbit; my husband was addicted to the entire series

[Skye]

NancyJ wrote: "Tammy wrote: "I've read about 66 - 68 of the GAR books (I seem to read better than I count). In fact I just finished Crime and Punishment today. I'll probably just float in and out of discussions, ..."

I believe his girlfriend kept writing; they were simply wonderful, too. She is my very favorite protagonist.
I have commented on Suspect, but I can't find the spoiler list.

[NancyJ, Moderator]

Skye wrote: "...Suspect, but I can't find the spoiler list."

I just posted to bump it. It's in the same folder as the non-spoiler thread, just above or just below it.

[Linda]

Skye wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "Tammy wrote: "I've read about 66 - 68 of the GAR books (I seem to read better than I count). In fact I just finished Crime and Punishment today. I'll probably just float in and out o..."

You might like a series by Paco Ignacio Taibo II, the Hector Belascoaran Shayne series. There're about 10-11 of them, and they're all pretty short. She's a bit of a pre-cursor to Lisbeth in that she drives (and knows how to fix) a motorcycle, race car, and saves his butt on the regular. Also, not out to marry him. What she lacks is Lisbeth's tech savviness, but hey, it was Mexico in the late 70s, you can't have everything. :)

[Skye]

Nancy, thanks: they sound great!

[Skye]

NancyJ wrote: "Skye wrote: "...Suspect, but I can't find the spoiler list."

I just posted to bump it. It's in the same folder as the non-spoiler thread, just above or just below it."

Thanks so much!