Great American Read List discussion

The Official List

NOVELS
(** read with this group)

✔ 1. 1984 by George Orwell (pretty sure I read this in High School, no interest in re-reading it)(Tried again 2018, nope)
2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
3. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
✔ 4. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (loved this one)
5. Another Country by James Baldwin
6. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
7. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
✔ 8. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
**✔ 9. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (4 stars)
10. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
11. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
12. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
13. The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah
✔ 14. The Color Purple by Alice Walker (read this years ago)
15. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
✔ 16. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (very good)
✔ 17. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (very good)
18. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
19. Doña Barbara by Rómulo Gallegos
20. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
✔ 21. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
22. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
✔ 23. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
✔ 24. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
25. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
26. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
27. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
28. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
29. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
✔ 30. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
31. The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
32. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
✔ 33. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
✔ 34. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
35. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
36. Looking for Alaska by John Green
✔ 37. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
38. The Martian by Andy Weir
✔ 39. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (so good)
40. The Mind Invaders by Dave Hunt
41. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
42. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
✔ 43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (read in high school)
✔ 44. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
45. The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
✔ 46. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
✔ 47. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
✔ 48. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
✔ 49. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
50. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
51. The Shack by William Paul Young
**✔ 52. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
**✔ 53. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
✔ 54. The Stand by Stephen King
55. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
56. Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon
✔ 57. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (really good)
58. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
✔ 59. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (wonderful)
✔ 60. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
61. Watchers by Dean Koontz
62. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
63. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
✔ 64. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

BOOK SERIES

--65. The Adventures of Tom and Huck by Mark Twain
#1 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
--66. The African Trilogy by Chinua Achebe
#1 Things Fall Apart
--67. Alex Cross by James Patterson
✔ #1—Along Came a Spider
--68. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
✔ #1 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
--69. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
#1Anne of Green Gables
--70. Brian's Saga by Gary Paulsen
#1 Hatchet
--71. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
#1 Catch-22
--72. Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
#1 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
--73. Darkness by Frank E. Peretti
#1This Present Darkness
--74. Dollanganger by V.C. Andrews
✔ #1 Flowers in the Attic
--75. Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert
#1 Dune
--76. Earth's Children by Jean M. Auel
#1 The Clan of the Cave Bear
--77. Fifty Shades by E.L. James
No interest in reading...
--78. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
#1 Foundation
--79. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
✔ #1 Gilead
--80. The Giver by Lois Lowry
✔ #1 The Giver
--81. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (Read series twice)
✔ #1 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
✔ #2 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
✔ #3 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
✔ #4 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
✔ #5 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
✔ #6 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
✔ #7 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
--82. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
#1 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
--83. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
✔ #1 The Hunger Games
✔ #2 Catching Fire
--84. Jack Ryan Universe by Tom Clancy
#1 Without Remorse
--85. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
#1 Jurassic Park
--86. Kingsbridge by Ken Follett
✔ #1 The Pillars of the Earth
--87. Left Behind by Tim LaHaye
#1 Left Behind
--88. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
#1 Little Women
--89. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
✔ #1 Lonesome Dove
--90. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
# The Fellowship of the Ring
--91. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
#1 The Notebook
--92. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
#1 Outlander
--93. Robert Langdon by Dan Brown
#1 Angels & Demons
✔ #2 The Da Vinci Code
--94. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
✔ #1 A Game of Thrones
✔ #2 A Clash of Kings
✔ #3 A Storm of Swords
✔ #4 A Feast for Crows
✔ #5 A Dance with Dragons
--95. Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
#1 Tales of the City
--96. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
✔ #1 To Kill a Mockingbird
--97. Toni Morrison Trilogy by Toni Morrison
#1 Beloved
--98. Track by Jason Reynolds
#1 Ghost
--99. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
No interest in reading
--100. Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
#1 The Eye of the World

Books Read with the Group

Siddhartha - July 2018 - 4 stars
The Sirens of Titan July-Aug 2018 - 4 stars
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

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Currently Reading

Lonesome Dove

Ok, so I made (copied/pasted/edited) a list and just marked the ones I've read. I'll be tracking the ones I've read with the group with an * in the top list but also adding them in the post for books read with the group. I'm not interested in ALL the books but will probably give most a chance. :)

Tasha...what did you like about GOT...were you a fantasy reader before reading GOT....is the TV series more of an enhancement to the novels....i panic with big books/series....

I read them all before the series came out. I'm not a fantasy reader but I think there were enough 'normal' elements to keep me satisfied. I found most of the books page turners. I haven't watched the series although I wanted to, I'm just not a big tv watcher. I had plans on reading the next in the series when it came out but I think he either never wrote it or I just never noticed. I think the series distracted him, now it's been too long and I don't really remember the details so I'll probably never continue on.

Tasha, he's supposedly still writing the last book. There have been all kinds of distractions/delays, so I'm in your boat. I doubt I'll read the next book. The only characters I really like are Jon, Bran and Arya.
I'm not a huge fan, but a friend recommended it to me.

HUGE WARNING to those who haven't read it: it's not for the faint of heart. I read it only during the day (after having nightmares when I read it at night).

Here to give you an official welcome to the Great American Read List group and thank you for creating a personal bookshelf, Tasha!

I've read Dostoevsky's The Idiot and thought it was outstanding. I've yet to read Crime and Punishment, but am very much looking forward to it.

What did you think of King's The Stand? I've read quite a few of his novels, but haven't gotten around to reading that one yet.

Thanks, Lavan.

I really liked C&P and I do want to eventually read more if his stuff.

I can't remember The Stand though as I read it many, many years ago! I marked it as read bc I did read it, it doesn't say anything about actually remembering what I read. ;) LOL

You're most welcome, Tasha!

True enough!
I've had the complete and uncut edition on my to-read shelf for a long time. Glad The Great American Read has given me a reason to finally read it.

Finished The Sirens of Titan over vacation and really enjoyed it. I'm not a big sci-fi reader so this was out of my wheelhouse as well (Siddharta too) but I really enjoyed it. I will be reading more from him and I may start collecting the books as I loved the cover of the one I bought/read:

Due to some recommendations from the group, I think the next one I'll buy/read will be

I love book covers (as I'm sure many of you do as well) and these are just great!

Not sure if this is a kindle daily deal but I'm seeing Slaughterhouse-Five on kindle for $1.99. I think I'll just get the digital version then instead, can't beat the price.

Yep, you are one of those who rec'd SF5. I'll let you know what I think once I get to it.

Haha, no worries. My dad loves Vonnegut so there is probably much more pressure on that end. ;)

Just adding here that I finished and really enjoyed it. A very different style than I'm used to but once I got into the rhythm of it, it was fine. The story was fascinating and parts were pretty emotional.