I’m making the claim in a proposal that XXXX is (perhaps) the most widely read classic American novel. The “perhaps” gives me some wiggle room (perhaps) but I’d like to verify that I’m not overstating just because I’m proposing a book about XXXX.
What I’d like to do is run some nominees past you. If you’ve read it or not read it is all I want to know. If you have any nominees of your own (I’m including XXX on the list, and throwing in some others that living Americans have read pretty widely) you can add them, but I’d guess that between school assignments, pleasure reading, book clubs and other recreational reading, these would make a good starting point. (Remember I’m including novels assigned for school reading, which even non-readers supposedly have read over a long period of time, so this is heavily biased away from bestselling novels that are popular for a decade or so --like the Godfather, say,-- but have tended not to persist in high school or college assignments). The ones below are, I think widely assigned over a period of years from middle grade through college classes, plus they’re also read outside of school) :
The Sun Also Rises
Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
The Color Purple
Catch-22
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Slaughterhouse-5
Just a “Yes/No/ No/ Yes” etc. response is fine, but if you want to argue with me, go right ahead.
The Sun Also Rises- No
Catcher in the Rye- Yes
The Great Gatsby- Yes
The Color Purple- No
Catch-22- No. I didn’t feel like reading the first 21 volumes.
To Kill a Mockingbird- Yes
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Yes
Slaughterhouse-5- No. Same joke here as Catch-22.
I’d say Huck Finn is #1.
Also possible additions:
Scarlett Letter
Moby Dick
The Turn of the Screw
Grapes of Wrath
The Sun Also Rises - No
Catcher in the Rye - Yes
The Great Gatsby - Yes
The Color Purple - No
Catch-22 - Yes
To Kill a Mockingbird - Yes
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Yes
Slaughterhouse-5 - No
The Sun Also Rises - No
Catcher in the Rye - No
The Great Gatsby - No
The Color Purple - No
Catch-22 - Yes
To Kill a Mockingbird - Yes
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Yes
Slaughterhouse-5 - Yes
I’m Canadian, though.
The Sun Also Rises - No
Catcher in the Rye - Yes
The Great Gatsby - Yes
The Color Purple - No
Catch-22 - No
To Kill a Mockingbird - No
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Yes, in German
Slaughterhouse-5 - No
The Sun Also Rises - No
Catcher in the Rye - Yes
The Great Gatsby - Yes
The Color Purple - No
Catch-22 - Yes
To Kill a Mockingbird - Yes
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - No
Slaughterhouse 5 - Yes
Some other “yes’s”
The Grapes of Wrath
Of Mice and Men
Tom Sawyer
Breakfast of Champions
The Sun Also Rises - No
Catcher in the Rye - No
The Great Gatsby - Yes
The Color Purple - No
Catch-22 - No
To Kill a Mockingbird - Yes
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - No
Slaughterhouse-5 - No
To those I would add :
Tom Sawyer
The Old Man and the Sea
Of Mice and Man
The Sun Also Rises – yes
Catcher in the Rye – yes
The Great Gatsby – yes (would get my vote, BTW)
The Color Purple – yes
Catch-22 – no
To Kill a Mockingbird – yes
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – no, believe it or not
Slaughterhouse-5 – yes
I’ve read To kill a mocking bird, and, embarrassingly i cant remember weather i read Huckleberry Finn or Tom sawyer, but it was a long time ago so please forgive me!
Anyway, my point is that I’m surprised John Steinbeck isn’t on the list. i went to school in England and Of Mice and Men * was one of the set texts for GCSE English literature, and one my class studied- so I’ve read that millions of times. Surely the fact that its tortured thousands of English school children bumps up it’s rating?
I’ve also read about half of the grapes of wrath.
*in case you don’t know, GCSEs, or ‘General certificate of secondary education’ are the school leaving qualifications you take when you’re 16.
Which is why I left MOBY DICK off the list. Hell, I specialize in the prose of the period between the Civil War and the atom bomb, and I’ve taught MOBY DICK but damned if I can honestly say I’ve read every page very carefully. There are passages in there that induce a coma every time. I think most teachers realize that if you assign MOBY DICK, most of your students are going to do a lot of skimming.
I thought of adding Steinbeck to the list–GRAPES is a bit on the long side, and I’m not sure which is the shorties is still assigned: I read “The Pearl” in junior high, and “The Red Pony,” I think, but here are other short novels as well. Maybe “Of Mice and Men.”
The Sun Also Rises - YES
Catcher in the Rye - YES
The Great Gatsby - YES
The Color Purple - NO
Catch-22 - YES
To Kill a Mockingbird - YES
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - YES
Slaughterhouse-5 - YES
Canadian here though, To Kill a Mockingbird was the only one I was assigned to read in school.