# Atlantic's 136 Great American Novels **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2024, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857 "2024-03-15T03:29:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/21 "2024-03-15T17:11:31Z")
My wife facilitates a book club and has read 43, and she does not love some of these choices. Also, apparently my number is 25 because she told me we did one of these books in book club in the early oughts, but damned if I remember it. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/22 "2024-03-15T18:54:02Z")
There’s quite a few (like _Catch -22_) that I can’t recall if I’ve read or if I just saw the movie. I think it would be hard for anybody who graduated from an American high school to not have read at least ten or fifteen off the list. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/23 "2024-03-15T19:09:25Z")
I’m pleased to see some speculative fiction on there. That said, if they’re willing to include a fantasy-horror roadtrip-slash-journey into the soul of America, _American Gods_ does that better than _The Stand_, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/24 "2024-03-15T19:18:29Z")
I’ve read 24 of the list. DEI lists like these are ridiculous. Although I will give them credit for calling the list “100 Great” instead of the usual “100 Greatest.” Just call the list “Books you haven’t read but might enjoy.” ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/25 "2024-03-15T19:23:03Z")
I’ve read six of these books. I started another four and never finished. Obviously they aren’t on my top 100 list. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I think it would be hard for anybody who graduated from an American high school to not have read at least ten or fifteen off the list. No, it isn’t. American novels weren’t big in my school. Chicago public school too. Books from classic English literature, one French guy, and one South African. We did do _Slaughterhouse Five_. I counted that one as started, never finished. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/26 "2024-03-15T20:22:39Z")
I’ve read ten, counting _Portnoy’s Complaint,_ which if I read, and finished, was when I was a mid-teenager. I don’t remember a thing about it, except the obvious subject that made it infamous. The most recently written is _Housekeeping_ from 1980. Don’t remember much about it, either. But several of the ones I have read, I’ve read many times: _Gatsby, Catch-22, Fahrenheit 451, Slaughterhouse Five._ I am miffed that _Mockingbird_ isn’t there, and not just because it would raise my miserable total by 10%. My wife, who teaches middle-school English, will be outraged by that omission. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/27 "2024-03-15T20:33:24Z")
Maybe I’ll read I Love Dick just for the fun of carrying it around my workplace. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/28 "2024-03-15T20:46:58Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I am miffed that _Mockingbird_ isn’t there, and not just because it would raise my miserable total by 10%. My wife, who teaches middle-school English, will be outraged by that omission. I hate to say this, but judging by what books were recommended on this list, _To Kill a Mockingbird_ might come off as too “white savior-ey” to be included. I get real “more socially aware than thou” vibes from this collection. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/29 "2024-03-15T20:47:52Z")
I’ve read 27 of them. It helped that I was a longtime subscriber to the Library of America, otherwise I likely wouldn’t have read the Theodore Dreiser and John Dos Passos books, for example (they’re both well worth reading). I do appreciate lists like this. They help introduce me to books and authors of which I should probably be aware. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/30 "2024-03-15T21:15:58Z")
I was shocked that _Gilead_ from Marilynne Robinson wasn’t on there… but then I saw they had her first novel _Housekeeping_ listed… and the blurb read like the guy liked _Gilead_ more but was forced to write about _Housekeeping_ instead lol I’ve read 20 on the list… mostly the newer ones as well. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/31 "2024-03-15T21:35:36Z")
I think Fante is greatly overrated and perhaps no one would have ever heard of him if he hadn’t been a favorite of Bukowski’s. But I would recommend any of the latter’s novels over any of the former’s. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/32 "2024-03-15T22:10:21Z")
I’ve read around 26 of them; “around” because there are a couple that I know I started and think I finished but can’t remember , like _The Group_. There are others (_All the King’s Men_) that I know I had to read in school, but all I remember is the author, title, and topic. At least 6 of them I know I started and didn’t finish; a few of them like _The Secret History, Native Speaker, How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents_ I know I want to complete. And some that I did read, I disliked intensely and think they’re overrated (_Oxherding Tale, Portnoy’s Complaint_) I’ve read Maxine Hong Kingston’s _Tripmaster Monkey_ and didn’t like it anywhere near as much as _Woman Warrior_ and _China Men_. And if Colson Whitehead’s _The Intuitionist_ is really as good as his Pulitzer-winning _The Underground Railroad_ and _The Nickel Boys_, then I should get hold of it. Finally, _To Kill a Mockingbird_ is a strange omission, considering some of the other books that made the cut. And, nitpick, it’s **136** (not 100) great novels of the past 100 years. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/33 "2024-03-15T23:13:40Z")
You’re in good company! See post #18. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/34 "2024-03-15T23:14:16Z")
I think I read 25, but they have almost that many books I never could get through - \*cough_Infinite Jest_cough\* - so I know I’m not their prime audience. I also know that the Philip Dick novel should be _The Man in the High Castle_. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/35 "2024-03-15T23:17:34Z")
What’s the deal with complaining about DEI and these book lists? Is that the go to thing these days if there’s too many of a “certain type” included in a list? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/36 "2024-03-16T01:02:04Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > What’s the deal with complaining about DEI and these book lists? Is that the go to thing these days if there’s too many of a “certain type” included in a list Right? It might just be…and I know this might sound crazy…they’re asking a more diverse group of scholars for their opinions. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/37 "2024-03-16T01:05:50Z")
Over a third of these titles’ main theme is the culture clashes between a minority and the mainstream. Maybe the omission of “To Kill a Mockingbird” was just an oversight. But you never know. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/38 "2024-03-16T01:38:42Z")
No John Irving but two by Faulkner? GTFOH. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/39 "2024-03-16T02:12:48Z")
I liked _Garp_ when it came out, very much, and I really like _Cider House Rules_ and especially _A Prayer for Owen Meany._ And I’m sure I could have found room for Owen Meany at least on this list. But I do think the two Faulkner books are even better. Fascinating how opinions can differ! ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857/40 "2024-03-16T02:18:43Z")
I’ve read 45 and have another 20 or so in the house. I agree with some and disagree with others. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atlantics-136-great-american-novels/998857.md?page=3)