# Bibilophiles! Need advice on buying 30K of American literature **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532 "2004-07-17T02:22:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/41 "2004-07-19T00:55:45Z")
_Gentlemans Agreement_ by Laura Z. Hobson Something by Zane Gray Something by Howard Zinn (_A People’s History of the United States_, maybe) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/42 "2004-07-19T01:05:59Z")
For a more pastural setting and a slice of Americana: **Lemon Jelly Cake** Madeline Babcock Smith **Never miss a sunset** Jeanette Gilge ( for ages 10 and up.) (It is one of a series.I haven’t read the rest, but I adored this book as a kid.) **Little House On the Praire Series** Laura Ingalls Wilder. (ages 9 and up) Anything by **Dave Barry** for some funny, lighter side reading. And we would be remiss to exclude the Master: **Cecil Adams** The Straight Dope, The Return of the Straight Dope and The Straight Dope Tells All. A must for all discriminating libraries. I never realized until this thread and checked my personal stash of books that most of my fiction and non-fiction books are set in the UK. Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/43 "2004-07-19T01:13:34Z")
If this has been mentioned, forgive me. **Catch 22** **Sunshine Soldiers** by Peter Tauber. recently back in print. I remember it as hysterically funny when I read this story about a reservists account of boot camp during the Vietnam war. I was 14 and a girl (still am), but it was a scream to me then and I lost my copy that I (cough)stole (cough) from my school’s library. Karmic payback, to be sure. What about spy, mystery or war novels? It certainly is not my genre, but I am sure other dopers can recommend a few good page turners. For a much lighter side of mystery: **Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum Novels** are a stitch. they are also like crack on a pringle. Can’t have just one. If you need recommendations for cheesy romance stories, or even better than average romances, I’m your gal. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/44 "2004-07-19T07:03:38Z")
Random recommendations that haven’t been mentioned AFAIK: \*\*Sophie’s Choice \*\* - William Styron **Long Day’s Journey into Night** - Eugene O’Neill **Cat on a Hot Tin Roof** - Tennessee Williams (I’m assuming plays are o.k.) **Bastard Out of Carolina** - Dorothy Allison then, **Me Talk Pretty One Day** - David Sedaris, to lighten things up **Come To Me** - Amy Bloom (very beautiful short stories) **Look Homeward Angel** - Thomas Wolfe **Tender is the Night** - Fitzgerald **A Prayer for Owen Meany** - John Irving for kiddies: **Where the Wild Things Are** - Maurice Sendak ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/45 "2004-07-19T11:53:20Z")
Yes, all the _Straight Dope_ books need to be included. ---
**Author:** ![Zoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/6de8d8/32.png) [@Zoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoff)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/46 "2004-07-19T12:16:56Z")
I’d suggest Thomas Paine’s _Common Sense_ and _The Rights of Man_. The former is more focused on the gripes of the colonies, but the latter is broader and had a great deal of influence on world events. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/47 "2004-07-19T13:33:07Z")
**One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest** - Ken Kesey **Guns, Germs and Steel** - Jared Diamond **Deliverance** - James Dickey **Last Picture Show** - Larry McMurtry **Breakfast of Champions** - Kurt Vonnegut (I would include a number of books by Vonnegut, but at least this one and Slaughterhouse 5, already mentioned) **The Maltese Falcon** - Dashiell Hammett **The Caine Mutiny** - Herman Wouk **The Demon-Haunted World** - Carl Sagan **Call of the Wild** -Jack London **Ballad of the Bones** - Byron Herbert Reece **The Season of the Flesh** - " " **Bow Down in Jericho** - " " **The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway** **D-Day** - Stephen Ambrose Any good collection of the stories of **H.P. Lovecraft** You probably need several good comprehensive collections of science fiction short stories. Also, given the purpose of the collection (to familiarize Sri Lankans with American culture), I would suggest that you need not just the high-brow, capital L “Literature,” but also some best-sellers from the past few decades. Just a thought. Also, given that purpose, maybe some photography collections, and some histories of popular music, art and cinema in the US. Maybe a history of the automotive industry. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/48 "2004-07-19T17:45:39Z")
Early settlement/colonial stuff: The History of Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, poetry by Anne Bradstreet Governor John Winthrop’s Journal Letters from an American Farmer, Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur Sketch Book, Washington Irving Poetry of Phillis Wheatley The letters of Abigail Adams to her husband Most of these can be found in anthologies of early American writers, like: Early American Writing, Giles Gunn - Editor 672 pages | ISBN 0140390871 | Feb 1994 | Penguin Classic Later stuff: Narrative Of The Life Of An American Slave, Frederick Douglass The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave Declaration of Sentiments from the Seneca Falls Conference, Elizabeth Cady Stanton Diaries of Mary Chesnut Poetry of Langston Hughes To follow up on **spoke-'s** suggestion about photography, how about books with the photographs of Ansel Adams, or the WPA photographers like Dorothea Lange. Books on art from the Ashcan or Hudson River School artists. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/49 "2004-07-19T19:58:01Z")
I second _A People’s History of the United States_ Perhaps the best single book to balance Hollywood’s picture of the U.S. that people there are certainly getting. also _The Autobiography of Malcom X_ important historically, and as a rounded view of the U.S. _Little Big Man_ and _Catch 22_ also come to mind, but neither are as important. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/50 "2004-07-19T21:16:53Z")
Not everyone will agree with these i’m sure (trying not to repeat what others have offered already): Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand The Shining - Stephen King The World According to Garp - John Irving A Fool’s Progress - Edward Abbey For Whom the Bell Tolls - Hemmingway Watch For Me On The Mountain - I forget the author, but this is the story of Geronimo Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Again I forget the author ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/51 "2004-07-19T22:10:41Z")
More kiddie lit: **Charlotte’s Web** - E.B. White **Where the Red Fern Grows** - Wilson Rawls **Old Yeller** - Fred Gipson (as long as we’re killing off family pets) **Island of the Blue Dolphins** - Scott O’Dell **The Phantom Tollbooth** -Norton Juster ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/52 "2004-07-19T22:27:30Z")
You know, the more I think about it, the more I think kiddie literature expresses what is best in Americans, that to which we aspire. (I suppose that is because many of these books are designed to teach ethical lessons.) If you look over the more adult-oriented literature in this thread, a lot of it has themes of disillusionment at our failure to live up to those aspirations. With that in mind, one more classic piece of kiddie lit: **My friend Flicka** - Mary O’Hara ---
**Author:** ![eponymous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e0b2c6/32.png) [@eponymous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eponymous)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/53 "2004-07-20T01:26:30Z")
Hmm, I’m suprised that no-one has recommended any books regarding sports. Two that come to mind are: **The Boys of Summer** by Roger Kahn and **The Historical Abstract** by Bill James. A few more that should get a sense of “Americana” or of an American worldview: **A Bright, Shining Lie** by Neil Sheehan - perspective on the Vietnam War **Devil’s Dictionary** by Ambrose Bierce Any of the writings of H. L. Mencken Select writings from pragmatists (US’s contributions to philosophy) such as James, Peirce, Dewey. The next two many would not consider good works (in a literary sense), but nevertheless were hughly successful and may prove useful in getting some insight into the American psyche: **How to Win Friends and Influence People** by Dale Carnegie **The Power of Postive Thinking** by Norman Vincent Peale **The Ugly American** by William Lerderer, et al. - dated, but I think extremely relavent given current events. **Black Like Me** by John Howard Griffin - again dated, but does illustrate how much race/racism is a part of American history. **Silent Spring** by Rachel Carson - also dated, but helped propel the environmenal movement in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/54 "2004-07-20T02:01:00Z")
By John Steinbeck: “The Grapes of Wrath” “In Dubious Battle” “Of Mice and Men” “The Long Valley” and his other short story collection, which I can’t think of at the moment, “The Moon is Down” “East of Eden” TC Boyle’s “Stories” is highly recommended. Everything else has been said already that I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/55 "2004-07-20T02:24:40Z")
**The Yearling** by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2004, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532/56 "2004-07-20T02:38:20Z")
I didn’t see these mentioned–they may have been I speed-read the list. _Let Us Now Praise Famous Men_ James Agee & Walker Evans _The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamlined Baby_ Tom Wolfe_The Redneck Manifesto_ Jim Goad (and since I always want to write his name as Joad that reminds me, _Grapes of Wrath_ has to be on here, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibilophiles-need-advice-on-buying-30k-of-american-literature/255532.md?page=2)