# The Five Essential American Literature Books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 22, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028 "2010-08-22T02:57:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/21 "2010-08-22T18:15:00Z")
Now that **Fried Dough Ho** mentions Laura Ingalls Wilder, it occurs to me that _Little House on the Prairie_ is an excellent suggestion, also. And personally, I’m not really thinking in terms of what books are best, per se, but which books provide the best cross-section of Americana. I’m as big an Asimov as anyone, but _Foundation_, say, isn’t really about America in any sense except possibly a weak allegory. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/22 "2010-08-22T19:20:19Z")
> [@jordanr2](#): > > > [@NinjaChick](#): > > > > I’ve been struggling with Faulkner, myself. My first introduction wasn’t until college, and I started with _Go Down, Moses_, which I think is a little bit too intense to start with. I’d start out with _A Fable_ or _Absalom, Absalom!_ - but that’s just me. I’d definitely rate Faulkner as one of, if not the most intellectually challenging American novelists. > > _A Fable_? That’s an interesting choice - can I ask why that one? (Not arguing with its inclusion - I haven’t read it despite an effort or two, but it doesn’t seem to be commonly viewed as one of his more seminal works.) _A Fable_ just felt the most approachable to me of the Faulkner I’ve read. I think for one, while the details might be challenging to follow, the basic plots (war is hellish, a Jesus allegory) were more familiar to me than in some of his other works; and two (trying to figure out how to explain it clearly): I’ve found thus far that, to me, almost all his work feels vaguely surreal (e.g., I’ve never spent any time in the old deep south hunting bear or dealing with racial issues, so _Go Down, Moses_ feels somewhat other-worldly to me), but _A Fable_ is fairly up-front about that - it’s the point, I think? As I said, I’ve struggled a lot with him, so it could just be me, but I guess it feels more accessible than some of his other novels. (But I also don’t know that I believe Faulkner himself when he says that _Go Down Moses_ is one novel and not a collection of stories, so I might just be missing his point entirely.) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/23 "2010-08-22T19:57:08Z")
_Tom Sawyer/ Huckleberry Finn_ - Twain- should be read one after the other, both great _For Whom the Bell Tolls_ - Hemingway - my all-time favourite book _Gravity’s Rainbow_- Pynchon - mental and dense - worth many rereads _To Kill a Mockingbird_ - This is a given, an astonishing work The fifth is a bit of a tie: _Underworld_ - Don DeLillo - The opening sequence at the baseball game is the most cinematic and evocative thing I’ve ever read. It is fantastic, his prose works like one of those cameras that swoop up and down the field and around the stands. The trouble is the rest of the massive tome is pish in comparison. Still, what a writer,in parts. _Bonfire of the Vanities_ - Wolfe - He’s only written two good books (_The Right Stuff_ is the other obv.) but this one has such electric dialogue.It charges on, relentless. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/24 "2010-08-22T20:04:54Z")
Old Man and the Sea (or other by Hemingway) Call of the Wild (or other by London) Bonfire of the Vanities (or other by Wolfe \*) Huck Finn (or Sawyer) something by Steinbeck - - I also liked I Am Charlotte Simmons, and of course Right Stuff. I preferred Norris’ _Octopus_ to Sinclair’s _Jungle_. Many of those mentioned in the thread are on [Wikipedia’s list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Novel). I’ve read about one-third of that list, didn’t like Great Gatsby, and hated the one of Passos’ USA Trilogy I read. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/25 "2010-08-22T20:19:17Z")
The Last Picture Show - Larry McMurtry Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson Of Mice and Men - Steinbeck Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/26 "2010-08-22T21:33:00Z")
My focus, in making a list like this, tends to be more historical than literary. It’s also one of those things, like “5 favorite movies,” where my list would probably change every time you asked me. Still, here one possible list: Melville - Moby Dick Twain - Tom Sawyer Sinclair - The Jungle Steinbeck - Grapes of Wrath Wright - Native Son Of course, the fact that i have no post-WWII novels on my list makes the whole exercise a bit silly. The fact is that reducing a list like this to 5 is basically impossible. There’s a non-fiction book that i think could also easily go on the list: The Education of Henry Adams, by Henry Adams. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/27 "2010-08-22T21:50:28Z")
Are we counting Lolita as an “American” novel? I would, and if so, that’s top of the list for me. Follow that with Huck Finn, Catch 22, Great Gatsby, and Sound and the Fury. ---
**Author:** ![ProudlyDefiant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@ProudlyDefiant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ProudlyDefiant)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/28 "2010-08-22T21:59:29Z")
> [@ProudlyDefiant](#): > > High school American lit teacher, here. > > My honors students read more than five American Lit books a year, but if I were to pick five from my current reading list, I’d tell you to read: > > The Great Gatsby > Of Mice and Men > The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn > The Scarlet Letter > Catcher in the Rye Reviewing my own list (and my syllabus… back to school tomorrow!), if I could suggest plays instead of novels I’d definitely remove Catcher in the Rye and replace it with Death of a Salesman instead. Although To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all-time faves, it is taught at the 8th grade level in my district, so I don’t get to teach it to my juniors. ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/29 "2010-08-22T22:03:47Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > > [@jordanr2](#): > > > > _A Fable_? That’s an interesting choice - can I ask why that one? (Not arguing with its inclusion - I haven’t read it despite an effort or two, but it doesn’t seem to be commonly viewed as one of his more seminal works.) > > _A Fable_ just felt the most approachable to me of the Faulkner I’ve read. I think for one, while the details might be challenging to follow, the basic plots (war is hellish, a Jesus allegory) were more familiar to me than in some of his other works; and two (trying to figure out how to explain it clearly): I’ve found thus far that, to me, almost all his work feels vaguely surreal (e.g., I’ve never spent any time in the old deep south hunting bear or dealing with racial issues, so _Go Down, Moses_ feels somewhat other-worldly to me), but _A Fable_ is fairly up-front about that - it’s the point, I think? As I said, I’ve struggled a lot with him, so it could just be me, but I guess it feels more accessible than some of his other novels. > > (But I also don’t know that I believe Faulkner himself when he says that _Go Down Moses_ is one novel and not a collection of stories, so I might just be missing his point entirely.) Cool, thanks for the explanation. I often find Faulkner frustratingly opaque (which is my problem, not his) and that book has been especially difficult for me to tackle, so it’s nice to know that someone other than the Pulitzer committee of 1955 has found it worth reading. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/30 "2010-08-22T22:07:39Z")
_Moby-Dick_ Emerson’s essays D.H. Lawrence’s _Studies in Classic American Literature_ Bellow, _Adventures of Augie March_ Ralph Ellison, _Invisible Man_ ---
**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:** [August 22, 2010, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/31 "2010-08-22T22:29:47Z")
There are some good suggestions in this thread. But Fitzgerald’s milquetoast prose feels like only one step beyond Anglophilia, and Faulkner’s vision of America lives in a few Southern counties and nowhere else. If you want some really muscular American prose, try: Norman Mailer, _The Naked and the Dead_ Jim Thompson, _The Killer Inside Me_ > [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > I can’t stay away from my Pepys for too long, but feel I should sample a little of what is best from the States. Ha! One of those Brits who can’t even pronounce their names like they’re spelled. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/32 "2010-08-22T23:00:50Z")
In semi-seriousness… “At the Mountains of Madness” by H. P. Lovecraft. Sure, it’s pulp fiction, but it’s pulp fiction that’s stood the test of time. While the majority of Lovecraft’s pulp contemporaries have disappeared from the public consciousness, he retains a large influence on modern pop-culture. And his writing is very, very “Yankee”. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/33 "2010-08-22T23:07:12Z")
> [@ProudlyDefiant](#): > > Reviewing my own list (and my syllabus… back to school tomorrow!), if I could suggest plays instead of novels I’d definitely remove Catcher in the Rye and replace it with Death of a Salesman instead. i will agree that DoaS is a powerful and depressing play but i remember as an 11th grader that “raisin in the sun” moved me deeper than “death of a salesmen.” so did “the glass menagerie.” maybe it’s because i was personally more disposed to connect with racism and ostracism than unfulfilled dreams. i’d like to think it’s because of my age rather than my own personal insecurities. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/34 "2010-08-22T23:14:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Are we counting Lolita as an “American” novel? We have to, don’t we? Otherwise the Ayn Rand suggestions above would have been laughed out of court. As someone whose fiction reading primarily constists of mysteries and science fiction, here’s a list: To Kill a Mockingbird Huckleberry Finn An American Tragedy Cannery Row and - any random Hemingway in order to realize just how excruciatingly uninteresting his writing really is. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/35 "2010-08-22T23:21:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Are we counting Lolita as an “American” novel? A novel written by a Russian, first published in France, written in English? Why not? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/36 "2010-08-23T01:38:27Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > I’d be tempted, and with I believe some justification, to leave the Hawthorne and Melville out because they’re essentially British novels written by Americans. Huh. I’m about 150 pages into **Moby Dick** (and have been for about three weeks), and his sense of humor seems quintessentially American to me, as does his almost self-satisfied acceptance of people from different social classes–even savages–as his equals. I was thinking about the challenge from a different perspective: are there genres that America dominates, and if so, what would be some good and representative examples from the genres? The ones I could think of, with suggestions: -Westerns: nobody does these like we do. **Lonesome Dove** , maybe (which I haven’t read), or get some current flavor plus some fantastic literature in with some Cormac McCarthy, maybe even **Blood Meridian**. -Horror: others do it, but between Poe and Lovecraft, we can make something of a claim for turning it into a genre. Maybe **At the Mountains of Madness**. -Hard-boiled detectives: Brits have the brain-teaser-mystery category sewn up, between Doyle and Christie, but I think America has a lock on hard-boiled detective stories. **The Big Sleep** is my favorite by my favorite author in this genre, Raymond Chandler. -Science Fiction: We didn’t invent it, but we damn sure popularized it, and it’s a major, major influence on global culture by now. I’m thinking **Left Hand of Darkness** for some reason. -Road Trips: Obviously other folks have done them (Canterbury something or other, I seem to recall…), but they’re a staple of American fiction. Be a purist and go with **Dharma Bums** , or stretch the genre a little to allow one of the classics: **Huckleberry Finn**. Obviously this isn’t a list of the Five Greatest American Novels, but I think it’d provide an interesting overview to some of the more influential strains within American literature. ---
**Author:** ![ProudlyDefiant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@ProudlyDefiant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ProudlyDefiant)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/37 "2010-08-23T02:31:13Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > > [@ProudlyDefiant](#): > > > > Reviewing my own list (and my syllabus… back to school tomorrow!), if I could suggest plays instead of novels I’d definitely remove Catcher in the Rye and replace it with Death of a Salesman instead. > > i will agree that DoaS is a powerful and depressing play but i remember as an 11th grader that “raisin in the sun” moved me deeper than “death of a salesmen.” so did “the glass menagerie.” maybe it’s because i was personally more disposed to connect with racism and ostracism than unfulfilled dreams. i’d like to think it’s because of my age rather than my own personal insecurities. I teach Raisin in the Sun as well. I taught The Glass Menagerie in my Theatre Arts elective. I had several students choose to write their final papers comparing and contrasting Willie Loman and Walter Younger and their interpretation/struggle for the American Dream. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/38 "2010-08-23T02:42:44Z")
Whew, Larry McMurtry mentioned twice on this list so I’ll pipe up :). _Lonesome Dove_ is a must-read, even if it’s not included as part of a “top five American novels”, it’s compelling and ten years after my initial read, I still think about the characters often. I do think _The Scarlet Letter_ and _Huckleberry Finn_ belongs on the list, and I would include _Of Mice and Men_ as well, although maybe _Grapes of Wrath_ is a better choice, I prefer OMAM. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/39 "2010-08-23T02:56:42Z")
If you want the Official, Dead-white-male style canon of the five Greatest American Books, my impression is that they’d be (in chronological order) 1. _The Scarlet Letter_ by Nathaniel Hawthorne 2. _Moby-Dick_ by Herman Melville 3. _Walden_ by Henry David Thoreau 4. _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ by Mark Twain 5. _The Great Gatsby_ by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Note that Walden is non-fiction. It’s a “great book” but not a novel.) These are not necessarily the most popular or widely-read. For example, _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_ may well be more popular and more entertaining than _Huckleberry Finn_, but it isn’t as deep or as Great as a Work of Literature. But at any rate, you must read something by Twain: if there is such as thing as the Great American Author, he is it. The list above leans toward the 19th century, maybe because those older books have had more time to establish themselves as part of the canon. A more-recent-leaning list might well include Hemingway (who some say was at his best in his short stories), Steinbeck, and Faulkner (who can be fairly difficult), or maybe at least something by an African-American author (like Ralph Ellison’s _Invisible Man_). But really, you should read _To Kill a Mockingbird_. Most people who read it like it; it’s some people’s favorite book; and it’s very American. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028/40 "2010-08-23T03:04:34Z")
Wow, I’m shocked at a couple of trends: 1. The lack of Hemingway 2. No sci-fi or horror, at all. This begs the question: is academia advanced enough to accept sci-fi/horror as “literature?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-essential-american-literature-books/551028.md?page=3)