# What is your favorite American novel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2017, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533 "2017-07-05T11:48:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/41 "2017-07-06T00:32:18Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > If you’re flexible about allowing 4-5 separately bound objects as a single book. It’s like Lord of the Rings. Published in separate books, but actually one novel. And my copy is bound together in one novel, called The Book of the New Sun. [You can see the copy I own here.](https://www.amazon.com/Book-New-Sun-Gene-Wolfe/dp/1568658079/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1499301045&sr=8-3&keywords=book+of+the+new+sun) ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/42 "2017-07-06T00:48:44Z")
Willa Cather’s _O Pioneers!_ I first read it in college for an American Lit class. It spoke to me and I have reread it often over the intervening years. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/43 "2017-07-06T01:10:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > The OP only asked for an American novel, not an American-themed novel; and he further clarified in Post #32 that this means a novel by an American. > . By cutting off the first two words of my parenthetical phrase, you changed its meaning. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/44 "2017-07-06T01:19:07Z")
Probably obvious, my vote goes to **All the King’s Men** , by Robert Penn Warren ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/45 "2017-07-06T01:24:14Z")
The Grapes of Wrath. I loved everything about it. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/46 "2017-07-06T01:24:56Z")
I have to go with Moby Dick myself, as the novel I will pick up and ready again at any time. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2017, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/47 "2017-07-06T01:25:35Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > By cutting off the first two words of my parenthetical phrase, you changed its meaning. :dubious: I didn’t think, at the time, that I was doing so, but now I see that I mis-parsed your comment. I read it as “and choosing, despite the OP’s admonition to stick to the American-themed”; when what you meant was “and choosing, despite the OP’s admonition, to stick to the American-themed.” My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/48 "2017-07-06T01:43:57Z")
Bukowski’s novels are all good reads - Factotum, Post Office & Ham on Rye. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/49 "2017-07-06T01:44:49Z")
It’s easier for me to list my twenty favorite science fiction novels and my twenty favorite fantasy novels than to list my one favorite of each. I don’t pretend to know other genres as well, so I won’t even try to list a favorite among them. A couple of science fiction and fantasy novels that haven’t been given yet that I like are these: Walter Miller _A Canticle for Leibowitz_ Peter Beagle _The Last Unicorn_ ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/50 "2017-07-06T01:59:41Z")
_Gone with the Wind_ Yeah I know. Shut-up. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/51 "2017-07-06T02:12:21Z")
Sinclair Lewis’s _ **Babbitt** _. It always explained so much of America to me. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/52 "2017-07-06T02:14:09Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I didn’t think, at the time, that I was doing so, but now I see that I mis-parsed your comment. I read it as “and choosing, despite the OP’s admonition to stick to the American-themed”; when what you meant was “and choosing, despite the OP’s admonition, to stick to the American-themed.” My apologies. I should have used commas. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marci\_Al](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Marci\_Al](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marci_Al)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/53 "2017-07-06T02:14:12Z")
Moby Dick. Close the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/54 "2017-07-06T02:32:09Z")
Yeah, **Moby-Dick** also counts as a favorite. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/55 "2017-07-06T02:59:38Z")
> [@Marci\_Al](#): > > Moby Dick. Close the thread. Call me closed. Upon reflection, I am torn between _Lord of Light_ and _Something Wicked This Way Comes._ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/56 "2017-07-06T03:34:49Z")
_ **Look Homeward, Angel.** _ ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/57 "2017-07-06T04:23:26Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > **Catch-22** , by Joseph Heller. Same here. I’ve read it at least half a dozen times since 1970. My very close second favorite: **One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest**. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/58 "2017-07-06T04:30:25Z")
**The Bluest Eye**. I’m glad this thread specified American novels, because it’s nose-and-nose with Howard’s End, a British novel, for being my favorite of all time. ETA: reading back through the thread, I see Bukowski mentioned. I do think Post Office is a freaking fabulous novel (with the best first chapter _ever_), and rates among my top ten, as does Moby Dick. But The Bluest Eye beats them all. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/59 "2017-07-06T04:42:21Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I could have chosen this just as easily. I would read Helprin’s daily to-do list, he is that good a writer (although other novels of his didn’t quite hit me like ‘Soldier’ did). > mmm Don’t miss **Memoir from Antproof Case**. It’s completely absorbing and very funny. I should have put it on my list. ---
**Author:** ![Nayna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ebca7d/32.png) [@Nayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nayna)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533/60 "2017-07-06T07:51:49Z")
Another vote for A Prayer for Owen Meany. If I couldn’t pick that one, I’d go with another John Irving. I just love his characters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-american-novel/790533.md?page=4)