Reacting to The Atlantic’s Great American Novels List
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ส.ค. 2024
- Buckle up, because The Atlantic released a list of what they deem to be the Great American Novels, and I'm going to go through the whole list to see how they did. Expand for more information. 👇
Links 💻
The List: www.theatlanti...
Further Viewing 🎥
What Is the Great American Novel? • What Is the Great Amer...
The Origin of the Pulitzer Prize: • The Origins of the Pul...
Is Gone With the Wind Racist? • Is Gone With the Wind ...
My Worst Reads of 2023 (Featuring John Updike): • Friday Reads: The Wors...
The Best Books of the Last 25 Years: • The 25 Best Books of t...
My Grapes of Wrath Deep Dive: • Is The Grapes of Wrath...
My Lonesome Dove Deep Dive: • Is Lonesome Dove the G...
My Beloved Deep Dive: • Can America Reckon Wit...
15 Books I’ll (Probably) Never Read: • 15 Books I’ll (Probabl...
My Deep Dive on Interpreter of Maladies: • My Pulitzer Prize Obse...
My Favorite Reads of 2023 (Featuring The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois): • The Best Books of 2023
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Apparently they left out To Kill a Mockingbird because they weren't sure whether its literary merit stood the test of time compared to some of the other books on the list. What??
I haven't even seen the list yet, but learning that bit about To Kill a Mockingbird not being on it is disconcerting. A real tragedy to leave it off.
That's really funny because they have no problem with putting Peyton Place on the list and Peyton Place is trash, very entertaining trash but trash anyway
That's an interesting notion for them to have given that I would argue that To Kill a Mockingbird holds up remarkably well. Oh well!
Agreed...While I can just about roll with that logic, using that logic to justify a couple novels on the list baffles me, and most baffling is "The Great Gatsby." Of all the novels I've read on the list, that seems to me the one most dated & unable to hold up. I've read both "Gatsby" & "To Kill A Mockingbird" multiple times in the past 5 years because of my work in youth education. @@SupposedlyFun
The list is a mess.
Dos Passos's U.S.A. Trilogy is truly a masterpiece. Experimental and ground-breaking for its time, with so many characters narrators and POV styles, and covering such a length and breadth of the American experience. Extremely under-rated today imo, I hardly ever hear anyone talking about it.
I loved it.
Great video, I’m glad you took up the challenge of doing this and introducing it to a wider audience and opening it up for discussion.
For clarity’s sake, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is a short story and most likely her best known work and a quintessentially taught story in high schools. It would take you under twenty minutes to read and I almost want to assign it to you as homework, because it’s that good and that amazing and will embed itself in your mind forever. I see it as a right of passage of teen years, the same as reading Catcher In the Rye. So that is the must read work that is not on this list.
It is great to see graphic novels on this list, but one you may not have known about is the Will Eisner book, A Contract With God. Eisner really deserves equal billing with Art Spiegelman for reviving the graphic novel and setting a high bar for what would come after. I would probably also switch out Watchman for Alison Bechdal’s Fun Home as the more recent graphic novel contender.
Going over this list with you and considering what’s missing, I would say it needs another children’s book and one from Kate DiCamillo, who I feel is the inheritor of E.B. White’s mantel. While fantasy books are her masterpieces, as American novels go Because of Winn Dixie would most likely be the best fit to this list.
With the emergence of YA at the end of the 20th century I feel there should be at least one title for that category. I would most likely choose A Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds.
I was just going to comment how shocking it is that Maus and Fun Home are not on the list - and Blankets too. Surely these will stand the test of time more than some of the others on the list (though I wouldn't want to sacrifice Watchmen!).
In general I wish there were more older books and fewer recent books. No Russell Banks or Peter Matthiessen? Guess I'm getting old lol.
@@colonelweird I could see Maus not being on the list in that the European part of the story before emigration is really the foundation and central part of the story. Also, perhaps no Fun Home or Maus because it’s non fiction in nature, although to me graphic novels by their name fit into a novel category. Sure, Giovanni’s Room is here, but it’s kind of an expat story. I’ve only read Matthiessen’s non fiction works.
@bookofdust Oh of course, I forgot they are likely classed as memoirs, not novels. I think the same is true for Blankets.
@@colonelweird if you haven’t read David Smalls’ Stitches, it fits well in with these titles.
@bookofdust Thanks for the suggestion. I have it on my shelf & have been wanting to read it for quite a while.
I haven’t even finished watching your vid but am pissed at TA’s methodology so had to stop to post!! To limit the list to the last 100 hundred years is absurd! The books/authors that this automatically eliminates completely delegitimizes the list. You can’t talk about great American novels without talking about Hetman Melville (Greg I’m going to encourage you again to read Moby Dick. It’s a great book) & Mark Twain. And the historical significance of Uncle Tom’s Cabin can’t be overstated (though I really did not love it as a novel). Ok, I’m off my soap box. Back to the vid…😊
This was fun! Instant subscriber here. This reminded me that I have read each of Slaughterhouse 5, Fahrenheit 451, and Catch 22, and I get them kind of jumbled in my brain. Must be the numbers. 🤯
Thank you so much!
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko is a Native American novel dealing with native war vets coming home and trying to reconnect with their home and pass their culture along despite how war has broken them. It's very unapologetic about writing for the native gaze and not the white gaze. Very good. Highly recommend.
I would concur. Even though I'm British, so that some of these titles are completely unknown to me, I recently read this book (in Penguin Modern Classics) as I'm interested in how the voices from Native Americans have been stifled or shunned. Ms Silko is an excellent writer, no concessions need to be made to her because of her perspective and background. For these reasons I think it is important for all Americans interested in their literature to get hold of a copy and read it.
I read Invisible Man in both high school and college and thought it was phenomenal. It has stayed with me since! Highly recommend and very happy to see it on this list!
One of the greatest American novels ever written IMO.
Strongly support the inclusion of 'Housekeeping' and 'Blood Meridian', two of the greatest English-language novels of the second half of the twentieth century.
Seven important titles omitted that would merit consideration:
--'The Professor's House' (1925) by Willa Cather
--'Light in August' (1932) by William Faulkner
--'Two Serious Ladies' (1943) by Jane Bowles
--'Wise Blood' (1952) by Flannery O'Connor
--'The Power of the Dog' (1967) by Thomas Savage
--'Sophie's Choice' (1979) by William Styron
--'The Hours' (1998) by Michael Cunningham
Great video. Love the Great America Book debates. My favourite is Lonesome Dove. I’d put a Wallace Stegner book in. Crossing To Safety for me
I like Angle of Repose by Stegner.
@@davidivester7025 Great book too
I read Herman Wouks "The Cain Mutiny" 50 years ago memorable novel to me. The movie was great as well starring: Humprey Bogart and a cast of who's-who of Hollywood.
@@eddybedder2865 I haven’t read that but will get round to it. I’ve enjoyed most Pulitzer Prize winners I’ve read so need to give this one a go
Greg, I love your long vids! Can't wait to give this the time it deserves and dig into the comments, too. (Currently on vacation in Oahu. Aloha!)
Thank you! I hope you enjoy your vacation.
Great Video Greg! Love you’re style ~ thank you for having dinner with me😉😁
I agree, Barbara Kingslover - especially Demon Copperhead. BTW, did I miss To Kill A Mockingbird, was it on there?
Great list as a reminder of so many great books ❤
I am very glad you did this. I part because you inspired to make my own list.
Ahhhhh, I can't wait to see your list!
I was excited that "The Stand" was included! I love a lot of more literary novels but LOVE "The Stand" and always felt alone in my deep love! Reading "There, There" right now. I love lists like this one and actually retyped all the titles with author into a check list format that I could print out and mark off. I don't plan to read all of them but there are a lot that have been on my list of "to be read" for years.
I hope you enjoy any you pick up!
I AGREE!! And I know, out of ALL of these books, it’s odd to pick ‘The Stand’ as a must read, but it really is! It IS long, but there is an audio version, so next time you have a long road trip, TOTALLY listen to it!! The audio is done very well! It’s one of, if not THE best SK novel in my opinion…and so scarily timely 😱
Haven’t commented in a while Greg. Hope you’re well. Always enjoy your list commentary’s! Must be getting to your trip soon!
Very soon! We're a little more than a month away and I can't wait!
So glad you decided to review this list. Great job as always!
I’m glad you did this Greg. I usually have the same taste as yours when it comes to books I definitely think Demon Copperhead or something with Barbara Kingsolver souls have made this list!
Little, Big is my favorite book and I never see people talk about it!! I'm so happy it's there.
It's literary leaning fantasy/magical realism. I think it falls into a weird in-between place so it doesn't quite catch the attention of either fantasy readers or literary readers. The prose is beautiful.
Thanks for the feedback on it! It sounds like a very interesting book.
I'm very surprised they included Watchmen but not Maus.
Crowley's masterpiece also contains some futuristic elements, so arguably straddles the science fiction genre as well, though it more securely fits in the realm of fantasy. It is indeed beautifully written.
I also loved Little, Big. It's largely a family saga. I would completely forget I was reading a fantasy book, then someone would go to the pond out back to get advice from Grandfather Trout.
@@touche5616 It's also quite romantic. With all of the talk lately of "romantasy" that stood out to me on a recent re-read. Though I don't think folks seeking romantasy would be interested in Little, Big.
I am surprised that there are no John Irving Books on the list: no World According to Garp or Cider House Rules. I am also surprised that there is no Neil Gaiman. American Gods is a book I try to read at least every other year
To be honest, I haven't loved the Irving books I've read. But I do know a lot of people love his work, and I can see why.
I agree with you 😢
Gaiman is British. Agree about Irving. Also no Mailer, Vidal, John O’Hara, Cheever, Doctorow, and a host of others. Also, a fairly myopic selection of genre works.
@@SupposedlyFun I loathed World According to Garp.
Hm. Love Medicine. The Trees. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Gilead. It seems sort of shallowly provocative to include some of the more recent books without including these novels, and others. It’s an odd list, I think.
Before starting video, list should definitely include:
1. Grapes of Wrath
2. East of Eden
3. Catch-22
4. Catcher Rye
5. Confederacy of Dunces
6. Goosebumps choose your story series
I enjoyed this piece so much. I recognized a number of old friends. I could spend the rest of the afternoon adding my reaction to it, but I have other things pressing.
I will listen through this piece again and share it with other of my lit pals.
I’ve only read 10 on this list. Here’s tag idea for you. Imagine a book list 60yrs from now. What books would be on the list from 1980 to 2024?
Ooooooh, that is an interesting idea. Thanks!
Took me all evening to watch this cause I kept pausing to add books to my TBR list plus then everyone’s omission recommendations in the comments. I need to convert to a religion that says you can be reincarnated just to keep reading through your TBR list.
This was such a fun video with your live reactions. I agree that Barbara Kingsolver should be here-I haven’t read Poisonwood Bible or Demon Copperhead yet (Forgive me, Booktuber, for I have sinned-I’ll be remedying that this year), so I would pick The Bean Trees. The later novels seem an odd choice, but I haven’t read most, so I guess I need to do I can have an opinion. :)
Thank you for a great video, and especially the conversation and community you bring. Hi to Joel and scritches to Teddy.
When you find (or found) that TBR reincarnation religion, let me know! I will gladly drink that koolaid!!
@@Nina_DP 🤣
love this vid!! it was so great to see your live reactions!! some of the newer picks... were a bit unusual lol
Thank you for sharing the complete list! I agree that the earlier selections are better. I tried a number of the later ones and DNF-ed some of them. I tried to read Infinite Jest a number of times, but it's a huge book and I didn't think the time commitment was worth it. As for The Corrections, I loved it but didn't like any of his other books. I will be reading Passing (had never heard of it) per your recommendation, thanks again!
I hope you enjoy Passing!
Thanks for this great video! It was a lot of fun. The book that I have read that I am most thrilled to see included on this list is "Little, Big" by John Crowley. I am a big fan of fantasy -- nearly half my fiction reading is fantasy novels -- and I definitely think "Little, Big" is one of the five best fantasy novels I have ever read. It is also probably the most "American" of the fantasy novels I've read, with many links to American history and culture, and so richly deserves being included on a "Great American novels" list. It's one book I really think everyone should read. My other comment is that I am disappointed that "Blonde" was the Joyce Carol Oates book on this list. I have never read it, not because I have heard it's a bad book; I don't think I had run across that evaluation of it before watching this video; but just because I am not very personally interested in fictionalizations of the life of Marilyn Monroe. But I have read several other Joyce Carol Oates books and think she probably does deserve to be included in a "great American" novels list that includes over 130 selections. Of her books I have read, I would nominate "Bellefleur" for the list, perhaps because it has some "magic realist" aspects and so better fits my love of fantasy. Despite her enormous output, I do find Oates a better author than other prolific bestseller types like Danielle Steel and James Patterson, and so think something by her should have been included -- just not "Blonde"!
I love all Supposedly Fun videos!!!
Thank you! ❤
Great video. There are a lot of remarkable books on this list that I want to read. I highly recommend Kerouac's On the Road. A marvellous story and the language is beautiful, rhythmic and intoxicating.
I just re-read it, still fresh over 60 years later, hard to believe how conservative Kerouac became later in life, but OTR has the breezy pulse of youth, a specific American youth at that.
Just jumping into say hope you give DeLillo another shot someday! Also not a White Noise fan, but I love a number of his other works. In particular, I think Libra is one of the great American novels, and it's much less of a commitment than Underworld.
It took me longer to read White Noise than Underworld!
A Contract With God is an incredible read. It’s considered one of (if not) the first graphic novels and captures New York City life in the poor neighborhoods of the 1920’s and 30’s. Eisner is as foundational to comics as Cervantes to the novel. He creates so much of the visual language the medium in the late 30’s and 40’s. A Contract With God is him at the end of his career looking back at the New York of his childhood. Brilliant work.
I have read An American Tragedy and wouldn't have thought it should be on the list. I highly recommend Absalom, Absalom which structurally is more along the lines of 100 Years of Solitude than The Sound and The Fury is. While I haven't read Dos Passos, I have read a number of Frank Norris' novels and would have thought they more suitable. I am a fan of The Great Gatsby. I suppose by limiting their list to the last 100 years, they've omitted Herman Melville and to me Moby-Dick would definitely be a great American novel. Thanks so much for sharing not just the list but your own thoughts on the process. I'll watch the rest of the video as I am hoping they have Catch-22 included. I also agree that Updike shouldn't feature but I'm also not a fan of Roth, either. Also, I re-read Penn Warren as someone living now outside of the UK and frankly that book does not work outside the limited political context - I was taught that 'great' literature is about universals, and that is not universal. Little, Big - one of my all-time favourite fantasy novels, I re-read it every few years as its magic is phenomenal. Read Lincoln in the Bardo, interesting, but not necessarily for a great list. I had heard the concept 'Bardo' discussed by Bruce Cockburn for his song, so read the book to widen my understanding. I've only realised what I think is a fatal omission in their list - no Eudora Welty. Her writing makes me cry it is so crystal perfect.
Eudora Welty is definitely on my list of authors to get to. And I'm not convinced they made a lot of good choices when they considered books from the last 10-15 years.
I agree about some of the choices being less than great. I enjoyed your take on the list. I know when you do get to read Eudora Welty, you will enjoy her writing, and you also can look forward to one day reading Little Big, so with all of your other reading, those will be positives.@@SupposedlyFun
Thank you for this wonderful video! Much food for thought. I would highly recommend Carson McCullers. Being a lifelong reader, when I first read her novels just 10 or so years ago, I thought where has she been all my life? She was a friend of Truman Capote. I would have liked to have seen him on this list. Also, I agree with you about the more current choices. They just don't seem to be as substantial as past classics.
Argh, I didn't keep track of how many of these I read. But I did want to recommend Little, Big by John Crowley. It's a fantasy and after taking it off my shelves, I'm motivated to reread it. I was hoping to see The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdritch. And I agree with someone down below, American Gods by Neil Gaimon would've been a good inclusion. I could go on, but thanks for this video.
Gone with the wind is a GREAT american novel.One of my favorite books of all time.
Really no Mockingbird but No Mailer, No Capote, No Vidal.
No Jack London, No Upton Sinclair
Was Ralph Ellison Invisible Man there?
I believe Invisible Man was there.
Herman Melville's 'Moby-Dick; or, The Whale' is the greatest great American novel, so DeForest was writing in ignorance, and 'The Atlantic' was myopic in limiting their parameters to its exclusion.
I love your video style so much. It’s liking having coffee with a close friend and talking about my favorite subject: books!! I was shocked to see Stephen King on here. He’s one of my favorites though I have yet to read The Stand. I tend to lean to dark fiction though you’ve expanded my tastes recently. I appreciate you going through this list with us. Very, very interesting!
Thank you so much! That's the vibe I go for, so I'm glad to hear that it works. I know a lot of people love The Stand but 11/22/63 is usually the book of King's that "literary" people get behind, so it's an interesting choice.
The way I haven't heard of most of the 70s & 80s authors! I'm going to have to look into them.
I think On the Road is very much like you were saying Catcher in the Rye is: something you need to read at the right time in life although I still think Kerouac is a better writer than most people give him credit for.
Infinite Jest is very postmodern, and I'd only recommend it if you're into that. But I Love Dick is great and I think you'd enjoy it.
I came here waiting for an epic rant over To Kill a Mockingbird's snub, and I get NOTHING! Shame on you, Greg lol. I kinda liked the list, though the recent titles do feel a bit wonky. I knew you'd hate Patricia Lockwood's inclusion, for example, and having her over Barbara Kingsolver is ... a choice that was made. Even if it's too soon for Demon, The Poisonwood Bible was right there, and how does that justify Biography of X being mentioned? You'd think that they would have left off books from the past decade or so to avoid recency bias complaints. Love the Toni Morrison love. I feel like there needed to be an epic western on this list. Where is Lonesome Dove? True Grit would have been a great choice too. Totally see why the list is divisive. Some choices seem really arbitrary, and the Atlantic is a shell of what it used to be. BTW, White Noise is amazing lol! Some of your biases are very mercurial. Also would have limited list to only top 100.
My deep and abiding love of Catcher in the Rye is well documented! I pretty much agree with your expectations list, even the ones that I don't personally like (looking at you, Ernest Hemingway). In several cases I was also surprised about which novel they chose to represent an author. I sort of wish they'd restricted it to one book per author to include more authors, and maybe include more graphic novels or YA.There are many favorites here but it gets a little odd towards the end. So glad that my current obsession Percival Everett made it. Yes! Do read "The Lottery" and Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Their Eyes Were Watching God is not only a great novel, but also hugely influential in the writing of Morrison, Walker etc.
Hi, Greg, I just came across your channel and definitely enjoyed your reviews. I cannot say much about books on the list published since around 1980 when I more or less stopped reading contemporary novels American or European. But I am surprised that any list which omits either Uncle Tom's Cabin or Gone With the Wind can be taken seriously. I am also surprised by the omission of writers like Melville, Henry James, Gore Vidal, Louis Auchincloss , Norman Mailer, Thomas Wolfe (Look Homeward Angel) to mention just a few that come to mind immediately. Why is it I think they were omitted for political reasons ? Politics should not influence our views as to the quality or importance of a novel. I'm not objecting to the inclusion of any book on the list but of excluding many important and successful writers from it. The number of omissions is too great to be mere oversight. (Mailer and Vidal probably sold more books and influenced more people than half the writers that came after them, and they were very controversial.)
3:04 Still watching, but have to say that your take about Gone With the Wind shouldn’t be there because of the racism kind of means you want a sanitized and idealized list of American novels. After all, slavery was legal here for about one third of our history. That doesn’t mean we have to honor that legacy, I agree, but the question about what is American certainly includes a lot of unseemly stuff.
15:48 Still watching, Chandler is noir, not neo-noir, though I think those terms really apply to the movies made from these crime novels than from the books themselves. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Actually, that's not what it means at all. It means that I don't think we should hold up racist propaganda and pretend that it's good or helpful. Especially when there are countless books that deal with America's legacy of slavery in better, less damaging ways. Like Beloved, a book I mention several times in the video.
@@SupposedlyFunI understand. I’m not going to read it either, btw.
I just finished the video. I like that you’re so opinionated (even though I disagree with many of them). There are too many wishy washy booktubers that don’t want to offend. The problem is, since their reviews are mostly positive and vanilla, I can’t tell if I would enjoy it, or not. With your reactions, I can get an idea of if a book is worth pursuing.
I have not looked through your videos, but since you appear to really like American fiction, I was surprised not to see any Library of America books on your shelves. They are a great nonprofit that puts out high quality books, normally several works by an author in each. Thin, but high quality (acid free) paper, sewn bindings, etc. LoA is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving American Literature and nonfiction. Sorry if you know about them, but if you don’t, you’re in for a very good surprise!
To read GWTW is not to praise it, but reveal and acknowledge the rottenness of the culture that supported slavery.
@@debb878 I'm not saying that people shouldn't read GWTW, I'm saying we don't have to include it in conversations about great novels.
@@skeller61 I know of the Library of America books, but to be honest I'm not a fan of editions that have more than one novel. I find it easier to read a single volume, and I prefer to be able to see the individual spines on my shelves.
!. I started to read Garcia Girls but coudn't get into it.
2. I started to read Bastard/CArolina. First chapter was great but the dark, dark tone of the book quickly turned me off. Never finished it.
3. Newer selections - Every list and every age has it's criteria. I'd be interested in seeing a list of important books that was complied, say, fifty years ago, especially one that focused on America. I'm sure that back in the 70s or 80s, a number of then important books appeared, and we wouldn't even know them, or we wouldn't consider them important. Diversity is the theme now, but decades ago, other ideas were prominent - recognizing America as a country, how America faces adversity, or simply questioning our values as compared to previous generations.
MIDDLESEX !!!! by Jeffrey Eugenides; HOMEGOING !!! by Yaa Gyasi. POISONWOOD BIBLE !!! by Barbara Kingsolver; DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver; KEEPERS of the HOUSE by Shirley Ann Grau; The Hard Blue Sky by Shirley Ann Grau. Jeesh. The Atlantic kinda blew it, imo.
I am so with you on Barbara Kingsolver and Homegoing would have been a WONDERFUL pick. I might choose The Virgin Suicides over Middlesex, but I would have loved to see either one. And I still need to read Shirley Ann Grau!
Hanya Yanagihara' s ' A Little Life ' and James Baldwin's ' Another Country '
Dawn Powell!! A Time to Be Born was so good, but My Home is Far Away was better.
I completely agree with you about some of the more recent books included, and Barbara Kingsolver being left off this list seems like a very serious omission. She definitely belongs on the list. I share your appreciation of Salinger and Catcher. It was a very important book to me as well. Thanks for doing this video, Greg. Really thoughtful commentary.
Did not finish either of those Franzen books either, but I finally got through a Franzen with Crossroads. Didn't make me want to go back and read more, but I enjoyed it and can't wait for the rest of the trilogy.
I didn't realize it was part of a trilogy! I'm glad you were finally able to finish a Franzen.
I was thrilled to see the Catcher in the rye. It lead me to the life of reading. For the first time I, a teenager , found a friend in the book.
I felt the same way!
Turned on the TV while having my coffee this morning and, as a lifelong reader with degrees focusing on American lit, was so excited to see this video. Like you, I wanted to pause and react before seeing the list. I was surprised you suggested The Color Purple given a recent video where you pointed out how uneven the book is. When I saw that discussion, I remembered feeling the same way about how the sister's segments really dragged, and dragged down my opinion of the book's overall quality. On the other hand, I've never read a Toni Morrison book that I didn't like, always thought all those novels were perfectly well-written, which is what I'm looking for in a great American novel. It was beyond sad to see the recent Oscar-nominated documentary ABCs of Book Banning listed all of Toni Morrison's books on a banned list. People need to be able to see what good writing looks like!
Never read Catcher in the Rye, but I wonder if it's more a boy's book, like Tom Sawyer. I can see why Twain is deservedly praised as a certain type of writer, but don't really have an emotional connection to his work. Gone with the Wind is definitely a girl's book and a great feat of writing, and should not be cancelled. But it shouldn't be on the list for the reasons you state.
I'm surprised you said a lot of people don't like Gatsby. Having read, taught, and gone over it multiple times, my feeling is it's undeniably great.
Now that I've reacted to your initial thoughts in this video, I'm excited to see what's on the actual list, hope it's not just trendy. I can think of a few you didn't list that should definitely be on there.
Two minutes later: Oh, only the past 100 years, that immediately crosses some of my picks off the list 😅 I hate paywalls. But I appreciate your balanced approach. Will have to see if the Libby app through my library has The Atlantic.... after I watch the rest of your video!
Never really liked American Tragedy - if I must read Dreiser I go for Sister Carrie. I had a literature professor who read from a guide for young women written the same year as Sister Carrie - made the book fit nicely into the time and place. If I were in charge - Old Man and the Sea would be on the list. I will get a copy of the Atlantic and try to read through the list [yeah, another reading project 😒 ]
Thank you for going over this list and commenting on the list.
Yeah you should read Shirley Jackson collected stories The Lottery….. so good
It never feels like there's enough time!
@@SupposedlyFun "The Lottery" is a short story (first published in 'The New Yorker' in 1948), and could easily be finished in less than half an hour. It's one of the incontestable great English-language short stories of the twentieth century.
You don’t think Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are equivalent do you? The former is a fun kids book, the latter is a literary masterpiece of international renown. Chandler isn’t “neo-noir”! 😂. He predates Film Noir and influenced it. Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery is a 6 page short story.
Surprised no Lonesome Dove! Also, I know Alexie has fallen out of favor, and I agree he shoud because of SA but some of his early novels are some of my most beloved. My son is reading Son of Solomon in AP Lit this year and he is loving it. Great video and such a nice way to wake up this morning.
Does "The Great American" noval have to be in English? Puerto Rico has a Spanish language literature. Hawaiian has a literature. Cherokee does also. So does others. What's going on people?
Reality is that the vast majority of Americans exclusively speak English. It's almost unfathomable that an American novel written primarily for an American audience would be in a language other than English. It's not a value judgement, its simply the reality. If it's a book some 90% of Americans can't read in the original language, can it be "The Great American novel?"
Thanks Greg this was fun. I agree with you that some of these books won’t stand the test of time but you are being a little hard on them the title of the article was the great American novel of the last one hundred years not last one hundred years ending in 2000. I will say The Biography of X was expectional. I’m glad to see it’s getting some love. Never read I Hotel because. It’s seemed so experimental but I’m intrigued . I decided to get Sansei and Sensibility a story collection first. But alas still sitting on the shelf
The problem with recent picks is they are biased by current ideology, which might be more faddish than enduring.
Greg, I did not know you went to high school in SF! Where did you go?
Still watching the video. You are a million percent correct about not giving a certain writer any "oxygen," and not wanting to read that abomination. Enough said about that.
Yes, audiobooks can make all the difference. I think I might have liked Lincoln in the Bardo a lot better if I'd listened to a well-produced audio with a wide cast of characters 😄
Not that you need more for your tbr, but I recently read Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell for my library's book club. Excellent writing, loved this short story collection that includes a different take on presidents in the bardo, preceding Lincoln in the Bardo by a couple of years. 😀
Every single list of "Best anything" is 100% subjective, and should be read as such. What I really liked about the list is the explanation of the books and that made it interesting. But yeah, no The Cider House Rules by John Irving? Outrageous!!!
Really glad to see something by Judy Blume on the list!
Me too!
Contract with God is also a graphic novel. Will Eisner is THE giant of the north american comic book medium.
Not sure I'd advise you to listen to Nightwood on audio. It's not a long book, but it is very dense and it took me ages to get through, because things kept getting over my head (I did like it at the end though). Admittedly, I'm not a native English speaker, but I've read lots of books in English, including classics and a lot of literary fiction, and this is one if the hardest writing styles I've ever encountered.
I was screaming where’s- A tree grows in Brooklyn ! Or Demon Copperhead. The new release titles did not seem like very good choices to me personally.
I agree. I still need to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
The three books I recommend reading from this list out of what you haven't read are The Sellout by Paul Beatty, Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli, and Sabrina by Nick Drrnaso
I've had a paperback copy of The Sellout since it was released in that format. I have no idea how it's been so long and I haven't read it! I'm actually looking for a copy of Sabrina at my library. Thanks for the recommendations.
If Salter's misogyny turns you off I would NOT recommend A Sport and a Pastime.
Good to know--thanks!
'Pops: Fatherhood in Pieces' by Michael Chabon has a story about a dapper son and clueless dad at fashion week meeting the gay young designers. I love a good finding your tribe story, highly recommend.
Loved Pops. Chabon’s son being a fashion expert surprised me
I hadn't heard of that one--thanks for the recommendation.
Listening to you I thought “Oh man, there are so many books I haven’t read!” too!
And I have read nearly all of Kingsolver’s books - she needs to be on these lists. Many great books missing and a few authors whose best books weren’t the ones chosen. Gilead for instance.
I wrote my masters thesis on House of Leaves! I hated my advisor and I wanted to make him read a haunted house book about a drxggy tattoo artist. No good deed goes unpunished, because he loved it lol.
I’m always excited to hear Fifth Season slander lol. The Orogenes are walking human atomic bombs, and yet they are the oppressed ones? It’s a flawed premise from the jump (clearly meant to mirror racial impression, but the analogy doesn’t land) and then the obvious character twist resulted in weird roundabout writing that added 100 extra pages in cagey phrasing.
I’m always surprised when The Great Glorious Goddxmn of It All is left off these lists. It’s a riff on the Great American Novel that knows what it’s doing, but it’s not a parody. Also, where’s Valley of the Dolls? North Woods better be on future lists.
I wanted do to a deep dive into romance novels -- my thesis committee said it wasn't "scholarly" enough. They agreed, finally, to my topic on Hemingway and his newspaper & magazine writing reflected in his fiction / novels. Oh! the joys and adventures of student vs. thesis committees
@@readingbytheriver5752 House of Leaves actually gave me a lot to work with: Derridean deconstruction, the minotaur/labyrinth mythology, linguistic shenanigans, Jamestown Americana. I also happened to be in a cohort where lots of people were focusing on Shakespeare and Austen so I think they liked having someone choose a different text. And also also, deconstruction is a tricky lens that’s fun to talk about but can’t really be meaningfully applied to many texts, so a project like mine validates those teaching principles.
Glad to see Philip Roth was on the list…I was a huge fan of his back in the day…so happy my new favorite, Percival Everett was mentioned!
I love that Toni Morrison was on the list 3 times! Yay! I would not put The Secret History on the list. It was just ok. SO glad to see The Haunting Of Hill House. LOVE Shirley Jackson. I think The Lottery is more of a short story. You definitely should read it. ❤ Excellent Video!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Having quite enjoyed The Goldfinch, I read The Secret History and unlike many people, thought it was inferior, like an earnest sophomore effort. I don't think Donna Tartt is for me.
Disagree about The Secret History and , fun fact, The Haunting of hill house and the Secret History were wriiten within a 1/4mile of each other. Albeit decades apart.
Replying to my own reply - The Secret history was STARTED within a 1/4 mile of where The Haunting of Hill House was written.
I like how there’s a mix of genres. Lots of books I haven’t read yet.
Thanks sir❤
Thanks!
Thank you!
Way too many recent books, agree with you these are not on a list 40-50 years from now
At the moment, I'm reading James, the new novel by Percival Everett, and so far, I find it stunningly good. Recommend.
I also love that graphic novels were included on the list, but also did not love the Watchmen. I’ve never ventured into graphic novels because I’ve always associated them with the superhero genre. I’ve recently read Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Ducks by Kate Beaton and enjoyed them very much. I would love to see what graphic novels you would recommend .
I was shocked and disappointed that Barbara Kingsolver wasn’t included on a list of Great American Novels. Nothing to See Here makes the list but not Demon Copperhead, smh.
I am surprised there are a lot of books that i really disliked on the list
“An American Tragedy” is one of my favorite novels. The American Dream becomes an American nightmare. It’s decades since I read it. I’m pretty sure for a 21st century reader it will seem Drieser delves too deeply into building back stories for each character. You are correct, it was inspired by a court case in the Finger Lake region of NY. The second half of the book involving the fateful outing and the subsequent court case flows at a faster pace.
Yes!…read The Secret Hustory. I’m surprised you DNF’d The Goldfinch. I read it right after Demon Copperhead (your recommendation) because I craved something similar.
I loved Another Country and The Intuitionist. The Garcia Girls is delightful. It's told in a very original way that is very touching at the end.
I had the exact same thoughts on the newer novels. Not sure they will stand the test of time.
I'm not convinced they will!
I'm particularly happy to see Philip K. Dick, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Maxine Hong Kingston, Nella Larsen, and Bret Easton Ellis on this list.
Philip Roth and Vladimir Nabokov were a given, but still nice to see.
No Sinclair Lewis. Loved Main Street.
I just doubled checked the publication date and Main Street was published in 1920, which places it outside the window they were considering. It probably would have made it otherwise!
Arrowsmith is great too
@genevieveweston671 Read most of Sinclair Lewis' books, including Arrowsmith. Wonderful insightful books.
@genevieveweston671 Read that too. Have read most of Sinclair Lewis's novels and loved them.
I read The Revolt of the Cockroach People and So Far From God for my Mexican American Lit class in college, and I'm glad to see these little known books get some recognition here! I remember the former turned a lot of us off because of the misogyny coming from the protagonist, but oddly enough we all appreciated it for highlighting the machismo culture in Latino society and I'd still recommend reading it though I know it will be a divisive book. (Fun fact: Oscar Zeta Acosta is actually the basis for Hunter S. Thompson's sidekick in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas!) So Far From God, on the other hand, is a magical realism tale about a family of 4 sisters with a lot of feminist themes. A lot of us chose this book for our final analysis paper because it's so rich in symbolism.
' Dancer from the Dance ' an excellent choice.
The Atlantic’s list is better and more accurate than the traditional lists that typically consisted primarily of white male writers with a few token women and POC. There’s a down side to putting so much emphasis on inclusion, however, in that a number of the books on the list are present primarily due to the identity of the writer. A list that applied an objective standard of quality to the candidate books would not work out to so neatly and proportionally represent the constituent “communities”. And there are some unfortunate exclusions-most notably, “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Of course, everyone knows why TKaM was excluded. It’s problematic, though, because TkaM is one of the best written books in American literature. Its exclusion was a political decision, as was the inclusion of quite a few books present on the list. Fair enough, I suppose, since the traditional lists were also drenched in the political views of their makers. But that doesn’t shield the Atlantic’s list from the fair criticism that it is-at bottom-a political statement. It may be a more balanced political statement than we got from traditional lists, but it still tells us more about the political views of its makers than the literary quality of the books.
I'm curious about why you believe an objective standard would not yield a diverse array of authors or books. Is it your belief that works not written by white males are largely or inherently inferior? Why do you think we must assume that a list like this is only "proportional" because of a political decision? I admit I also think To Kill a Mockingbird should be on the list, but why do you assume that it wasn't included in order to give that slot to a diverse book?
@@SupposedlyFun The exclusion of such a significant book as TKaM reveals that political considerations were at work when making the selections. I don't think TKaM was excluded to make room for a diverse book. I think it was excluded because some people find it offensive, which gives away the game, IMO. Not offending anyone was the overriding consideration. I definitely don't think non-white writers are in any way inferior to white writers. I think a list that's composed according to strict objective standards would result in a list that is more diverse than the lists we traditionally got in the past. But probably not a list with a diversity so perfectly "shaped" to cover all the constituent groups in the proportions each group would want. I think the nature of the diversity was preordained rather than allowed to result organically from the application of an objective standard.
@@VastKrutEmpire Brian from Bookish made his own list of Great American Novels in response to this list, and he also didn't include To Kill a Mockingbird. Not because he thinks it's problematic or offensive, but because he genuinely thinks it's just an okay book and there are better books that cover similar stories. If a work is largely believed to be great, that still doesn't mean everyone is going to like it.
I don't agree with you that objective standards would inherently lead to a list that isn't as diverse as this. In my opinion, putting every book and author on equal footing, and offering them equal consideration, actually will result in a more diverse field. And if we ever get to a day when we can have a diverse field of great novels without someone shouting "affirmative action," I for one will be delighted.
Oooh! My TBR just grew. Got three ordered already (Kang, Shteyngart, and Stein) and will be back for more. Already had "Log of the S.S. The Mrs Unguentine" pre-ordered from Dalkey Press (it involves magical realism used to tell the story of a marriage).
"An American Tragedy" is one of my favorites of all time, more for its cumulative effect than for the sentence level reading experience (It's a realist grind). I liked their reference to pearls. I imagine Dreiser being determined to use every scrap of detail that he had uncovered in his research. It's the first book I think of when someone brings up "The Great American Novel".
Their description of "The Mountain Lion" doesn't seem to do it justice. The advertising copy mentions: "Coming of age in pre-World War II California and Colorado... Torn between their mother's world of genteel respectability and their grandfather's and uncle's world of cowboy masculinity, neither Molly nor Ralph can find an acceptable adult role to aspire to."
I was happy to to see "Couples" and "Biography of X" on the list. I'm surprised there isn't at least one Rabbit Angstrom book. "Couples" is a book I've been creeping through for a couple (Ba dum--) years now. Adultery is topic that really gets to me for some reason, so it hasn't been an easy read, but I shall conquer it! As you can tell I'm not into dnf-ing or canceling.
The Will Eisner book (A Contract with God) is a graphic novel. "Amiable with Big Teeth" is a rediscovered Harlem Renaissance novel.
I wonder if some of their recent choices are just there to start the conversation/arguments.
Where's ' Revolutionary Road' ?
I like On the Road but I prefer Dharma Bums.
The Lottery is a short story you should read today.
The fact that Gilead and The Road aren’t on the list instantly invalidates the entirety of the list.
"Contract with God" by Will Eisner is a graphic novel, written and drawn by one the most important creators in the genre. He is best known for creating "The Spirit."
I cannot believe Philip Roth wrote The Great American Novel, and we're still debating this.
Would you ever consider writing a novel?
I would!
@@SupposedlyFun call it “Teddy” ha
I loved gatsby. I read it with my daughter. she read some and I read some
Surprised that Eudora Welty not included in many "lists".
IMO Carlos Castaneda is one of the greatest writers of fiction in the 20th century. His Don Juan books are extraordinary and unique. But of course he wouldn't be picked in any of these best lists--that would be too big a leap for the academia.
I haven't heard of him--I'll have to look him up. Thanks for the recommendation.
I would nominate TomTrainor's "Rocker Heaven" for best first American novel by a living writer. I would also nominate "The Recognitions" by William Gaddis, "Darconville's Cat" by Alexander Theroux, and "Zen and the Art of Motorycle Maintenance" by Robert Persig, each for every different reasons. Tom Robbins should be in there too. He changed America, as did Tim. Slackjawed in disbelief that Tom Tim didn't even get an honorable demention.
I don't necessarily love Watchmen, but I agree with the idea that I don't look at superhero media the same having read it. It seems more relevant with how big the MCU is.
Unless you are a serious comics reader, Watchmen will not resonate. It’s like a novice just getting into fiction asking you for a recommendation, and you give them Middlemarch. 😂😂