What do you think is the most quintessentially American book?

31 comments

1. I always think of The Grapes of Wrath, but it’s obviously quite dated now.

2. I always will think of Steinbeck as the quintessential American author. *East of Eden* is one of the best books I’ve ever read.

3. Huck Finn

4. “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.”

   Yeah maybe not, but I vote Huckleberry Finn, too.

5. Grapes of Wrath or On the Road.

6. The Great Gatsby

7. Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer

8. Tom Sawyer, Yo Kill A Mockingbird, In Cold Blood.

9. *The Lorax*

10. Jayber Crow – Wendell Berry

    A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith

11. To kill a mockingbird

12. Anything by Ray Bradbury

13. I’m a massive fan of Jack London’s works. That said, I have to say the most quintessentially American author is Mark Twain and the most quintessentially American novel is *Huck Finn*.

14. Moby Dick is a novel about a rag tag team of eccentric nobody’s seeking nought but adventure and money, by joining the crew of a whaling ship led by a romantic madman driven by hatred, and despite their differences they are able to synthesize and work together, bringing out the strongest suits in each other to make their voyage as successful as they can, for each their own sake.

15. On The Road.

16. To Kill A Mockingbird, Huck Finn

17. The American experience is so varied that it’s difficult/impossible for me to pick one!

    My top ten, in no particular order:

    Little Women

    Invisible Man (by Ralph Ellison, not The Invisible Man – I know a that’s by HG Wells, a Brit)

    The Great Gatsby

    Uncle Tom’s Cabin

    To Kill a Mockingbird

    The Old Man and the Sea

    On the Road

    East of Eden

    Corduroy

    Rabbit, Run

18. The Cat in the hat

19. The Wizard of Oz. Feels like one of our first fairytales told through an American lens.

20. Burry my heart at wounded knee

21. Anything by John Steinbeck.

22. Old Yeller

23. Please. *Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.*

24. Anything by Vonnegut.

25. To Kill A Mockingbird

26. Blood Meridian

27. Lonesome Dove

28. ‘My Side of the Mountain’ made me the person I am today. Oh and Hatchet of course but I think that mainly takes place in Canada.

29. Little House on the Prairie belongs in this conversation too.

30. based chronologically in terms of US history

    Scarlet Letter

    Moby Dick

    Walden

    Huckleberry Finn

    Gone with the Wind

    The Call of the Wild

    The Great Gatsby

    To Kill a Mockingbird

    The Grapes of Wrath

    Catch-22

31. Huck Finn by Mark Twain

    or

    Walden by Henry David Thoreau