The Great American Novels according to The Atlantic

Here's a new list of 136 books from the past 100 years which are called The Great American Novels by The Atlantic. How many have you read? Click ‘Show More’ for info & links.
--------------------
Join my bookclub: / thelonesomereaderbookclub
The Atlantic article on Great American Novels: www.theatlantic.com/books/arc...
My interview with Joyce Carol Oates about “Blonde”: • Blonde: The book behin...
--------------------
Get in touch
Book Blog: lonesomereader.com/
Twitter: / lonesomereader
Instagram: / lonesomereader
Facebook: tinyurl.com/hfkkhus
Goodreads: tinyurl.com/h8uus5t
LetterBoxd: letterboxd.com/lonesomereader/
TikTok: / lonesomereader
Email: [e-mail]

[@barbaralemon4170]

I've read all of Faulkner's works. These books are distinctly American, specifically about the South. If you've never been involved in the Southern culture, you might not get into the ambiance of the settings nor the distinctive culture of that time. But, even if the reader doesn't understand those aspects, the writing is just exquisite. These Faulkner books are masterpieces.

[@neetupd8510]

It is strange that To kill a mockingbird didn't make a place in the list...

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Yes! I can't believe that's not on the list.

[@TheEmzies]

It might be because it's come into criticism lately for it's white saviour undertones.

[@amandadavies6751]

​@@TheEmziesif that's really the case and only reason, this list loses all credibility. I personally was surprised to see Lonesome Dove omitted.

[@constancecampbell4610]

Yes. And American Gods seems to be missing, too.

[@Dogtubee]

@@amandadavies6751u must be white there are better books on race relations actually made by blk ppl.

[@hrh597788]

So happy to see Dawn Powell included on this list. Fran Lebowitz described her as the best author you’ve never heard of and she is.

[@omalleysmith9100]

I've read a few, and a few others are on my shelf. What a great list! I read Gatsby last year and it was one of my favourite books and I can see why it is SO famous. There is something inherently magical about reading a book that old, and it surprised me with how brutal and even grotesque one of the scenes in it is. Must have been very shocking back in 1925!! For such a teeny tiny tome The Great Gatsby sure packs a wollop and I hope you read it again and LOVE IT. I think it would've been lost on me if I'd read it as a teenager also.

[@karinasuarez9981]

Blonde is written in such a beautiful way. Marilyn was my mum’s favourite actress, but it was intriguing that she called her Norma Jean Baker. I think my mother admired her as a woman. Now that I read this fascinating book I can see the similarities in my mother’s life, like any other woman who suffered in their childhood and later by difficult men. Incredible moving! Thanks for recommending it Eric. ❤

[@karinasuarez9981]

@@ingridfitz5677 thanks, I agree with your comment, I had the feeling of being in Marilyn’s mind. I didn’t see the film, but I thought a man director would not capture the essence of this character like Joyce Carol Oats does. However, Eric is open to his feminine side, so he can go deep into the story.

[@jamesduggan7200]

I loved Augie March. Not long after finishing it Saul Bellow gave a reading at my college, which of course eagerly I attended. He was obviously sick without very long to live as it turned out but when he started reading the packed auditorium grew so silent and stayed that way for the five minutes or so he read from The Bella Rosa Affair, until his voice gave out. Probably my best college memory. As for the others, there are some I hope to read soon: William FAulkner has been at the top of my tbr for a few years now but something always seems to come up. Such is life. Great presentation; thx Eric, enjoyed.

[@brigittebeche4117]

Blonde was offered to me by my daughter as a birthday present, the book is wonderfully written, gripping, the last part is soooo sad and harrowing that I was almost relieved so comevto the end. A definitely moving portrait of marilyn monroe !

[@Enoch828]

That list is horrendous. Unless I missed it, where's Moby Dick, Lonesome Dove, Sophie's Choice, Huck Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, Confederacy of Dunces, anything by Mailer, Irving?, and Lot 49 is the greatest by Pynchon?

[@michaelmasiello6752]

It is kind of horrendous! But it chose books of the past 100 years only, so at least that excuses to omission of Melville, Hawthorne, Cooper, James, Twain, and some others. Putting Lot 49 on there instead of Gravity’s Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, or Against the Day: madness. And where the hell are Gaddis, Burroughs, Vollmann, Gass, Flannery O’Connor, and so many others? Why offer multiple titles by one author and none by others of equal or greater merit? Vile.

[@clarepotter7584]

I've read three! I'm surprised Amor Towles isn't on the list. I love his novels.

[@wilfamos7314]

Wow, what a list to get through. Some Ive read, and some for the TBR list! Thanks for posting. BTW, Grapes of Wrath. Wow, how can you have not read that. One of my top 10 of all time novels. Brilliant video as ever Eric. I watch all you content. Thanks for all you work.

[@ArtemisC.DAragon]

Thank you, Eric!!! I've found a few great ones missing😢😢 I've read less than half of the list, but a few are already in my TBR never ending list! Happy Easter to you & hubby!🎉 🪔🥁

[@Emmareads15]

Eric, I think you'll love Patricia Highsmith, especially The Talented Mr Ripley, it's almost a magic trick what she does in that book.

[@haroldleboeuf8648]

You really butchered Grace Metalious

[@haroldleboeuf8648]

I'm shocked you have never read John Updike!! I recommend THE CENTAUR

[@gwendy42]

I'm surprised there's no John Irving or Paul Auster on the list

[@NYLeafy.V]

I know! ❓❓❓❓

[@inaguddle3050]

I appreciate you talking about being daunted by some of the titles, as I have also felt this way. I have only read about 30 of the books on the list, and probably have about 5-6 that I started and gave up on. Many of the novels here are among my favourites - Grapes of Wrath, The Bell Jar, The Group, Fahrenheit 451, The Shipping News, Visit from the Goon Squad etc.

[@tulikajain469]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@stephencarroll230]

In America is fantastic! Just read it a couple of months ago. How about Eugenides “Middlesex”? Updike’s “Rabbit Run”- incredible writing and All American storyline. (Apparently no one reads Great American novelist Thomas Wolfe anymore, myself included.)

[@audreyh7892]

I came across a couple of books by Thomas Wolfe in my local library. His writing was gorgeous.

[@NovelFindsByKassi]

Thanks so much for sharing this! I really appreciate it. I think you'd really love Native Son by Richard Wright based on everything I know about you from watching so many of your videos.

[@jefarge7077]

I've read 48 of them. Of those you mentioned you haven't read, I would highly recommend The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and Absalom, Absalom!, which I would say is the best book I've ever read, and maybe is the great American novel. James Baldwin's Just Above my Head is one I think should have made the list, but it has never gotten much attention

[@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711]

As an Englishwoman I am surprised to have read 44 of these too. You skipped past the James Salter but I thought that was a fine book. I'd like to see In the Distance by Hernan Diaz on the list.

[@dawndobbins9398]

Fascinating list…really want to read Blonde.

[@edwardcostello2288]

Thanks for posting this video. I have read only 37 of the books on the list, although, like you, I have read other books by some of the authors. I would have added Stoner by John Williams to the list, a great "campus novel". There's nothing by Ernest Hemingway, which shows how far his reputation has fallen over the last decades. He was certainly one of the "great American novelists" when I was a teenager. I highly recommend An American Tragedy by Dreiser; don't be discouraged by its length. You might also enjoy the film, A Place in the Sun with Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters. Finally, I saw A Book of Memories by Peter Nadas on your bookshelf!! This novel would be near the top of my list of great European novels of the last century. it is one of my favorite books.

[@michaelmasiello6752]

Wasn’t For Whom the Bell Tolls on there?

[@ralucag9523]

A Farewell to Arms is on the list.

[@michaelmasiello6752]

Hi Eric, I like your videos very much-they’re so warm and genuine. I wanted to share a thought about Infinite Jest, though. (I know: groan.) But seriously: how did all these “lit bros” manage to coopt that novel? It’s certainly not to everyone’s taste, and to be honest, I don’t think it’s the best work that profoundly flawed man did. But it’s also both really (really) funny and deeply sad; Wallace had a really cool way of balancing satire and absurdism with a real sensitivity to the pain of others. He wrote an essay once called “Consider the Lobster,” and after reading it I could never quite bear to eat lobster again-I felt too sorry for the poor things. That a bunch of hipsters should make an author capable of such things their property somehow seems awful to me. You’re a superb, sensitive reader with real literary sensibilities; your favorite book is The Waves, and you loved Solenoid, to pick two obvious examples. I think it is precisely humane and sensitive readers like you who would appreciate Wallace (and Pynchon, by the way!). As someone who loves and teaches literature myself-my specialty is the Renaissance-I hope sincerely that someday people take Wallace back from these “bros,” whoever they are. These works belong to the world and to history, not just to some affected twerps in Brooklyn. I would argue that a novel like Serpell’s The Old Drift is inconceivable without Pynchon in particular. I suspect both men would interest you, make you laugh, and when you least expect it, touch your heart. By the way, there were four other indisputably major authors who were omitted from that list, and I suspect “bro” associations had something to with it-the four great Williams: Burroughs, Gaddis, Gass (who idolized Woolf), and Vollmann. A shame; these writers have so much to offer. Maybe if they’d chosen one representative work by each author there would have been room. Maybe just the one Faulkner (and I love Faulkner), one Morrison (and I adore her), one Roth (Sabbath’s Theater-or American Pastoral: how can Portnoy compete?). And where on earth was Flannery O’Connor on that list, anyway? Where is Marguerite Young’s Miss MacIntosh, My Darling? And how could they choose Day of the Locust over Miss Lonelyhearts? I have so many questions. But I digress. My point is, the lit bros shouldn’t get to own Wallace, Pynchon, or any other who has been given that unfortunate label, “postmodern.” I mean, you know who’s postmodern? Cervantes in Part II of Don Quixote. Wallace and Pynchon and their ilk could use the kind of deeply human response readers like you offer. Whether you wind up loving them or hating them, your response to them would be worth watching. Thanks for your wonderful content. I truly enjoy it, and you’ve pointed me toward any number of books I might otherwise have missed.

[@carolinekovtun2463]

I've read 9 on the list and some of the authors' other works, but not the novels included. It's a pretty good compilation, hits most of the beats and very few duds (can we stop with the Infinite Jest), plus a few very obscure authors and books that surely deserve our attention.

[@TheEmzies]

So pleased to see Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay on the list. One of my all time favourites that I re-read earlier this month. I would have liked to see Advise and Consent on the list - a great novel about American politics that would be relevant now (apart from its portrayal of women). ETA: Love Songs is fantastic - I was surprised it wasn’t listed for the Women's Prize.

[@StephaniePatterson-jb5it]

I've read 48 of these books and have quite a few others are on my shelf. I have many thoughts, but you probably have a life to get on with so I'll confine myself to two recommendations: "Oreo" is hilarious and very touching. Fran Ross only wrote one novel. She died quite young but I don't know more than that. Nabokov's "Pale Fire" is likewise hilarious. It consists of an epic poem and commentary by a totally clueless academic. As in any Nabokov novel there is much more going on but I'm always looking for a laugh (Especially these days). Thanks for doing this, Eric.

[@sarahwallace2585]

Well, I'm a Brit and I'm using that as my excuse ... I'm fairly sure I haven't even heard of about half of those titles! Of the rest, I've only read 18 - and have probably another 20 of them in my stacks waiting to be read. Thanks for going through the list Eric, great video as usual ❤️

[@constancecampbell4610]

An American Tragedy is a very readable book. Wonderful characters and the final section of the book is written in a breathless, pulsing style that really brings it all home. I am not one to choose mammoth reads, but I found this one gripping.

[@RubenDario-hr4iq]

I’ve only read 72 of those books. Some of the books mentioned are unknown to me.

[@peaseblossom4252]

“…it can get quite bitchy”. Sold. 😂 “Nope, nope, nope. Guess I’ll never be a Lit Bro”. 😂😂😂 Fascinating list. Way way too many I haven’t read yet. Many I haven’t even heard of. I’ve copied down the list as a challenge to slowly work through and see what new great reads I discover. …I did read Kindred last month and absolutely loved it! I would add Underground Railroad, and at least one Barbara Kingsolver book (I haven’t yet read Demon Copperhead-I know, I know, plan to read before the next Pulitzer is announced-so I would nominate The Bean Trees). This was fun-enjoyed your snarky side peeking out. 😊📚♥️

[@irenegautier45]

😂

[@michelleaustin2859]

Your bookshelves fascinate me.

[@ianp9086]

I’ve only read 26, but not bad I guess for a Brit who takes the concept of the Great American Novel with a large dose of salt! Is it an ironic thing, that a huge nation with diverse native people and colonists with multiple origins can be summarised within one book? And how would a novel about a small group of spoilt classics scholars (for example) do that? Ducks, Newburyport might be the only one to come close to containing everything - so brilliant and glad you gave it another plug 😊

[@ImaAndtheBooks]

The handwritten “The Great Gatsby” looks amazing ❤

[@user-ps1nn3pv9v]

A very weird list, for sure. Enjoyed your reading of it. I was especially amused by the books where you just read the title and said nothing else. I wonder what that meant? LOL I need to read Blonde! That's so awesome that JCO did that for you. Okay, Eric really, just read Slaughterhouse Five for goodness sake!! I first read it as a young, male, teenage American - probably the most likely type of person to read Vonnegut. Now I'm a much older person and I read it every few years still marveling at how simple and yet profound Vonnegut's prose can be. It's not a long book. As far as books "left off", what about John Irving? The World According to Garp, or Owen Meany, or Cider House Rules - all great American stories.

[@carolinanilsson4006]

Many great books on the list! Also several I hadn't even heard about, but they sound really interesting. I would add The Thin Red Line, by James Jones to the list.

[@averyps]

I've managed 39. Very pleased Erasure is finally getting the credit it deserves!

[@irenegautier45]

Hello Eric, I enjoy your reviews very much, and as someone who started to read seriously at 21. My mum was a single parent, and not a reader, so we no books in the house. My first book list was offered by dear reader friends and the first book was The Jungle by Upton Sinclair! What a great start. I'm a Scot who married a French man, a philosopher, and I've lived in France for 40 years, so perhaps i am not eligible to comment on the llist of best American writers, but may i please suggest three American writers whose books I have loved, and who are not on the list. Anne Tyler - Dinner at the homesick restaurant etc etc! The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan - wonderful story of Chinese mums and their American daughters - look for the phrase ' perhaps it needed some salt' Any book by Siri Hustveldt, but absolutely The summer without men, with the elderly resident in a home who does subversive sewing (underneath the respectable stuff!) And what about Paul Auster? So many books, so little time!!! Thank you so much!😊

[@KierTheScrivener]

The Great Gatsby is a brilliant book to reread as an adult. I loved it at 16 but when I reread it I fell even more in love. I've read 17 (and dnfed a few others). I read ten of the early books and then only 5 books after 1960 😂

[@pratgarg]

44/136 is amazing! I’m surprised to not see Hernan Diaz’s Trust. Also, Salman Rushdie’s Fury. It was a great contemporary writing on America of Y2K.

[@kimswhims8435]

I've only read 20 with quite a few still on my TBR, I'm Australian and we didn't have much American lit in school, unless we chose to read it. One of the first American novels I remember reading was "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", I can't comment on the writing it was so long ago, but the story and the feelings the novel left me with have stayed with me. Probably not surprising that Gone with the Wind didn't make the list, considering it's problematic attitudes, I'd love to know of other novels that epically handle that time. The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris was great but I didn't see it on the list. I still have to read Kindred and The Invisible Man.

[@johnnamurraycamp5100]

Gatsby is a totally different read in later life (in my humble experience). Ditto Glass Menagerie. Bravo to the writers who give us more than one character with whom we might - now or later- identify.

[@dmuse2382]

HA! I love your honesty about these books. Nothing to See Here is a fun book, but doesn't seem to be the same caliber as the others. Missing Michael Cunningham and Richard Ford.

[@wavaleebranch]

I agree with you, Eric; I loved BLONDE.

[@user-zo4ig4xx5n]

As I lay dying is my favourite Faulkner book, followed by the sound and the fury. All my family members make fun of me and of my habit to read and enjoy big, depressive novels.

[@audreyh7892]

I have read 27. There were several of which I have never read. Moby Dick and To Kill A Mockingbird should be on there.

[@cindyhaiken5644]

I find this list a bit befuddling. I’ve read almost half of them and, like you, there are some I loved, some I thought were just ok and some that really did nothing for me. There are also many others I have not read (intentional or un) and some I have not heard of. Like many others, I find the absence of To Kill a Mockingbird ridiculous. I would have chosen a different Updike and a different Colson Whitehead novel (or two). Subjectivity seems to be the order of the day.

[@tbrooks529]

Drop everything and go read Slaughterhouse-Five right now! Also, I think everyone who reads Lolita should, must, also read The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman. We should never forget the price little girls pay when a man desires them.

[@TimeTravelReads]

I've only read a few of these. I wonder what a Great American Nonfiction list would look like?

[@kentcozad7275]

Maybe I missed them, but no Edmund White or John Irving?

[@judybrown1624]

I think I've read 30. I'm thinking I might listen to some of these on audio. Do you know if they publish a new version of this list every year?

[@michaelbroderick2282]

I would add Blue Highways by William Least-Heat Moon, the ultimate travel adventure through the American landscape. Don't know why A Farewell To Arms is on there since it takes place 6,000 miles away.

[@heathersneddon8866]

Lists are always so interesting because of their omissions. For example, I like Dave Eggers and Jeffrey Eugenides. Also no Alice Walker? Harper Lee? Paul Auster? Siri Hustvedt?

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Absolutely

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

Dogeaters is on my list and I'm one of those people who loves The Secret History. I have The House of Leaves but I haven't read it yet.

[@samanthak5648]

Have you read Stone Butch Blues? Absolutely amazing writing, so intimate, beautiful, and sad.

[@dunnadam]

I was most excited to read The Street by Ann Petry, the first novel by a black woman to sell one million copies. Loved it, totally recommend

[@rebeccamaclean6242]

35 plus 5 that I DNF'ed from the list. Salvage The Bones is one of the greatest novels I have ever read.

[@ericgeneric135]

I've read 33 of them. Some others I started but never finished. I'm surprised that No One Is Talking About This and Biography of X both made the cut because I disliked both of them quite a bit.

[@edwardcostello2288]

My error. Hemingway is on the list with A Farewell to Arms.

[@flufftronable]

Scary how little I've read from this list.

[@hughbarber5854]

A very modern list. ? Flannery O'Connor

[@kateri17]

A glaring omission.

[@irenegautier45]

Sorry, my phone has 'corrected' me incorrectly. Hope you can correct the corrections!

[@huntersun9]

Did I miss The Jungle by Upton Sinclair? Such an important book that actually changed the meat packing industry. And To Kill a Mockingbird? Anyway, a great list.

[@dqan7372]

I've only read ten or so. I've been reading the Mediocre ones and saving the best for last.

[@carrs01]

I have read a few. Strangely I’m more drawn to American writers in the short story genre. F Scott Fitzgerald’s are some of his best work I think.

[@irenadijetetresa3073]

Yeah, I always thought it is a pity that Americans are so eagerly chasing this idea of a 'great American novel', but actually excell in the short story/novellas and dramatic writing

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Good point! That should be a whole category.

[@jacoblanda2643]

Catch-22 is great. The book is very funny and sad and tragic at the same time.

[@teneshaanderson4761]

I love Nevada

[@willieluncheonette5843]

I would very much recommend Carlos Castaneda's series of Don Juan books. IMO he is one of America's greatest writers of fiction in the 20th century. His books are pretty much unique, no?

[@jimjackson509]

Underworld is not about baseball, of course. One plot thread has to do with a baseball; the extended prologue takes place at a baseball game, but the story has nothing to do with baseball.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

I was joking

[@gillianlaker1033]

I feel very ignorant of American novels having listened to this list. Maybe we aren't as exposed to them this side of the Atlantic. I only scored a feeble 23. Was there a date restriction? I was surprised not to see Moby Dick or any Edith Warton. It would have been nice to see Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos.

[@AlanMargolis-ey4sl]

The Mary Gaitskill is one of my favorites. Super dark and disturbing.

[@AlanMargolis-ey4sl]

Also Sound and the Fury is one of the best novels ever written!

[@elsiebuckby6973]

Only one John Steinbeck. East of Eden should definitely been included and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I also thought To Kill A Mockingbird should have been included.

[@margarethaines9310]

Curious list - interesting because of the authors who are not on it . . .thought provoking.

[@audreyh7892]

I hated American Tragedy. I prefer other books by Willa Cather. Not a Hemingway fan. Catch 22 was more work than it was worth. I should read The Big Sleep. It sounds fun. I keep hearing about the John Dos Passos and Kindred. I need to get to those.

[@eddie_d1233]

I can't believe that Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn and Red Badge of Courage aren't on this. Pity.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

They are only books from the past 100 years

[@eddie_d1233]

@@EricKarlAnderson Thanks!

[@traplordhentaimaster1633]

My mans read ducks Newburyport but can’t read stein.. okay