READING CHALLENGE:

The Great American Read
hosted by PBS/WEDU
March 22, 2018 – March 22, 2020

  1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
  3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  4. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
  5. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  6. The Giver by Lois Lowry
  7. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
  8. Watchers by Dean Koontz
  9. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  10. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  11. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
  12. Along Came a Spider by James Patterson
  13. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
  14. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  15. Alice in Wonderland by Jane Carruth
  16. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
  17. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  18. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  19. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
  20. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
  21. Harry Potter: The Complete Series by J.K. Rowling
  22. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
  23. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
  24. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  25. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
  26. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
  27. The Call of the Wild
  28. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
  29. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
  30. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
  31. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
  32. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
  33. Flowers in the Attic
  34. Dune by Frank Herbert
  35. The Martian by Andy Weir
  36. Left Behind by Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins
  37. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  38. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
  39. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
  40. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Paulo Coelho
  41. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
  42. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
  43. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  44. The Stand by Stephen King
  45. Ghost by Jason Reynolds
  46. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  47. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  48. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  49. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
  50. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
  51. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  52. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
  53. Looking for Alaska by John Green
  54. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
  55. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
  56. 1984 by George Orwell
  57. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
  58. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
  59. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  60. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
  61. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
  62. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  63. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
  64. The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
  65. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Show Book List


UPDATED POST

PBS premiered their 8 part TV series of “The Great American Read” on May 22, 2018. It was hosted by special guest, Meredith Vieira, and consisted of 8 episodes showcasing America’s Top 100 most loved fictional novels of all time (based on a national survey).

The show included special commentary and documentaries from celebrities and authors, while viewers voted for their favorite books throughout the series’ season. The results were then revealed during the final episode.

VERDICT: To Kill A Mockingbird was American’s #1 most loved book, followed by Outlander, Harry Potter (series), Pride & Prejudice, and The Lord of the Rings as finalists.

→ How many books on the list have you read? Take the quiz to find out!

→ You can also find the printable list of all the books here.

So what about this challenge?

During the airing of this show, I decided to make a goal to read all 100 books featured on The Great American Read list and challenged my fellow book-nerds to do the same! I must admit that I didn’t complete this challenge within the first year of starting, but I am still actively pursuing this goal, nonetheless.

The show’s season may be over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue reading!

Were you following along during The Great American Read series? Did you finish this challenge already? Which books were your favorites? Least favorite? Leave a comment, send a message or post on my Facebook page. I would love to know your thoughts!


GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY READING!