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Recently I watched a show on PBS called The Great American Read. It's perfect for book lovers, and I suspect that includes most of us. You can watch the launch special HERE.
PBS used a national survey to present the 100 best-loved novels in the U.S. Now we can vote for our favorites HERE. You can vote once a day for each book and in a variety of ways, such as signing in with your email address, Facebook, or Twitter.
Although the list includes a couple of books that make me raise my eyebrows (Fifty Shades of Grey? Puh-lease!), I suspect I'll want to read some of the books on the list that I've missed.
Voting ends at midnight PT on October 18, 2018. The winner will be announced on PBS.
I suspect I'll cast most of my votes for my all-time favorite novel
but I've also voted for
After you've checked out the list, I hope you'll come back to tell us which books are your favorites. I also want to know how many of the 100 you've read.
I've read 43, but keep in mind that a series counts as one book so I've actually read more books than the 43 I can count. By the time we reach the finale of the series in October, I hope I'll be up to 50 books.
Some of the books on the list are pretty darn tempting.
Happy Reading!
Infinities of love,
Janie Junebug
P.S. It's Memorial Day, and I'd like to know why people are setting off firecrackers as if this day is some kine of celebration.
I no longer have TV (cable costs, etc.) so the PBS show is something I can't see. But I do have books. Here's to reading :)
ReplyDeleteThe show is online, but it's not really important to watch it. I hope the voting will inspire people to read over the summer.
DeleteLots of familiar titles there. I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and the Joy Luck Club. Haven't read Fifty Shades and don't intend to either.
ReplyDeleteI've never read Curious Incident and that's one I want to read this summer. I love The Joy Luck Club, too.
DeleteThat's quite a varied list. It definitely had some surprises. I wonder how many responded to the survey.
ReplyDeleteI've only read 22! 21 if I don't count the 40 pages or so of Fifty Shades I was able to stomach before chucking it to the trash.
I haven't read a single page of 50 Shades so I suppose I shouldn't condemn it, but I feel as if I've heard enough about it to say that it's garbage.
DeleteI've only read 23, but I've seen a lot of movies of the other ones. Does that count at all?
ReplyDeleteNope. Time to do more reading, but I know you read a lot anyway.
DeleteOnly read 17 of this list. Pillars of The Earth, The Martian, Joy Luck Club are favorites NEVER 50 Shades.
ReplyDeletecheers, parsnip
I think we're all in agreement that we won't have anything to do with 50 Shades.
DeleteI've read 30 on the list, some of them multiple times like Lord of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird and Anne of Green Gables. Beloved classics!
ReplyDeleteHow I love Anne.
DeleteI am so happy to know that the 50 Shades of Crap book is not on your list either!
ReplyDelete"A Tree Grows In Brooklyn"! I found that book on the library shelf when I was in 5th grade. I checked it out to do a book report on it. My teacher asked me how did I know of this book, since it was a classic. She didn't believe me when I told her that I just liked the title!
My vote would be for "To Kill A Mockingbird".
I rarely read novels now, I am the non-fiction Queen!
I like non-fiction, too, but I enjoy variety so I still read novels. How silly for the teacher to ask how you know of the book. It was on the shelf. You liked the title. You checked it out. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
DeleteI went to vote but had to log into FB and stuff, so I didn't. I'm not that motivated. They replaced my book with Fifty Shades. Screw 'em. I'd have voted for Alice in Wonderland, though, because Carroll's brain-cells blow it out of the water.
ReplyDeleteLove.
You can log in with your email address. Takes about two minutes. Alice deserves your votes.
DeleteNever read the book, tried to watch the movie but I couldn't interested in them
ReplyDeleteIt's not everyone's cup of tea.
DeleteI was surprised by some of the titles there! I wouldn't have thought they'd make it on the list. I've read quite a few of them since I'm such a reading addict. Some of my favourites on that site would include To Kill A Mockingbird, The Outsiders, The Book Thief, And Then There Were None, The Handmaid's Tale, Anne of Green Gables... There are a few others I could include, which tells me that I'd have a hard time voting!
ReplyDeleteYou can vote once a day for as many books as you want.
DeleteSpeaking of The Great Gatsby, I recently watched the 2013 film version for the first time.
ReplyDeleteI was a bit put off by the modern music in a period piece. That always bothers me. Director Baz Luhrmann had done that before, in Moulin Rouge, and Tarantino inserted Jim Croce's "I Got a Name" in Django Unchained.
I ended up liking the film as it progressed, but the first portion seemed too concerned with trying to dazzle the viewer with visuals. It's almost as if all concerned had taken a look at what they were doing at the halfway mark and said "Hey, you know, we have a really good story here! Why don't we concentrate on that instead of trying to impress people with our terrific ideas?"
What did you think of it?
P.S. ~~ I still can't think of Fitzgerald without picturing Tom Hiddleston.
I LOVED the movie. The earlier version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow was too slow. These characters are living at a frantic pace. That's why the newer movie is so appropriate. The acting is good, too, and I even liked the music.
DeleteCan't find the list... probably because I'm not in the US. *sigh* But I absolutely LOVE Gatsby, so I'm happy you're voting for him. It. Whatever. Haven't read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but I've heard wonderful things about it. Will have to check it out, one of these days that I manage to make a dent in the TBR pile :)
ReplyDeleteGuilie @ Quiet Laughter
I wish you could vote! I'll think of some of my votes as yours.
DeleteIt seemed like a somewhat strange collection until I realized only 7200 people sent in their favourites. That's a very small percentage of the American population.
ReplyDeleteI cannot condone Fifty Shades being on any list of favourites! ha ha
Of the one hundred in the list, I have read only twenty-seven, some of them many years ago and some very recently. My favourite from the list is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, with The Joy Luck Club coming a close second.
I love both of your choices.
DeleteNot by any stretch could "Fifty Shades of Grey" be considered good literature. I didn't read it, but the reviews were scathing! The Great Gatsby will definitely be on my vote list,along with The Godfather and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
ReplyDeleteThose are good choices, too.
DeleteI've read 39. I love A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and A Prayer for Owen Meany.
ReplyDelete