Comments on: The Best American Literature

By: William

William — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 16:38:56 +0000

To Kill a Mocking Bird

By: Derek

Derek — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:38:00 +0000

“Catch 22″ by Joseph Heller seems like a glaring omission to me. Most brilliant use of satire ever to drive home a point – the insanity of war.

By: Bookstore People · Recommended Reading for the First Day of School

Bookstore People · Recommended Reading for the First Day of School — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:26:41 +0000

[...] said it’s the best American novel ever written. I told him many would agree with her, and some would [...]

By: Kim

Kim — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:24:09 +0000

I love Welty and Wharton, thank you for mentioning them and for all of other great suggestions!

By: Kell

Kell — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:06:04 +0000

The Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Native Son, Richard Wright
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs
The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser
The Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Color Purple, Alice Walker
The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
The Optimist’s Daughter, Eudora Welty

By: etcetera — Marianne Wiggins List Of Best American Literature

etcetera — Marianne Wiggins List Of Best American Literature — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:57:04 +0000

[...] Marianne Wiggins list of best American literature. Annie Proulx, Steinbeck and Salinger but no Roth. (via @mathitak ) [...]

By: Kim

Kim — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:42:45 +0000

Not a huge Proulx fan myself, but I think I’m in a slim minority. I wondered about Chandler myself, but thought possibly the Hollywood “genre” was covered by Get Shorty.

Thank you for you insights!

By: J. Williams

J. Williams — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:16:58 +0000

I think Proulx will look like a bad choice in retrospect.

I like McCarthy, but that’s way too much of him — the first two books of the Border Trilogy would suffice.

Including only What Maisie Knew for James is perverse, almost like it has to be a blatant provocation.

Elmore Leonard seems like too conspicuous a stab at populism. (And why not something by Raymond Chandler instead?)

By: Somerville Public Library Blog » Listmania!

Somerville Public Library Blog » Listmania! — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:59:39 +0000

[...] i read them, discuss them, and make up lists of my own. Recently novelist Marianne Wiggins made a list of the “best” American literature. I’m not sure what she means by “best”–if she means that elusive and [...]

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:15:00 +0000

William Faulkner, of course! I appreciate his work, but honestly don’t love it, so he didn’t occur to me. But, he also makes every other Amer. Lit list I’ve ever seen.

Charles McCarry is an interesting addition. I loved Tears of Autumn and have recommended it numerous times. I haven’t read anything else of his, but will add The Last Supper to my list.