The Great American Read


Showing 1 - 20 of 92  There are a total of 92 valid entries on the list.

1. 1984

Book cover for "1984"
Star rating for 1984
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
Portrays life in a future time when a totalitarian government watches over all citizens and directs all activities. Written 75 years ago, 1984 was George Orwell's chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever... "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."...
Book cover for "The adventures of Tom Sawyer"
Star rating for The adventures of Tom Sawyer
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"The classic boyhood adventure tale, updated with a new introduction by noted Mark Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen. A consummate prankster with a quick wit, Tom Sawyer dreams of a bigger fate than simply being a "rich boy." Yet through the novel's humorous escapades-from the famous episode of the whitewashed fence to the trial of Injun Joe-Mark Twain explores the deeper themes of the adult world, one of dishonesty and superstition, murder and revenge,...
Book cover for "The alchemist"
Star rating for The alchemist
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"A special 25th anniversary edition of Paulo Coehlo's extraordinary international bestselling phenomenon--the inspiring spiritual tale of self-discovery that has touched millions of lives around the world. Combing magic, mysticism, wisdom and wonder, The Alchemist has become a modern classic, selling millions of copies around the world and transforming the lives of countless readers across generations. Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical...
Book cover for "Alice's adventures in Wonderland ; and, Through the looking-glass and What Alice found there"
Star rating for Alice's adventures in Wonderland ; and, Through the looking-glass and What Alice found there
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
When Alice follows a strange rabbit down a rabbit hole and passes through a looking glass, she experiences curious sensations and encounters the Mad Hatter, the fiendish Queen of Hearts, and many other odd characters.
Book cover for "Along came a spider"
Star rating for Along came a spider
Series:
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
He had always wanted to be famous. When he kidnapped two well-known rich kids it was headline news. Then one of them was found--dead. For such a high-profile case, they needed Alex Cross, police psychologist, and Jezzie Flanagan, a Secret Service agent, and even they were no match for the killer.
Book cover for "Americanah"
Star rating for Americanah
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
"A young woman from Nigeria leaves behind her home and her first love to start a new life in America, only to find her dreams are not all she expected"--
Book cover for "And then there were none"
Star rating for And then there were none
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
A killer stalks a group of ten total strangers on an isolated island off the Devon coast, in a story of murder and retribution set to a sinister nursery rhyme.
Book cover for "Another country"
Star rating for Another country
Average Rating:
3.4 stars
Description:
Eight people become entangled in a web of interpersonal relationships, doomed to become as savage and destructive as the society which oppresses them
Book cover for "Atlas shrugged"
Star rating for Atlas shrugged
Author:
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
This is the story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world, and did. Is he a destroyer or a liberator? Why does he have to fight his battle not against his enemies but against those who need him most? Why does he fight his hardest battle against the woman he loves? The answers to these questions become clear when the reason behind the baffling events that play havoc with the lives of the amazing men and women in this remarkable...

10. Beloved

Book cover for "Beloved"
Star rating for Beloved
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved." Sethe and Denver take her in and then strange things begin to happen. Set in rural Ohio several years after the Civil War, this profoundly affecting chronicle of slavery and its aftermath is Toni Morrison's greatest novel, a dazzling achievement, and the most spellbinding reading experience of the...
Book cover for "Bless me, Ultima"
Star rating for Bless me, Ultima
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
Ultima, a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic, comes to Antonio Marez's New Mexico family when he is six years old, and she helps him discover himself in the magical secrets of the pagan past.
Book cover for "The book thief"
Star rating for The book thief
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors.
Book cover for "The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao"
Star rating for The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Description:
Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who--from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister--dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú--a curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The...
Book cover for "The call of the wild"
Star rating for The call of the wild
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
The adventures of an unusual dog, part St. Bernard, part Scotch shepherd, that is forcibly taken to the Klondike gold fields where he eventually becomes the leader of a wolf pack.
Book cover for "Catch-22"
Star rating for Catch-22
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
Presents the contemporary classic depicting the struggles of a United States airman attempting to survive the lunacy and depravity of a World War II airbase.
Book cover for "The catcher in the rye"
Star rating for The catcher in the rye
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
In an effort to escape the hypocrisies of life at his boarding school, sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield seeks refuge in New York City Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school.
Book cover for "Charlotte's web"
Star rating for Charlotte's web
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
A little girl named Fern raises the little runt pig, Wilbur, only to have her father give him away. At his new home, Wilbur is desolate when he discovers that he is destined to be the farmer's Christmas dinner until his spider friend, Charlotte, decides to help him. Wilbur, the pig, is desolate when he discovers that he is destined to be the farmer's Christmas dinner until his spider friend, Charlotte, decides to help him.
Book cover for "The clan of the cave bear"
Star rating for The clan of the cave bear
Series:
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
An injured and orphaned infant carries within her the seed and hope of mankind in this epic of survival and destiny set at the dawn of prehistory.
Book cover for "The coldest winter ever"
Star rating for The coldest winter ever
Series:
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
After a black drug dealer goes to jail in Brooklyn, his ruthless 17-year-old daughter takes over his empire. A look at the mores and manners of the black underclass, this one with money. First novel by a hip-hop artist, author of No Disrespect. Winter Santiaga, the daughter of one of Brooklyn's most powerful drug czars, uses her own weapons--including sex and an aggressive attitude--to stay on top, after her father's empire is threatened by a drug...
Book cover for "The color purple"
Star rating for The color purple
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
The lives of two sisters--Nettie, a missionary in Africa, and Celie, a Southern woman married to a man she hates--are revealed in a series of letters exchanged over thirty years. "Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance, and silence"--Back cover.