The Great American Read


Showing 1 - 20 of 32  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 "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...
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 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.
Book cover for "The Count of Monte Cristo"
Star rating for The Count of Monte Cristo
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
Edmund Dantes, unjustly convicted of aiding the exiled Napoleon, escapes after fourteen years of imprisonment and seeks revenge in Paris.

11. Dune

Book cover for "Dune"
Star rating for Dune
Series:
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
Follows the adventures of Paul Atreides, the son of a betrayed duke given up for dead on a treacherous desert planet and adopted by its fierce, nomadic people, who help him unravel his most unexpected destiny. In the far future, the son of Duke Leto Atreides leads a struggle against the Emperor from the desert planet of Arrakis, where his family has lived in exile for many years at the Emperor's command.
Book cover for "Foundation"
Star rating for Foundation
Series:
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
A band of psychologists, under the leadership of psychohistorian Hari Seldon, plants a colony to encourage art, science, and technology in the declining Galactic Empire and to preserve the accumulated knowledge of humankind.
Book cover for "The grapes of wrath"
Star rating for The grapes of wrath
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
Depicts the hardships and suffering endured by the Joads as they journey from Oklahoma to California during the Depression.
Book cover for "Great expectations"
Star rating for Great expectations
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
An unknown benefactor supplies an orphaned blacksmith's apprentice with the means to be educated in London as a gentleman of "great expectations."
Book cover for "The great Gatsby"
Star rating for The great Gatsby
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author's own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy...
Book cover for "Gulliver's travels"
Star rating for Gulliver's travels
Average Rating:
3.1 stars
Description:
The unusual voyages of Englishman Lemuel Gulliver carry him to such strange locales as Lilliput, where the inhabitants are six inches tall; Brobdingnag, a land of giants; an island of sorcerers; and a nation ruled by horses.
Book cover for "Heart of darkness"
Star rating for Heart of darkness
Average Rating:
2.7 stars
Description:
"Joseph Conrad's enduring portrait of the ugliness of colonialism in a deluxe edition with a gripping cover by 'Hellboy' artist Mike Mignola. 'Heart of Darkness' is the thrilling tale of Marlow, a seaman and wanderer recounting his physical and psychological journey in search of the infamous ivory trader Kurtz. Traveling upriver into the heart of the African continent, he gradually becomes obsessed by this enigmatic, wraith-like figure. Marlow's discovery...
Book cover for "Invisible man"
Star rating for Invisible man
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
A Black man's search for success and the American dream leads him out of college to Harlem and a growing sense of personal rejection and social invisibility
Book cover for "Jane Eyre"
Star rating for Jane Eyre
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
The love story of Jane Eyre, a plain yet spirited governess, and her employer, the arrogant, brooding Mr. Rochester, originally published under the pseudonym Currer Bell.
Book cover for "The lion, the witch and the wardrobe"
Star rating for The lion, the witch and the wardrobe
Series:
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
Four English schoolchildren find their way through the back of a wardrobe into the magic land of Narnia and assist Aslan, the golden lion, to triumph over the White Witch, who has cursed the land with eternal winter.