Have you heard of the Great American Read?
Sponsored by PBS, this documentary special is a celebration of reading. There are 100 books on the list, and you can vote for your favorite. There will be 1 winner based on these votes.
http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/vote/
It’s pretty cool and exciting, go check out the list. Going through, there are many I have read and there are many that are surprising. Tom Sawyer is on the list, of course. But so is Ready Player One, which was interesting. So it’s not just a list of books that are more than 100 years old, though many of those are pretty good.
There are some books I’d still like to read, but here are the ones that I’ve actually read:
1984
Adventures of Tom Sawyer (personal recommendation)
Alex Cross
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (personal recommendation)
Call of the Wild (personal recommendation)
Charlotte’s Web (I like the overall theme of this one)
Chronicles of Narnia
Count of Monte Cristo
DaVinci Code
Dune
Flowers in the Attic
Frankenstein
Giver
Gone with the Wind
Grapes of Wrath
Gulliver’s Travels
Harry Potter (recommended, well duh)
Hatchet
Hunt for Red October
Jurassic Park (one of my top 3 books ever)
Little Women
Moby Dick
Ready Player One
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (highly recommended)
Hunger Games
Lord of the Rings
Martian (one of my all-time favorites)
Outsiders
Stand
Watchers
Where the Red Fern Grows (recommended)
Thirty-one out of 100 – not great, but not bad. There are a couple still on my list to read, so that will bring it up. Likewise, there are a couple that I’ve tried to read but couldn’t get into and didn’t care for. That’s ok, you’re allowed to not like a book.
Parents, if you are looking for a good summer read for the kids:
Charlotte’s Web, Tom Sawyer, Where the Red Fern Grows, Hatchet would be good ones. Alice’s Adventures is a good one to read together, it’s trippy and is great with a discussion.
For the older kids, try: Outsiders, Hitchhiker’s Guide, Call of the Wild and Harry Potter.
How many have you read? Go vote!
http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/vote/
UPDATE: I left the article above as originally posted, but they have finished their voting. Check out the page to see their list.
