The Great American Reader

By Hailey Pruitt 

In 2018, the Great American Read aired on PBS. They published a list of 100 books and asked Americans to vote on their favorites. Each episode of the series featured authors, celebrities and book lovers across the country sharing their personal experiences with the books and highlighting the power of literature to shape our nation and our lives.  

When Robyn Nickleson, University network specialist and lifelong reader, watched the show, she realized she had only read 18 of 100 on the list. So she challenged herself to read through the whole list. There was no deadline, and she didn’t force herself to read them in order or finish anything she didn’t enjoy, but as a self-proclaimed completer, she was determined to try them all.  

She started with titles that had been personally recommended. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings was first, but her friends and family love it so much that she chose to read it in secret because she didn’t want them to be disappointed when she didn’t love it too. (Spoiler alert: She didn’t, and they are.) 

Eventually, she outpaced her recommendations and was left with titles that were largely unfamiliar to her and her community. So, she decided to print the list on little slips of paper, put them in a coffee cup, and draw out her next read at random. 

Over the last seven years, while also reading the Bible and other books for church and theology colloquy, she read a wide variety of books she never would have chosen for herself. This list is her personal top 5.

 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (America’s #66)

Mark Haddon’s Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. When he sets out to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog, Christopher takes the reader on an unusual and captivating journey that showcases the remarkable nature of differently abled minds.

“...Written from his perspective, it’s a really different way of reading and seeing the world,” Nickleson said. “It’s not a straightforward narrative, like you might expect, but is a window into what's happening inside his head. It was so interesting and surprising.” 

The Hunger Games (America’s #40)

Collins' novels feature teenagers fighting to the death on reality TV as viewers cheer them on and even have the option to send food or weapons to their favorites. The action inside the games is intense and exciting, and provides an opportunity for readers to consider layers of social experiences and the role of mass media in our world. 

“I love action movies, and I often find myself inside them in my dreams,” Nickleson said. “I’m always running or fighting or looking for the right opportunity to fight off the bad guy. Maybe that’s why this book just sucked me right in from the beginning. It was the only one that I finished and couldn’t stop. I read the whole trilogy right away.”

“I love 80s movies and pop culture, so I guess I just felt at home here,” Nickleson said. “So much of my childhood was referenced, and I’m a sucker for a bit. This book was just fun.” 

Joseph Heller’s WWII novel takes a different approach and focuses not on the glory attained through personal trial but the psychological struggle and insanity pilots faced. He coined the term that continues to help us describe “mankind at the mercy of its own institutions.”

“One thing I was surprised to learn about myself is that I really enjoy absurdity,” Nicholson said. Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Heller’s Catch-22 were some of my favorites. The catch in this novel is that pilots weren’t allowed to fly if they wanted to go into combat because anyone who wanted to was insane. Only those who understood the risk and chose not to go were the ones forced to fly. I think that’s often the way things work in the real world, and we’re not always as honest about it as these writers are.”

The story of Francie Nolan coming of age in Brooklyn at the turn of the 20th century, Betty Smith’s novel is a tale of hardship and tenacity and the hope of worlds opened by books.

“I loved this story about childhood and books and the resiliency of the human spirit,” Nickleson said.

Want to see how many books on the list you’ve already read? Check it out here.

*Harding University does not endorse any titles on the top 100 list. For more information on how these titles were selected, please see the FAQs.