No NOT Oprah or Richard and Judy!

William Faulkner
Emily Dickinson
Herman Melville
James M Cain
Mary Oliver
Tennessee Williams

This is an immediate response and no doubt when I sign off I shall think of many more.

I love the 'American' directness and lack of pomposity in writing.

I just started reading more from American authors last year, so I am probably shouldn't give an opinion...

I totally agree about Harper Lee.
I have read a good deal by Fitzgerald. I love his style; he is an expert wordsmith. Not quite genius, but very good.
I just read O Pioneers!, by Willa Cather. I had studiously avoided Cather's work, thinking I would not enjoy it, but I did. Wonderful book.

My additions to the list would be Steinbeck and Twain.
CMK

William Faulkner
Mark Twain
Herman Melville

I really like Harper Lee and Margaret Mitchell, too; but at one book each, it's hard to put them on the list.

William Faulkner
Mark Twain
Henry James
Emily Dickinson
Toni Morrison

Lots of others of course, but these are off the top of my head. I also think that Edgar Allen Poe is a one-of-a-kind American gem...

As a Brit, I don't feel qualified to comment....but when has that ever stopped me?

No additions, but merely to wonder how the first two posters could have written a list and not included Steinbeck or Twain? To me, that's a bit like writing a list of Great British authors and not including Dickens.

And, though I would not dream of arguing with William Faulkner or Toni Morrison, that feels like including James Joyce on my hypothetical (and approximately) British list - he's an author you feel you ought to read, and you know the critics rave about him, but, you know, it's very hard work, and there are so many other books out there, and life's too short....

Mary, I have to confess I have never heard of O E Rolvaag! Have read Wharton and the Stegner that we discussed here at RP and Twain and Steinbeck but not the others.

Can someone tell me why Oprah's books are treated with such disdain here? Are they all trashy love stories and who-dunnits written with little regard to grammar and style? Her show isn't on TV in the UK so I don't even know what books she 'pushes' but would be interested if anyone will admit to having read or even recommending one. ;-)

I have read some of Oprah's picks--some were good, though not great, and a couple I thought weren't much. Not trashy, and she's probably got more people reading who wouldn't ordinarily do so than anyone else I can think of except J.K. Rowling!

As for Faulkner, nowhere near as difficult as Joyce, and so deeply rewarding that, Martin, you are missing some great stuff if you don't give him a try. Perhaps start with "The Bear," a novella, and maybe a collection of his short stories.

Vee, here are some of the books Oprah has had as part of her book club:

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier
Night by Elie Wiesel
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
Light in August by William Faulkner
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

So, although a lot of people don't like her choices (and this is not a complete list) these books look pretty reasonable to me.

I became wary of many of Oprah's picks because so many involved tragically dysfunctional families and were wretchedly depressing. Many of her choices have been excellent, however.

On another topic:

A few nights ago, our PBS station aired a program on which a gentleman scholar and a lady scholar were asked to choose the one book that they felt had most influenced the American scene. Before they began, I had chosen To Kill a Mockingbird.
The gentleman picked Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom. The lady agreed with me and chose Harper Lee's masterpiece. Her argument was that TKAMB not only dealt with an issue of great importance and wide-reaching impact, but was much more accessible to the general population than are Faulkner's works, thereby influencing a much wider range of readers.

Quite frankly, I have never read Absalom, Absalom. It has made zero impact on me. TKAMB I have read several times and recommended it to others many, many times.

I would love to hear the opinions of others on the influence of Faulkner since this is a desolate area of my education.

I read Absalom, Absalom three times in college...the first time I struggled and hated it (freshman English). By the third time, I loved it. I don't know if it grew on me, I grew up, or it helped me grow up. As I read the thread, it was one of the books I was thinking I would put on my response...and then, there it was on someone else's.

I also was thinking TKAMB...now I have to sit down and actually make my list.

froniga,
For years, I avoided Faulkner. I had heard the same arguements... not accessible, etc. But then for book club I had to read As I Lay Dying. The topic was dreary to be sure. But the writing was amazing. Each character had such depth, such a unique voice. I am a very fast reader. My normal reading pace led to confusion. I had to force myself to slow down and begin again from page 1, and at first, to will myself into this book. But then, that magic moment of getting absorbed into a book happened. For me, I think Faulkner is about slowing down to appreciate the writing and the complexities of the book. Truly, it is not nearly as easy to read as Lee's book, but in my limited exposure, he is well worth the time. Faulkner sticks to your ribs. He doesn't go away after you close the back cover. That's my humble (or perhaps not so humble) opinion.

Oprah's book club, the first one, left such a bad taste in my mouth that I also saw that big ol' "O" sticker and turned away. Then the James Frey debacle happened. If memory serves, it was at that time she revamped the whole reading club thing and turned more toward the classics. I am not an Oprah fan, but if she gets just five more people to read a classic, then she is okay in my reading book.

PAM

It's true that I neglected to mention Twain, so I will add him to my list. As for Steinbeck, I've never read anything by him except for one short story.

Wood, I was feeling very guilty for not mentioning Steinbeck. I've only read a couple of his books, and that didn't include Grapes of Wrath, although I have seen the movie. I really must address this gap in my life.

As for Faulkner, I have heard a lot of people complain about his stream of consciousness style of writing. That has never bothered me. Anytime I don't understand what is going on at the beginning of a book, I just keep reading with the feeling that it will come to me as the pages turn. Usually that is the case, but I must confess to some bewilderment in Ulysses. The Faulkner books that have the Snopes family in them are hilarious in spots.

Faulkner is, to me, sheer poetry. He captures the tragic voice of a region, and his characters are timeless. As Carolyn says, he peoples his fictional South with comedy as well. I don't find him difficult to read, but his work requires some concentration and effort.

Steinbeck hasn't worn as well, in my estimation.

I tried a few Oprah picks, but they all seemed stuck on one theme: dysfunction -- usually of the family sort or women doing stupid things, then transcending their idiocy. Very noble in intention, I'm sure, but I always feel I've been thumped on the head repeatedly with a tablespoon when I read O's choices.

My list would start with Mark Twain. He can get me out of a funk quicker than just about any American writer.

I would like to include Harper Lee and Margaret Mitchell, but I'm with Carolyn that only one book each makes them hard to estimate.

I really like Wallace Stegner's histories (e.g., about the American West, Mormons) and biographies (John Wesley Powell). I'm not fond of his fiction for a reason I find hard to define...maybe it's just because it's fiction after I have been so entranced by his skill with nonfiction.

Styron has written some of the loveliest, most vivid descriptions I think I've ever read. But gosh! his fiction, to me, is depressing. I recognized that even before I knew that he was suffering depression himself.

As for Faulkner, I still say that The Reivers is my favorite -- I find it hilarious. It's entirely accessible too. I know he's admired for his labyrinthine sentences and stream of consciousness, so the 'normalness' of The Reivers evidently makes it lesser somehow in some sniffy quarters. Let 'em sniff; I'll take pure entertainment when I can get it.

I liked Steinbeck when I was younger, but trying to reread his fiction is like listening to stale sermons. I didn't realize how preachy some of his stuff is.

I'll stick up for Hemingway any day, though I know that many women loathe his writing (and him, too, apparently). Of the two rivals, F. Scott Fitzgerald was certainly the more elegant writer, but Hemingway appeals in an entirely different way to me. I think it's really silly to compare them, but it seems inevitable for some reason.

Poets:
Edgar Allan Poe (and short stories)
Elizabeth Bishop (I like her prose, too.)
Emily Dickinson
Sylvia Plath
Anne Sexton (Why are so many fine poets depressives?)
Mary Oliver (she's growing on me!)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (call him corny, I don't care, as I think his corn will outlast most of the synthetics of the 20th/21st centuries)

I'd like to add Barbara Kingsolver to the list ~~ many hours of reading pleasure.

And IF you would include songwriters in the mix, I'd say Bob Dylan, Carole King and James Taylor would be on anyone's list.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we are talking, with a certain amount of objectivity, of The GREATEST American Writers here, aren't we........?

For poets, then I'd plump for:

Emily Dickinson
Walt Whitman
Robert Frost
Elizabeth Bishop

and prose:

Fitzgerald
Hemingway
Twain
Steinbeck
Henry James

Dido

Greatest fiction writers, in no particular order:

Edgar Allan Poe
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Henry James
Mark Twain
Sarah Orne Jewett
Stephen Crane
Willa Cather
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Dawn Powell
Eudora Welty
Paul Bowles
Allan Gurganus

Excuse me, Dido.

tim, I don't know how I could have forgotten expatriate Paul Bowles. His "Sheltering Sky" is awesome and one of my favorites.

I agree woodnymph2. I put off reading it because I thought it would be bizarre. I'm glad I made the effort to read it. In my opinion it is one of the greatest 20th Century novels.

Carson McCullers
Richard Yates
John Updike
John Cheever
Hemingway
Fitzgerald
Thomas Pynchon

Of Oprahs list the one that sticks out for me as weird is Ken Follett???!!!

Louse Erdrich. Her books always leave me feeling a bit breathless and in awe of her prose.

Flannery O'Connor has a place here.

When I saw the the title of this thread, I immediately thought of Steinbeck. I read most of his work decades ago, but passages and scenes are practically seared in my memory. That alone is quite remarkable. (Of course, this isn't about me.)