GREAT AMERICAN READS RESULTS

I was privileged to be able to attend a screening of the final episode The Great American Read at my local TPT Station.  I know that I had articulated some strong opinions regarding this project previously and I was curious how this would ultimately turn out. Attending the screening at my local TPT station was too good of an opportunity to pass up: a free ticket and the station is only a few blocks away from my apartment.

Watching the results of what people were voting on as favorites with other book lovers in the audience made this opportunity feel like a book lover’s Super Bowl party!  When I first entered the party, I was excited to see displays where you could purchase merchandise from the local sponsors Milkweed, Commongood Books and Half Priced Books! I lamented that I made sure to eat dinner beforehand when I saw the spread of appetizers but I did accept a bag of popcorn on my way into the studio.

I also had the chance to complete some bookish trivia about the books that were on the Great American Read list…and for as much as I love to read I found a lot of the trivia very difficult. But when they said that there were prizes for things other than trivia accuracy I made sure to enter my sheet of trivia. Sure enough, I came in 2^nd place for the amount of books that I had read on the list (65) which helped me win a Great American Reads TPT t-shirt. At first I had a pang of envy for the people who won tote bags of books from the sponsors as a result of their trivia results. However its not every day that the amount of books I read actually translates into an item that I can win. I proudly accepted the t-shirt and eagerly wore it to the gym room in my apartment the next morning.

And as for the results itself I was not surprised that Harry Potter made it to #3 on the list at all but I was relieved that To Kill A Mockingbird won first place.  Reading can be a form of resistance and activism. In a political climate that is fueled by racism I felt a huge sense of hope that this is the novel that American deems the best!  It also solidifies my idea that I mentioned in my last blog post about this project that the winner would likely be a book that people read when they were in school.  Since it also won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 it has been a book I have been meaning to re-read and now it is a book that is toward the top of my TBR pile.

Some of my favorites from my youth made the top picks: Lord of the Rings was #5, Little Women was #8, Chronicles of Narnia was #9, Jane Eyre was #10, Anne of Green Gables was #11, Rebecca was #25. And some favorites from my adult life made it pretty far up on the list too: Great Gatsby at #15 and Color Purple at #27.  I am also currently reading Lonesome Dove which placed #20 which made this novel that came out in the 1980s feel like a buzz worthy book!

I also notice that I read the majority of the books ranked 1-79 and 79-100 have the largest amount of books that I haven’t read on my list. Being the kind of reader that I am I print out the results and make notes of which books I’ve read and which books I haven’t.  I feel like it would be worthwhile to read the books that haven’t been read on this list because it speaks loudly for the kinds of books Americans pay attention to and I like to take note of what people are reading.

In my last blog post about this project I mentioned the books that I did not think were worthy of being on the list for one reason or another. So for now I will talk about my impressions of a few of the placements. I remember that I really enjoyed Outlander when it was a for fun read when I was in either late high school or early college. I understand that the books have a very large following and I know that the TV series is very sexy. However I personally would not place it in #2 on the list. I also have really struggled reading Jane Austen in my adult life for multiple reasons so having Pride and Prejudice make #4 on the list was hard for me to understand as a reader. But I do understand that it is a book that a lot of people really love.

Then there were books that I personally wish made a larger ranking: Frankenstein made #43, The Godfather made #53, Beloved made #63. However I know that I come in conflict on some popular opinions that people have. This project was actually to reflect the literary spirit of America.  Even though

I do disagree about some popular opinions I am pretty proud that America chose a book as #1 that illuminates the racial realities that our culture lives in! I think that a good reading project would be to read through all the selections on this list because it taps into the American imagination.

Even though I think reading is awesome readers are not always treated like the cool kids in our culture.  However as I saw multiple news stories covering this PBS event the next day I felt readers like me are the cool kids.