TGIF everyone, since this Friday is Friday the 13th I have decide to feature another Blogger. One who is exceptionally skilled at the eerie, spooky, and less than savory.
MJ Gale has so many exceptional pieces,
I urge you, especially those that like a good thrill to check out ThePhantomRem!
The Road Untraveled
Standing in the middle of the dirt roadway, frozen solid. The air had gotten considerably colder…
Click here to read this and many other fantastic little tales!
There is a plethora of great American literature, I could not create a list of less than 20. However, I focused less on the popularity of a novel/author and more on a variety and depth of “American ” (U.S.) content/concepts and ideas/ideals etc. Literature that focuses on the history, growth, and culture of our nation.
So, I was able to narrow it down…
Here continues my list of quintessential American literary works:
PART II of II
by Tim O’Brien
A classic, life-changing meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling
Rated 4.4 on amazon.com
Gone With the Wind
Rated 4.6 on amazon.com
The Catcher in the Rye
Wikipedia
Rated 4.0 on amazon.com
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.
Rated 4.7 on amazon.com
By Melville
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a novel by American writer Herman Melville, published in 1851 during the period of the American Renaissance.
Rated 4.7 on amazon.com
By Arthur Miller
Based on historical people and real events, Arthur Miller’s play uses the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence unleashed by the rumors of witchcraft as a powerful parable about McCarthyism.
Rated 4.1 on amazon.com
Civil Disobedience
An essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican–American War.
Rated 4.5 on amazon.com
Of Mice and Men
By John Steinbeck
Published in 1937, it tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in California in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in the United States.
Rated 4.4 on amazon.com
The Sound and The Fury
Rated 3.9 on amazon.com
There is a plethora of great American literature, I could not create a list of less than 20. However, I focused less on the popularity of a novel/author and more on a variety and depth of “American ” (U.S.) content/concepts and ideas/ideals etc. Literature that focuses on the history, growth, and culture of our nation.
So, I was able to narrow it down…
Here is my list of the top quintessential American literary works:
PART I of II
Common Sense
Paine arrived in America from England in 1774. A friend of Benjamin Franklin, he was a writer of poetry and tracts condemning the slave trade. In 1775, as hostilities between Britain and the colonies intensified, Paine wrote Common Sense to encourage the colonies to break the British exploitative hold and fight for independence. The little booklet of 50 pages was published January 10, 1776 and sold a half-million copies, approximately equal to 75 million copies today.
Rated 4.6 on amazon.com
Their Eyes Were Watching God
By Zora Neale Hurston
Out of print for almost thirty years due largely to initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist. Hurston’s classic has since its 1978 reissue become perhaps the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature.
Rated 4.4 on amazon.com
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
By Mark Twain
One of the most challenged or banned books due to racist language, Twain’s novel can be read as an indictment of unenlightened nineteenth-century thinking or as a heartbreaking coming-of-age novel, but what’s undisputed is the novel’s position as one of the most influential books in American literature.
Rated 4.3 on amazon.com
Book Bean: Iced Huckleberry Hibiscus
Brew some hibiscus tea add honey to taste and chill. Lightly crush a handful of fresh huckleberries (raspberries or marion/black berries are great too). Add berries and ice to a tall glass and pour in chilled tea.
The Scarlet Letter
Rated 4.0 on amazon.com
By Harriet Beecher Stowe
An anti-slavery novel published in 1852, the novel “helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War”, according to Will Kaufman.Wikipedia. Denouncing the institution of slavery in dramatic terms, the incendiary novel quickly draws the reader into the world of slaves and their masters.
Rated 4.5 on amazon.com
The Great Gatsby
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
An exemplary novel of the Jazz Age acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. It is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.
Rated 4.3 on amazon.com
Book Bean: Fitz Spritzer
Green tea chilled, fresh lime juice, sugar, and club soda. Pour mixture over ice and enjoy your own Green Rickey 😉 Make it fun, add an olive, lime wedges, and/or mint for garnish.
By Walt Whitman
A visionary volume of twelve poems. Showing the influence of a uniquely American form of mysticism known as Transcendentalism, which eschewed the general society and culture of the time, the writing is distinguished by an explosively innovative free verse style and previously unmentionable subject matter.
Rated 4.2 on amazon.com
By Toni Morrison
Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, the novel is inspired by the story of an African-American slave, Margaret Garner, who escaped slavery in Kentucky late January 1856 by fleeing to Ohio, a free state. Set after the American Civil War (1861-1865) this spellbinding novel transforms history into a powerful story as intimate as a lullaby.
Rated 3.9 on amazon.com
The Grapes of Wrath
By John Steinbeck
A Pulitzer Prize–winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads, driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California.
Rated 4.5 on amazon.com
Book Bean: California Frappe
Cut off peel and white pith from 2-3 orange wedges. Bring 1/2 cup of dry red wine, 2 Tsp. of sugar, a grate of orange zest, and 1/2 Tsp. of cinnamon to a simmer, add the orange wedges and simmer for approx. 10 min. mixture should reduce to a syrup, let chill. Pull 2 shots of espresso (or use 4 oz of brewed coffee chilled.) In a blender add ice, coffee, syrup (for an easier option use marmalade 😉 ), and milk (to taste) blend and enjoy!
Stay tuned for PART II this evening!
While you wait vote for you favorite American Author
Share with us about your vote, what do you love about this author, and what makes them “A Great” in American literature?
Cafe Book Bean 