We recently had a thread asking about American classics you hated. For this one, I'd like to make clear it does not have to be something you were required to read, although it's fine if so.

One I absolutely loved was Lone Cowboy: My Life Story, by Will James. It's the author's somewhat fictionalized autobiography. He was born in Canada, and eventually became a working ranch cowboy, then an author and illustrator.

It's the story of an amazing journey, and it takes the reader into a wild and beautiful world that is both technologically simpler and culturally richer than one might expect. From the viewpoint of someone who's been an actual working cowhand, his observations of working with livestock are dead on–and entertaining as hell.


41 comments

  1. John Steinbeck short stories collection.

    And of course Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn”.

  3. I know that Huck Finn is considered to be Twain’s best novel, but I make it a point to read Tom Sawyer every other year. I’ve loved it ever since I read it in grade school.

  10. My Ántonia by Willa Cather. I read it in 11th grade and it has stuck with me ever since.

  14. Will probably have a lot of dissent, but I just finished Catcher in the Rye and really enjoyed it.

    Yes the main character is insufferable and doesn’t “learn” from his mistakes, but after reading about the author and the cultural context of when it was written, this is a great story about how young men after WW2 could often be disillusioned and aimless in a new world of constant technological and social changes, and how easy it is to feel left behind and alone without any resources for your mental health.

    Also much of the outcry of this book is that it is inappropriate for teenagers. The book was written for adults first, hence the strong language and bleak subject matter. I think most teenagers would obviously hate this book, but an older adult can more easily read this book and reflect on how they used to be, how tragic this main character is, and how they can help others.

  18. Blood Meridian.

    Moby Dick.

    The Great Gatsby (probably better in your late 20s-30s than as assigned reading).

  20. So many good ones: Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Farewell to Arms, The Jungle.

  29. Green Eggs and Ham. I’ve probably read it 500 times and it hasn’t gotten old yet.

  30. Lonesome Dove, Catch-22, The Rainbow, Emma, and Wuthering Heights, Little Women, Anna Karenina (not the philosophic parts), Catcher in the Rye, Watership Down, and the bell jar come to mind

  32. Little House on the Prairie. It is the very core of American History.  The good and the bad.

  33. Brokeback Mountain. It’s a great novella.

    I love short stories and novellas because they leave more to your imagination.

    Also, somehow no one has said Hemingway, especially the early stuff. A Farewell to Arms, for whom the bell tolls, etc.

  34. Not a classic of literature in general but in fantasy:

    A Game of Thrones – George RR Martin

  35. I was an adult when I finally picked up Moby Dick. I loved it. Every single part of it, even the weird parts, even the other weird parts, they all spoke to me. The whole time I was thinking boy, we shouldn’t be teaching this to students who aren’t into it because it’s a lot. But for people who are into it, it’s great. And I have no end of joy in talking about the pagan gay marriage between Ishmael and Queequeg, just because I’m amazed at how that scene has been swept under the rug. Like you can’t even talk about sex in America unless it’s Shakespeare and too obscure for kids to understand.

  39. Moby Dick. It’s painful when you have to read it in school, but is really a pretty interesting book.

    Also, absolutely everything by Twain, except for The Gilded Age, which I’ve never been able to drag myself through.

  40. Anything by Steinbeck holds up well

    My favorite story of his that many people never mention is “cannery row”. Just a simple look at a regular working class people who never get attention or respect. Doesnt whitewash the characters into being perfect nor does it demonize them. Just a bitter sweet slice of life.

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