Classic American Authors
| Author | Novel | Description or Genre |
| James Baldwin | Nobody Knows My Name | Amazon.com link |
| Pearl S. Buck | The Good Earth; Dragon Seed; Imperial Woman | Amazon.com link |
| Willa Cather | O! Pioneers, My Antonia, Death Comes for the Archbishop | Amazon.com link |
| Joseph Conrad | Heart of Darkness | Amazon.com link |
| James Fenimore Cooper | The Last of the Mohicans | Amazon.com link |
| Ralph Ellison | Invisible Man | Amazon.com link |
| William Faukner | Sound and the Fury; Absalom, Absalom, Light in August, Intruder in the Dust | Amazon.com link |
| F. Scott Fitzgerald | The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise | Amazon.com link. Read a selection of This Side of Paradise online at http://www.bartleby.com/115/. |
| Zane Grey | Western; Amazon.com link | |
| John Howard Griffin | Black Like Me | Amazon.com link |
| Nathaniel Hawthorne | Scarlet Letter; House of Seven Gables | Amazon.com link |
| Joseph Heller | Catch 22 | |
| Ernest Hemingway | A Farewell to Arms; Old Man an the Sea; The Sun Also Rises | Amazon.com link |
| John Knowles | A Separate Peace | Amazon.com link |
| Harper Lee | To Kill a Mockingbird | Amazon.com link |
| Sinclair Lewis | Arowsmith; Babbitt; Main Street | Amazon.com link |
| Herman Melville | Moby Dick, Billy Budd | Amazon.com link |
| James Michener | The Source, Sayonara; Hawaii; Centennial | Amazon.com link |
| Margaret Mitchelle | Gone With the Wind | Amazon.com link |
| Ayn Rand | The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, Anthem | Amazon.com link |
| Erich Maria Remarque | All Quiet on the Western Front | Amazon.com link |
| Upton Sinclair | The Jungle | Amazon.com link |
| John Steinbeck | Of Mice and Men; Canery Row; Grapes of Wrath | Amazon.com link |
| Mark Twain | Huckleberry Finn; Conneticut Yankee in King Authur's Court; Tom Saywer | Amazon.com link |
| Richard Wright | Native Son, Black Boy | Amazon.com link |
Contemporary American Authors
| Author | Novel | Description or Genre |
| Mitch Albom | Tuesdays with Morrie | Lessons for life and reflection told in short story format; A retired professor and former student speak frankly over the course of Morrie's last 14 weeks on Earth, he brings Mitch back from the frantic, frenzied mindset of today's materialistic society and teaches Mitch to feel again...that it's OK to be mad, it's OK to be sad, it's OK to cry. LIFE CHANGING! Amazon.com link |
| Orson Scott Card | Ender's Game | Science Fiction |
| Barbara Ehrenreich | Nickel and Dimed | Is it possible to make it through life working only low-income jobs? Like working at a fast food restaurant, Walmart, or as a house cleaner? A first-hand report. Amazon.com link |
| Ha Jin | ||
| Barbara Kingsolver | The Bean Trees, The Poisonwood Bible | Amazon.com link |
| Toni Morrison | Song of Solomon; Sula | Amazon.com link |
| Chaim Potok | The Chosen | Recently deceased, reknown Jewish author, from NYC; Amazon.com link |
| Eric Schlosser | Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal | This book discusses the realities of fast food and the processes it goes through before you buy it. LIFE CHANGING! Amazon.com link |
| David Sedaris | Naked, Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice | Humorous; Amazon.com link |
| Alice Walker | The Color Purple | Amazon.com link |