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“The Great American Read,” hosted by television personality and journalist Meredith Vieira, recently premiered its initial two-hour episode, introducing viewers to the full list of America’s 100 favorite novels.

The eight-part PBS television series was designed to engage audiences to read and share their personal connections from a list of 100 diverse books. The collection was selected through a demographically representative national survey conducted by YouGov.

“There is perhaps no greater experience than discovering a novel that takes hold of you, works itself into your heart and your mind, changes the way you think or takes you into another world,” said Paula Kerger, PBS President and CEO. “With The Great American Read, we will leverage our combined broadcast and digital presence, along with the strong local connections of PBS member stations, to inspire a national conversation about beloved books and the power of reading.”

Here is the full list of America’s 100 favorite novels, in alphabetical order by title:

  • 1984 George Orwell
  • A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
  • A Prayer For Owen Meany John Irving
  • A Separate Peace John Knowles
  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Betty Smith
  • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
  • The Alchemist Paulo Coelho
  • Alex Cross Mysteries (series) James Patterson
  • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
  • Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • And Then There Were None Agatha Christie
  • Anne of Green Gables Lucy Maud Montgomery
  • Another Country James Baldwin
  • Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand
  • Beloved Toni Morrison
  • Bless Me, Ultima Rudolfo Anaya
  • The Book Thief Markus Zusak
  • The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao Junot Díaz
  • The Call Of The Wild Jack London
  • Catch-22 Joseph Heller
  • The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
  • Charlotte’s Web E. B. White
  • The Chronicles of Narnia (series) C.S. Lewis
  • Clan of the Cave Bear Jean M. Auel
  • Coldest Winter Ever Sister Souljah
  • The Color Purple Alice Walker
  • The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
  • Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon
  • The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
  • Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
  • Doña Bárbára Rómulo Gallegos
  • Dune Frank Herbert
  • Fifty Shades Of Grey (series) E. L. James
  • Flowers In The Attic V.C. Andrews
  • Foundation (series) Isaac Asimov
  • Frankenstein Mary Shelley
  • Game of Thrones (series) George R. R. Martin
  • Ghost Jason Reynolds
  • Gilead Marilynne Robinson
  • The Giver Lois Lowry
  • The Godfather Mario Puzo
  • Gone Girl Gillian Flynn
  • Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
  • The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
  • Great Expectations Charles Dickens
  • The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift
  • The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
  • Harry Potter (series) J.K. Rowling
  • Hatchet (series) Gary Paulsen
  • Heart Of Darkness Joseph Conrad
  • The Help Kathryn Stockett
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy Douglas Adams
  • The Hunger Games (series) Suzanne Collins
  • The Hunt For Red October Tom Clancy
  • The Intuitionist Colson Whitehead
  • Invisible Man Ralph Ellison
  • Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë
  • The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan
  • Jurassic Park Michael Crichton
  • Left Behind (series) Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
  • The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  • Little Women Louisa May Alcott
  • Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry
  • Looking for Alaska John Green
  • The Lord of the Rings (series) J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
  • The Martian Andy Weir
  • Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
  • Mind Invaders Dave Hunt
  • Moby-Dick Herman Melville
  • The Notebook Nicholas Sparks
  • One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez
  • Outlander (series) Diana Gabaldon
  • The Outsiders S. E. Hinton
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde
  • The Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan
  • The Pillars of The Earth Ken Follett
  • Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
  • Ready Player One Ernest Cline
  • Rebecca Daphne du Maurier
  • The Shack William P. Young
  • Siddhartha Hermann Hesse
  • The Sirens Of Titan Kurt Vonnegut
  • The Stand Stephen King
  • The Sun Also Rises Ernest Hemingway
  • Swan Song Robert R. McCammon
  • Tales of The City (series) Armistead Maupin
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston
  • Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
  • This Present Darkness Frank. E. Peretti
  • To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
  • The Twilight Saga (series) Stephenie Meyer
  • War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
  • Watchers Dean Koontz
  • The Wheel of Time (series) Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
  • Where the Red Fern Grows Wilson Rawls
  • White Teeth Zadie Smith
  • Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë

Ben Lichty / PBS