by Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

As writers most of us have read, underlined, highlighted, and even, heaven forbid, dog-eared Steven James’ Story Trumps Structure. Apparently, the average American reader agrees with Mr. James. In a recent article appearing in the Review section of the Wall Street Journal, Adam Kirsch tells about a study done by PBS called the Great American Read.

The results of a recent poll of over seven thousand American readers were released this spring. The participants were asked to list their all-time favorite works of fiction. Their answers were compiled into a list of the top one-hundred by a group of professionals in the writing/publishing industry. They had only to follow a few guidelines: The books had to have been published in English even if they had not been written in English, and if the books were a part of a series, the series itself would be considered one book, and they had to keep the list to one book per author. This list is now available. Here is the link: http://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/home/?utm_source=promourl&utm_medium=direct&utm_campaign=americanread_2018

Childhood Favorites

According to the books chosen, Americans love books we read as children or as teens. Making the list were Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables and E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. Also appearing on the list were the coming of age novels, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. I doubt too many people would be surprised to find classics like Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain or Call of the Wild by Jack London on the list.

Classics

Absent from the list were such classics as Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series, yet Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, made it. A few others that some may consider classics did make an appearance on the list. Among those are The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas, by Leo Tolstoy, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. One of my sons would be aghast that Wuthering Heights made the list. He hated that book. So sorry, Miss Bronte.

Terrible Writing

According to Mr. Kirsch, a book doesn’t have to be well-written to make the list. He cites Fifty Shades of Grey and The Da Vinci Code as two such books, saying they “are regularly cited as examples of terrible writing.” But both are popular books, thus they made the cut. Then Mr. Kirsch says that “when Americans read, we mostly read for story, not for style. We want to know what happens next, and not to be slowed down by writing that calls attention to itself.”

Popular Series

It is doubtful that anyone will be surprised that the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling is on the list. In my opinion, this will likely be named the number one book on the list. Some may not be, but I am sure that others will be surprised the Jerry Jenkins’ Left Behind series made the list as did Frank E. Peretti’s This Present Darkness.

Timeless Reads

The oldest book on the list is Cervantes’ Don Quixote, written in 1605. Also from the 1600s, is Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, published in 1678. Twenty-three of the one-hundred were written in the twenty-first century. That’s in the past less than twenty years. Think about that.

Story Does, Indeed, Trump Structure

Though plenty of classics made the list, the majority of the books on it point to what Mr. James says so well in his book, story does, indeed, trump structure. Americans like to get lost within the pages of a good story no matter when or even how poorly or how well written it may have been.

If you want to discover if your favorite books made this list, tune in to your local PBS station starting in September. They will air A Great American Read series hosted by Meredith Viera. The series will end in October with the announcement of America’s favorite novel. I can hardly wait.

What’s your favorite read? We’d love to know in the comments below.

Debra DuPree Williams is an award-winning author whose work has appeared in Stupid Moments, Additional Christmas Moments, Michelle Medlock Adams’s Love and Care For the One and Only You, in addition to other publications.

When she isn’t busy writing, you will likely find her chasing an elusive ancestor, either through online sources or in country graveyards. Debbie is a classically-trained lyric coloratura soprano whose first love is southern Gospel.

She has been married forever to the best man on earth, is the mother of four sons, mother-in-law of one extraordinary daughter-of-her-heart, and DD to the two most-beautiful and talented young ladies ever. Debbie divides her time between North Carolina and Florida.