The Most American Books Ever Written

There was a time someone published the list of most American books on Google Answers page. I generally agree with its contents and in two posts (this and the next ones) I'm going to cite it a bit edited according to my preferences and some rational sense.

So, if you want books that give you a feel about life in America:

1. Fight Club: A Novel

It's popular, and it's likely to stay that way for a
while because it actually has good content. The book is much better
than the film, though most people have seen it instead of read it. Ok,
so this book is from '96, but still.

2. Zen And the Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance

Very popular, well-read
book; deeply philosophical, but at a light level that is easy to read
and wonderful to read again and again. Since it takes place on
motorcycle across the US, it discusses attitudes and ideas from
throughout the countryside, as well as the author's own insight as he
examines himself and his friends' attitudes.

3. Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals

By the same author as #2, this book goes even more deeply
into American culture; it's a little harder to read, and a little
longer, but it's even more focused on what makes America what it is,
and comes up with an astoundingly perceptive theory that we are the
synthesis of the Native American and European cultures.

4. I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away

Though not as highly read, this is an
excellent book for understanding American culture--the author of this
work is from America as a youth, but lived in England for the first
two decades of his adult life and then returned to America with his
English wife. His writing style is quirky and captivating, and he
catches things the rest of us might miss writing about our own
culture.

5. The Catcher in the Rye

High schoolers tend to identify very deeply
with this material. It only sort of is a story; it's more of a
character portrayal of a youth fighting disillusionment and his
surroundings. Very few people think this book is just ok; most either
love it or hate it.

6. The Old Man and the Sea

Almost everyone reads this at some point
in school. From my experience, guys tend to like this story, and girls
tend to dislike it, but most people have read it.

7. The Great Gatsby (Audio Editions)

Also a school favorite, as it is rather short but
a "literary classic." Personally, I thought it was rather bad, but
again it falls into that sharp one-way-or-the-other grouping: either
you love it or you hate it.

8. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (The Illus Children's Library) and to a lesser extent The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn

These books are classics, plus they make for
wonderful reading. They're funny and witty and cute, and they show a
vision of an earlier America with an angle that you don't normally see
in writing of that time.