Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women.
The story of four sisters growing up during the Civil War and their joys and heartaches.

Baldwin, James. If Beale Street Could Talk.
When Fonny is jailed on a frame-up, he and his girlfriend are supported by a loyal family.

Capote, Truman. In Cold Blood.
The fictionalized account of a real quadruple murder in Kansas in the fifties.

Cather, Willa. Death Comes for the Archbishop.
Two French priests got to New Mexico in the mid-1800’s and labor together to build a diocese.

Cather, Willa. My Antonia.
Beautifully written story of immigrants in the midwest.

Cooper, James Fenimore. Last of the Mohicans.
Natty Bumpo, a frontiersman in the 1800’s, lives a life of freedom close to nature with his Indian friends.

Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage.
Recounts the experiences of a young soldier during the American Civil War.

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man.
A nameless black hero searches for identity.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby.
The mysterious past of wealthy party-thrower Jay Gatsby is the subject of curiosity for the narrator and the friends who congregate at Gatsby’s home during one summer in the 1920’s.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. House of Seven Gables.
Hephzibah, living in great poverty, tries to support her brother Clifford and protect him from their cousin, who wants to charge him with insanity.

Heller, Joseph. Catch-22.
Captain Yossarian frantically attempts to stay alive despite bombing missions in this absurdist World War II novel.

Kantor, McKinley. Andersonville.
A lovely woodland in Georgia was transformed into the Confederacy’s largest prison camp administered by a senile general.

Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
A rebel in a mental institution leads fellow residents in a rebellion against the tyrannical head Nurse Ratched.

Keyes, Daniel. Flower for Algernon.
After an experiment on a mouse triples its intelligence, the same methods are used on a mentally disabled man, named Charlie, rendering him a genius…but the results aren’t all the doctors, or Charlie, had hoped for.

Lee, Harper, To Kill a Mockingbird.
Young Scout tells of her life in a small Alabama town during the summer that her father, a lawyer, defends a black man accused of rape.

Lewis, Sinclair. Arrowsmith.
Follow Martin Arrowsmith in his career from medical school to his directorship of a medical institute.

Lewis, Sinclair. Main Street.
A young doctor’s wife tries to change the ugliness, dullness, and ignorance in their small town of Gopher Prairie.

London, Jack. Call of the Wild.
Buck, the dog hero of the story, is stolen and pressed into service as a sled dog in the Klondike. He eventually finds a loving master.

McCullers, Carson. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.
The deaf-mute John Singer becomes the talisman for the dreams and yearnings of four people in a small southern town.

Melville, Herman. Billy Budd.
A short novel about a man’s unjust fate and the powerful forces of good and evil.

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick.
The hunt for a giant white whale off the coast of New England is the subject of this allegorical novel.

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman (play).
The tragic end of a salesman’s career.

Mitchell, Margaret. Gone With the Wind.
While the larger conflict of the Civil War rages around them, ruthless Scarlett O’Hara encounters Rhett Butler, scoundrel and sometimes gentleman.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved.
A slave kills her child to protect it from a life of slavery, only to be haunted by its ghost.

Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye.
A little girl twists her perceptions of beauty, in her longing for blue eyes.

O’Connor, Flannery. A Good Man is Hard to Find and Other Stories.
The master of Southern gothic humor’s collection of bizarre black humor.

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar.
A college freshman struggles with sanity.

Poe. Edgar Allan. Collected Tales.
Poe invents the short story in this collection of horror stories.

Rawlings, Marjorie. The Yearling.
A young boy cares for an orphaned fawn in the Florida swamps.

Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye.
A teenager drops out of private school to search for his identity and his brother.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath.
A family of itinerant farmers travels to California during the Dust Bowl to seek a new, more prosperous life.

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men.
George Milton and his friend, Lennie Small, travel from farm to farm, trying to make their dream of owning their own farm come true. When Lennie’s low intelligence and physical strength eventually lead to tragedy, his best friend must protect him from those who seek revenge.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
A story of slavery in the Old South, with Uncle Tom as the main character. Awakened the nation to the realities of life under the slavery system.

Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
A boy and a freed slave travel the Mississippi River, trying to elude capture.

Walker, Alice. The Color Purple.
The diary of a young African-American woman in a troubled relationship.

Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome.
A man falls for a housekeeper and his attraction leads to tragedy.