PBS revealed that To Kill a Mockingbird was voted by viewers as America’s best-loved novel during The Great American Read “grand finale” on Tuesday, October 23.
Series host Meredith Vieira joined the playwright and cast from the new Broadway play based on To Kill a Mockingbird – Aaron Sorkin, Jeff Daniels (Atticus Finch), LaTanya Richardson Jackson (Calpurnia) and Gbenga Akinnagbe (Tom Robinson) – to celebrate the best-loved novel, and discuss its impact and why it still resonates today.
One of the best-loved stories of all time, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has been translated into more than 40 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture and was voted one of the best novels of the 20th century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching and wholly remarkable tale of coming of age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl as her father, a crusading local lawyer, risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.
“What an exhilarating and powerful journey The Great American Read has taken us on over these past few months. I am so proud of the way in which readers have embraced this series, and honored to have been a part of it,” said Vieira. “I’m not surprised at all that Americans chose To Kill a Mockingbird as their best-loved novel. It is a personal favorite of mine — one that truly opened my eyes to a world outside of my own. Harper Lee’s iconic work of literature is cherished for its resonance, its life lessons and its impact on one’s own moral compass.”
The top five ranking novels — which also included Outlander, Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice and The Lord of the Rings — were all showcased during The Great American Read finale event with live in-person interviews with key talent who have strong personal connections to each literary piece. In addition to Vieira and the cast of Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird, attendees included authors Diana Gabaldon (Outlander), Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club), William P. Young (The Shack), Markus Zusak (The Book Thief) and Robert R. McCammon (Swan Song); actors Wil Wheaton and Ali Wentworth; journalist Lesley Stahl; and literary experts Yahdon Israel, Kevin Young, Lisa Lucas and Library of Congress’ Marie Arana, among several other experts and super fans.
An eight-part television series and nationwide initiative, The Great American Read explores the power of books and the joy of reading through the lens of America’s 100 best-loved novels. The 100 titles included on the list were selected through a demographically and statistically representative national survey conducted by YouGov. Viewers were able to cast votes for their favorite titles each day at pbs.org/greatamericanread, through hashtag voting via Facebook and Twitter, through SMS texting using the dedicated book hashtag, and by phone toll-free.
Since its launch in May 2018, the nationwide initiative encouraged readers to join the conversation online and in their communities, thus generating a combined following of nearly 250,000 book lovers across Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. The Great American Read Facebook Book Club has grown to an actively engaged community of over 50,000 bibliophiles.
Below is the full list of 100 best-loved novels in ranking order:
1. To Kill a Mockingbird
2. Outlander (Series)
3. Harry Potter (Series)
4. Pride and Prejudice
5. The Lord of the Rings (Series)
6. Gone with the Wind
7. Charlotte's Web
8. Little Women
9. The Chronicles of Narnia (Series)
10. Jane Eyre
11. Anne of Green Gables
12. The Grapes of Wrath
13. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
14. The Book Thief
15. The Great Gatsby
16. The Help
17. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
18. 1984
19. And Then There Were None
20. Atlas Shrugged
21. Wuthering Heights
22. Lonesome Dove
23. The Pillars of the Earth
24. The Stand
25. Rebecca
26. A Prayer for Owen Meany
27. The Color Purple
28. Alice in Wonderland
29. Great Expectations
30. The Catcher in the Rye
31. Where the Red Fern Grows
32. The Outsiders
33. The Da Vinci Code
34. The Handmaid's Tale
35. Dune
36. The Little Prince
37. The Call of the Wild
38. The Clan of the Cave Bear
39. The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy
40. The Hunger Games (Series)
41. The Count of Monte Cristo
42. The Joy Luck Club
43. Frankenstein
44. The Giver
45. Memoirs of a Geisha
46. Moby Dick
47. Catch 22
48. Game of Thrones (Series)
49. Foundation (Series)
50. War and Peace
51. Their Eyes Were Watching God
52. Jurassic Park
53. The Godfather
54. One Hundred Years of Solitude
55. The Picture of Dorian Gray
56. The Notebook
57. The Shack
58. A Confederacy of Dunces
59. The Hunt for Red October
60. Beloved
61. The Martian
62. The Wheel of Time (Series)
63. Siddhartha
64. Crime and Punishment
65. The Sun Also Rises
66. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
67. A Separate Peace
68. Don Quixote
69. The Lovely Bones
70. The Alchemist
71. Hatchet (Series)
72. Invisible Man
73. The Twilight Saga (Series)
74. Tales of the City (Series)
75. Gulliver's Travels
76. Ready Player One
77. Left Behind (Series)
78. Gone Girl
79. Watchers
80. The Pilgrim's Progress
81. Alex Cross Mysteries (Series)
82. Things Fall Apart
83. Heart of Darkness
84. Gilead
85. Flowers in the Attic
86. Fifty Shades of Grey (Series)
87. The Sirens of Titan
88. This Present Darkness
89. Americanah
90. Another Country
91. Bless Me, Ultima
92. Looking for Alaska
93. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
94. Swan Song
95. Mind Invaders
96. White Teeth
97. Ghost
98. The Coldest Winter Ever
99. The Intuitionist
100. Doña Barbara
