Which novel is the most widely read one in US?

Joe   Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:29 am GMT
Which novel is the most widely read one in US?
Joe   Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:34 am GMT
Is it "Moby Dick" or "the Catcher in the Rye"?
Joe   Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:36 am GMT
or "Gone with the Wind" or any other novel?
Guest   Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:36 am GMT
No, it's Da Vinchi Code !
furrykef   Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:53 am GMT
That's hard to say. Modern bestsellers are read almost as widely as the classics. They would be more so, I'm sure, if the school system didn't force their students to read the classics.

I really have no idea, though, because there's such a broad selection of classics and the schools all have different preferences for reading material. About the only thing that *everybody* has to study is the works of Shakespeare, and he was a playwright, not a novelist.

- Kef
guest   Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:04 pm GMT
Could The Bible be considered a novel? If so, it would be the most widely read novel in US.
Guest   Thu Dec 13, 2007 12:19 pm GMT
The school doesn't force to read the classics, it forces them to read maybe ONE or TWO classics in their life. 1-2% of all classics. And few actually read them.
furrykef   Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:43 pm GMT
<< Could The Bible be considered a novel? >>

Nope. For one thing, the primary purpose of a novel is to be read for pleasure. (Some would argue that the purpose of the Bible is to deny people pleasure!) Some people might consider reading the Bible fun, but many do not and it is not its intended purpose.

- Kef
Guest   Thu Dec 13, 2007 1:58 pm GMT
Many novels's purpose is to be really boring.
Skippy   Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:55 pm GMT
That's not the reason the Bible doesn't qualify as a novel... It's not a novel because it's a collection of documents... It's not a novel in the same sense that "The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe" is not a novel. Furthermore plays or theatrical works aren't really novels either, so technically Shakespeare doesn't have any.

The Bible IS probably the single most widely read book throughout the world (and it is frequently listed as the number one stolen book in the world).

I'd say the most widely read novels in America are probably "Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain or "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville.

Of course, those are typically assigned by English teachers to their students, so the most widely read novels for pleasure are going to change every few years or so... Harry Potter, the Da Vinci Code, maybe Fight Club, etc... As far as "classics" go (or reading classics for pleasure, that is) probably William Faulkner (I live in the South, even if people regret starting thirty pages in, everyone tries a Faulkner book).
K. T.   Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:05 pm GMT
Are you still here, Skippy? I thought you attended school or mummified older rock stars.
James   Thu Dec 13, 2007 6:38 pm GMT
For classics, probably Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. (Usually picked by teachers even over Tom Sawyer: "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn," Ernest Hemingway wrote. '"It's the best book we've had."')

For recent books, probably the Harry Potter series. (Even adults admit to reading them.) Actually, "children's" books often outsell adult books (e.g., the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine), but the traditional bestseller lists (like the N.Y. Times') often don't include them in their formulas.

And bestselling doesn't always equal most widely read--a lot of people buy Danielle Steel books, but millions of kids (and adults) read books from schools and libraries.
Skippy   Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:10 pm GMT
Yeah I'm still here... I'm sitting in my office up at school trying to squeeze out a 15 page paper... And I would love to mummify dead rock stars, but I'd be afraid after doing so I'd get tired of them... Like Cher, for example...
Guest   Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:39 am GMT
Skippy, what are your favourite novels and novelists, if any?
furrykef   Fri Dec 14, 2007 3:27 am GMT
<< That's not the reason the Bible doesn't qualify as a novel... >>

Perhaps not, but it's hard to define what a novel really *is*, so I just picked the easiest criterion. Being read for pleasure is only one thing that makes a novel, but all novels share that trait and, in general, the Bible does not have it.

<< For classics, probably Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. >>

I was going to suggest that one, but I wonder if that's still true. My impression is that schools tend to shy away from it due to the use of the N-word, even though the book itself is not racist. Myself, I never read anything by Mark Twain in school except for The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which was a short story, not a novel. (I've also read The Prince and the Pauper, but it was on my own.)

- Kef