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stevenk's review against another edition
3.0
A discussion of 25 books that have shaped the American mythology. Not the top 25, not the only 25, just 25 that the author felt were worthy along with his reasons why. The author picked: The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin; The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper; The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne; Walden by Henry David Thoreau; Moby-Dick by Herman Melville; Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman; Little Women by Louisa May Alcott; Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain; A Boys Will and North of Boston by Robert Frost; My Antonia by Willa Cather; The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald; The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway; The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes; The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett; The USA Trilogy by John Dos Passos; The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; Their Eyes Were Watching God by Hurston; Go Down Moses by William Faulkner; The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow; On The Road by Jack Kerouac; The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss; To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon; Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison; Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, and even named 15 alternatives. The author's discussion of the writing of these books, the authors, the plots and their impact on the American mythology are interesting, informative, and even fun (although if you haven't read these books his discussion will reveal their plots) look at 25 significant American works.
danielle_s's review
3.0
Books about books are kind of my thing. I'd read one of Foster's other books, How to Read Literature Like a Professor for my AP Lit class and thoroughly enjoyed it, and I couldn't help but pick this one up when I noticed it at the bookstore. Overall, I really enjoyed the experience of reading this. I basically collect lists of "the best books to read ever" or "books to read before you die", and to me this was just another of those lists. While I'm not nearly versed enough in American literature to have an opinion on Foster's choices (I've seriously read only six of these or so, which was a little galling to discover), I really enjoyed the essays on most of them. Of course, I liked the essays about books I'd read more than those about books I hadn't, but I still managed to find something I enjoyed in every essay. For me, the ones that really shined were those about The Cat in the Hat, To Kill a Mockingbird (which I have to admit is my favorite book of all time), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Leaves of Grass. Though each chapter's essay focused on how the book and author related to the shaping of America and its culture, these four really stood out to me in the way that they made me feel as if I had to go out and immediately read the two (the Twain and the Whitman) that I hadn't read. This was a great read, if only because it helped me add even more books to my TBR pile.
dsutton12's review
3.0
Books about books are kind of my thing. I'd read one of Foster's other books, How to Read Literature Like a Professor for my AP Lit class and thoroughly enjoyed it, and I couldn't help but pick this one up when I noticed it at the bookstore. Overall, I really enjoyed the experience of reading this. I basically collect lists of "the best books to read ever" or "books to read before you die", and to me this was just another of those lists. While I'm not nearly versed enough in American literature to have an opinion on Foster's choices (I've seriously read only six of these or so, which was a little galling to discover), I really enjoyed the essays on most of them. Of course, I liked the essays about books I'd read more than those about books I hadn't, but I still managed to find something I enjoyed in every essay. For me, the ones that really shined were those about The Cat in the Hat, To Kill a Mockingbird (which I have to admit is my favorite book of all time), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Leaves of Grass. Though each chapter's essay focused on how the book and author related to the shaping of America and its culture, these four really stood out to me in the way that they made me feel as if I had to go out and immediately read the two (the Twain and the Whitman) that I hadn't read. This was a great read, if only because it helped me add even more books to my TBR pile.
satyridae's review
3.0
Very enjoyable essays about 25 books which Foster thinks contribute to the US's national identity. It's hard to argue his point, especially when one is laughing so hard. Perhaps my favorite line in the whole book was in Foster's discussion of Little Women, where he says, "And who isn't ready for a lesson when the canary dies?" Some of his selections stuck me as odd, and some have long been on my TBR list but most of them were old friends. Well worth reading.
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