Bump. Love the American stuff.
I've recently, through nothing but pure circumstance, been reading work primarily by the American greats - I've come to the conclusion that I'll read through as much as I can until I feel like a change, where I might give some Russian greats a go, although they are a bit daunting.
In my opinion the American lit is the most accessible literature for an uninitiated 22 year old.
I read things like Catcher in the Rye (hate that book) and To Kill a Mockingbird (my all time favourite) in high school, really didn't read that much for a while but then last year picked up The Great Gatsby, which I thought was brilliant and On The Road by Kerouac, which wasn't exactly life changing, but you can quite clearly see that it's a product of its generation.
My latest American binge all started with my first Hemingway (A Farewell to Arms - loved it) at the start of the year. He was also a prolific short story writer and one that sticks out is 'Hills like White Elephants' for anyone interested.
Since then I've read some Vonnegut, and Hunter S Thompson. (who apparently didn't write his work in a drug-fueled craze like I initially thought but used to spend hours and hours crafting his prose. He also used to write out chapters of The Great Gatsby and the Bible to get into the flow of a story.)
I do have some glaring omissions though. Have never read Steinbeck, Twain, Bukowski or Heller and Cormac McCarthy, among many, many others. So a long way to go yet.
Someone I haven't seen mentioned is James Baldwin (Go Tell it on the Mountain, Another Country), who wrote primarily during civil rights era America.
