Popular North American Cultural Books

Find cultural books written by authors from North America for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (101)

81.

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline EN

Rating: 4 (10 votes)
Description:
In this futuristic dystopian novel for teens, the Indigenous people of North America are on the run in a fight for survival.

82.

The Midwest Survival Guide : How We Talk, Love, Work, Drink, and Eat . . . Everything with Ranch by Charlie Berens EN

0 Ratings
Description:
From comedian and journalist Charlie Berens, creator of the viral comedic series "The Manitowoc Minute"--a hilarious full-color guide to Midwestern culture. Someone once said, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," but that guy was from Brooklyn. Midwesterners say sorry at least fifty different ways. They'll even interchange it with hello...and goodbye. Speaking of goodbyes, those can last for hours in the Midwest...sometimes days if you're not prepared. That's where The Midwest Survival Guide comes in. It will keep some poor soul from missing their flight to Burbank because an epic Mi... continue

83.

The Pearl by John Steinbeck EN

Rating: 3 (7 votes)
Description:
“There it lay, the great pearl, perfect as the moon.” One of Steinbeck’s most taught works, The Pearl is the story of the Mexican diver Kino, whose discovery of a magnificent pearl from the Gulf beds means the promise of a better life for his impoverished family. His dream blinds him to the greed and suspicions the pearl arouses in him and his neighbors, and even his loving wife Juana cannot temper his obsession or stem the events leading to tragedy. This classic novella from Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck examines the fallacy of the American dream, and illustrates the fall from innocence e... continue

84.

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
When the janitor teaches Beth Harmon how to play chess, she discovers a way to escape every day life in the orphanage. It soon becomes clear that she has talent as she goes on to play in championships.

85.

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson EN

Rating: 4.8 (5 votes)
Description:
"Compelling . . . The Seed Keeper invokes the strength that women, land, and plants have shared with one another through the generations." --ROBIN WALL KIMMERER

86.

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich EN

Rating: 5 (2 votes)
Description:
In this powerful and timely novel, National Book Award winning author Louise Erdrich explores how the burdens of history, and especially identity, appropriation, exploitation, and violence done to human beings in the name of justice, manifest in ordinary lives today. Revolving around a small independent bookstore in contemporary Minneapolis, The Sentence follows a turbulent year in the life of a strong though vulnerable Ojibwe woman named Tookie. After serving part of an outrageously long sentence, Tookie, who "learned to read with murderous attention" while in prison, naturally gravitates tow... continue

87.

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner EN

Rating: 5 (4 votes)
Description:
NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • One of the greatest novels of the twentieth century is the story of a family of Southern aristocrats on the brink of personal and financial ruin. • The definitive corrected text, including Faulkner's Appendix One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history... continue

88.

The Squatter and the Don by María Amparo Ruiz de Burton EN

0 Ratings
Description:
The Squatter and the Don, originally published in San Francisco in 1885, is the first fictional narrative written and published in English from the perspective of the conquered Mexican population that, despite being granted the full rights of citizenship under the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, was, by 1860, a subordinated and marginalized national minority.

89.

The Tilting House by Ivonne Lamazares EN

0 Ratings
Country: North America / Cuba flag Cuba
Description:
Two estranged sisters with a complicated past and an acrimonious present reunite in 1990s Cuba to confront the riddle of family amid the scars of political upheaval In the summer of 1993, Yuri, a teenage orphan, is living with her strict, religious aunt Ruth in a Havana suburb when Mariela, a thirty-four-year-old artist, arrives from the United States with a shocking revelation. She claims to be Yuri's sister, insisting that she and Yuri share a mother, and that Ruth essentially kidnapped her when she sent her into exile against her will through Operation Pedro Pan. Forced to grow up in orphan... continue

90.

The Turtle House by Amanda Churchill EN

0 Ratings
Description:
"A heartbreakingly resonant debut, The Turtle House is a tender, big-hearted story about women, family, and the complicated history of Texas. These characters, and their tentative, flawed stumblings toward grace, will stay with me."--Elizabeth Wetmore, author of Valentine "Sweeping yet intimate, Amanda Churchill's Turtle House spans cultures and continents. Minnie and her granddaughter Lia are unforgettable protagonists, whose grit and grace will inspire you. Together, they find a way through in this gripping debut."--Vanessa Hua, author of Forbidden City Moving between late 1990s small-town T... continue