New Providence Memorial Library's Online Reading Group discussion

Drum roll, please!



"To Kill a Mockingbird" won the Great American Read last night on PBS. The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien were finalists as well.

https://www.pbs.org/the-great-american-read/results/

The library also has a winner to announce! All entries for "To Kill a Mockingbird" in the library contest were entered in a drawing for two tickets to the Newark Museum. Sangeeta's name was drawn. Congratulations, Sangeeta!

What's your opinion of the winning title and the finalist titles? Did you vote for any of them in the official PBS voting?

So glad to hear that a great American classic was recognized as a winner! Thanks PBS for highlighting reading across the country.

yes, i was really hoping an American author/book would win too (!) it is the Great *American* Read, after all ;-)

(i AM more than a little disappointed with the runners up, though. anyone else ? )

thanks for the prize, Ellen and Lisa ! i love the Newark Museum and look forward to going again; it's been a while.

hey ! since my husband and kids are not really interested, how about i take 3 library patrons/staff with me ! who's game ?!

Congratulations Sangeeta!

I recorded the results show and luckily was able to watch it before I read the results. As the list was being announced I had different emotions - some I was really glad they were further down the list but others, I was disappointed that they were not higher.
That said, when it got down to the top five, which I have read over the years, I kept thinking that "To Kill a Mockingbird" just HAD to be the #1 book. While I liked the others, loved reading the Harry Potter series, still felt that Mockingbird should win and I was very glad it did.

To answer the question - I did not vote. Just never got into the habit of voting and I had reconciled myself to not getting annoyed if something that I didn't think deserved it won. Well, IMHO, they got that right. Of course I would have felt that about a couple of other titles but was glad Mockingbird won.
I enjoyed watching the other programs and my TBR list has gotten even longer because of some of the titles that I've not read!

Thanks Marilyn ! I loved harry potter too, but was surprised at a few of the contenders...i def felt an adult novel that's been around for a while, by an american author should win, and am glad SHE did 😉 (also glad it was a woman !)