Great American Read Reveals Current Top Ten Picks
PBS has named the current top ten most-picked books for the Great American Read. The network will air the special's grand finale episode and reveal its voters' choice for its number one book on October 23, 2018, at 8:00 p.m. EST. The episode will be filmed in front of a live audience in New York City. Notable attendees will include host Meredith Vieira; actor Wil Wheaton; authors Diana Gabaldon, Robert McCammon, and Amy Tan; journalist Lesley Stahl; literary expert Baratunde Thurston; and more.
Heading into the final week of voting, PBS has revealed the current top 10 books in alphabetical order:
- Charlotte’s Web
- Chronicles of Narnia (series)
- Gone with the Wind
- Harry Potter (series)
- Jane Eyre
- Little Women
- Lord of the Rings (series)
- Outlander (series)
- Pride and Prejudice
- To Kill a Mockingbird
Throughout the voting campaign, several books on the top 100 list have made significant moves upward due to support from passionate fans. Some novels that made the biggest leaps were Atlas Shrugged, which catapulted from number 43 to 20; Foundation, which jumped from 60 to 50 on the list; and Wheel of Time, which started at 77 and currently stands at 61.
Seven of the current top 10 books were written by female authors, 11 of the top 20 were written by American authors, and there are 201 years dividing the most recently published book and the oldest book in the top-ranking list.
