Let the discussion begin

The book’s subtitle: “How White Whales, Green Lights and Restless Spirits Forged Our National Identity” gives hints about a few of the titles. (Just how many books are there about white whales?) It’s fun to guess what’s on the list, and almost as much fun to learn what didn’t make the cut. The chapter title: “A Boy and a Raft” pretty much gives that selection away, but “The Bird’s The Word” will be a tough call.

But no Holden Caulfield? What’s that all about?

Foster said when he decided to write this book he wanted to be sure the title didn’t include the words “like a professor,” a reference to his two popular books “How to Read Novels Like a Professor” and “How to Read Literature Like a Professor.” 

“I don’t believe that these are the greatest novels,” he said. “They are exemplary rather than definitive.”

Foster also is careful to note that the books “shaped” — not changed — American culture.

He said if change was in the equation, books such as Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” would have made the list. They didn’t. He also stressed what he calls “imaginative writing,” so Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” is nowhere to be seen.

However, Foster, an English professor at the University of Michigan-Flint, did select John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” for his list of 25, even though it advocates strongly for reform: “’Grapes of Wrath’ works on a lot of levels. It’s a tremendous story and has incredible prose.”

He said the two books that are not on the list that he expects to hear the most about are “The Catcher in the Rye” and “The Red Badge of Courage.” But, to cover himself, he’s added those in a last chapter titled “Fifteen More and the G.A.N.” — G.A.N. is his acronym for the Great American Novel — along with a book about a wonderful wizard.

As for L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Foster said, “I left it off because I wasn’t sure I could make an argument how it shaped our culture.”

The list of 25 is strongly skewed to fiction, but also includes biography and poetry selections. The most recent book, “Love Medicine,” was published in 1986.

There are several of what might be called unexpected selections, such as Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” and John Dos Passos’ “U.S.A.”

Although a number of the books have won Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards or other major honors, Foster said that wasn’t a criterion in the selection. “Awards committees are often mistaken,” he said.

Indirectly, by creating this list, Foster is suggesting that readers go back to these books and re-read them. “Maybe you read them in high school or college — it’s amazing what time can do,” he said. “When I went back to these books, I had new experiences.”

Foster said to get to 25 he initially started with a list of 50 and whittled away, always keeping in mind that the books needed to represent “what it is to be part of the American experiment.”

And like a “professor” — or, for that matter, Oprah Winfrey — he wanted to stimulate discussion. “I want people to come up with counter proposals,” he said.

Now that Winfrey is moving on, Foster may have carved out a second career for himself as the nation’s book club leader. Foster has deep respect for what Winfrey accomplished by promoting good reading.

“She will be missed. I don’t see any way around it. She caused books to become the center of attention and discussion. It wasn’t happening before, and I don’t know if anyone will fill that vacuum.”

In the final chapter, Foster writes about finding great books: “Find that gold. Set your own standards for excellence and greatness. Don’t take someone else’s word for it — even a professor’s.”