EILEEN BATTERSBY's personal pick of her American Favourites
12 GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS
1. The Great Gatsbyby F Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
2. To Kill a Mockingbirdby Harper Lee (1960)
3. Moby Dickby Herman Melville (1853)
4. So Long, See You Tomorrowby William Maxwell (1980)
5. Adventures of Huckleberry Finnby Mark Twain (1886)
6. A Summons to Memphisby Peter Taylor (1986)
7. Roger's Versionby John Updike (1986)
8. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe (1929)
9. The Optimist's Daughterby Eudora Welty (1972)
10. The Portrait of a Ladyby Henry James (1881)
11. As I Lay Dyingby William Faulkner (1930)
12. Housekeepingby Marilynne Robinson (1981)
12 GREAT AMERICANS
1. Seabiscuit
2. Orson Welles
3. Martin Luther King
4. Thomas Jefferson
5. Paul Newman
6. Johnny Cash
7. Jesse Owens
8. Charles Lindberg
9. Huck Finn
10. Lewis and Clark
11. Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie")
12. Georgia O'Keeffe
12 GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC MAKERS
1. Paul Simon - From Bridge Over Troubled Waterto Gracelandand everything else
2. George Gershwin - Porgy and Bessor Rhapsody in Blue
3. Samuel Barber - Violin Concertoor Adagio for Strings
4. Aaron Copeland - Appalachian Spring
5. Miles Davies - Kind of Bluealbum
6. Leonard Bernstein - West Side Story
7. Lynn Harrell - cellist, playing Dvorak's cello concerto in B minor op.104
8. Bob Dylan - love the music and the lyrics, hate the voice, but what the hell . . .
9. Thomas Hampson - fabulous baritone, perfection with the works of the great Stephen Foster (1826-64)
10. Hilary Hahn - virtuoso violinist playing Bach
11. Woody Guthrie - remains the defining influence on American songwriters
12. Frank Sinatra - Old Blue Eyes may be gone, but the voice will live forever
12 GREAT THINGS AMERICAN
1. Showers with real water pressure
2. New England clam chowder
3. The Grand Canyon and its two billion years of geological, botanical and zoological history
4. Pancakes with maple syrup
5. Hardback books with cloth and board covers
6. Optimism
7. Bob Newhart humour
8. The California coastline
9. Horseback riding in Montana
10. Yosemite National Park
11. New York city
12. Fall in Vermont