Following eight episodes, the vote is in — and "To Kill a Mockingbird" reigns supreme.
The Southern Gothic novel by Harper Lee received 242,275 votes from a total of nearly 4.3 million cast in a poll accompanying PBS's "The Great American Read."
"I’m not surprised at all that Americans chose 'To Kill a Mockingbird' as their best-loved novel," host Meredith Vieira said. "Harper Lee’s iconic work of literature is cherished for its resonance, its life lessons and its impact on one’s own moral compass."
As part of the series, the network invited the public to select their favorite novel from 100 finalists chosen through a demographically diverse national survey of 7,200 respondents.
The group ran the gamut from canonical works of English literature ("Pride and Prejudice" [#4]) to world classics ("One Hundred Years of Solitude" [#54]) and contemporary bestsellers, including George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" quintet (#48). Individual books in finalist series were not ranked in favor of the complete work.
Other Pulitzer-winning novels that made the cut include "Gone With the Wind" (#6), "The Grapes of Wrath" (#12), "Lonesome Dove" (#22), "The Color Purple" (#27), "A Confederacy of Dunces" (#58), "Beloved" (#60), "Gilead" (#84) and "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" (#93).
1953 Fiction winner Ernest Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises" (#65) was also selected, while Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" (#72) was shortlisted for the 1953 Fiction Prize.
Read the full list here.
Related
Read the jury report on "To Kill a Mockingbird" here.