Stories are staples in our world. Even before written languages emerged, we were telling each other legends and tales to be passed down. There are countless books in the world today. I have made a very small dent in reading these great works, but I can still recommend a few good ones.

We lost one of our great storytellers last week: Harper Lee. So, this one's for her. These are some of my favorite and most-cherished books, short-stories, plays and poems by American authors. If you haven't read these, I highly suggest making a trip to a library (or the Internet, for the poems) right away.

1. "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost (Poem)

"Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow."

Full poem here.

2. "To Have and Have Not" by Ernest Hemingway (Novel)

3. "I Sing the Body Electric" by Walt Whitman (Poem)

If this title sounds familiar, you've probably heard Lana Del Rey singing it. Full poem here.

4. "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Short Story)

5. "Love Again Blues" by Langston Hughes (Poem)

"Tell me, tell me,

What makes love such an ache and pain?

Tell me, tell me,

What makes love such an ache and pain?"

Full poem here.

6. "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams (Play)

7. "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Short Story)

8. "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Edgar Allan Poe (Short Story)

9. "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck (Novel)

10. "A Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry (Play)

11. "Birches" by Robert Frost (Poem)

Full poem here.

12. "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" by Mark Twain (Short Story)

13. "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Novel)

14. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee (Novel)

15. "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" by Tennessee Williams (Play)

16. "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" by Ernest Hemingway (Short Story)

17. "Storm Warnings" by Adrienne Rich (Poem)

"The glass has been falling all the afternoon,

And knowing better than the instrument

What winds are walking overhead, what zone

Of grey unrest is moving across the land..."

Full poem here.

18. "One Trip Abroad" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Short Story)

19. "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemingway (Novel)

20. "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy (Novel)

So we read on...

I hope you read some of these, at least just a few! They're really great pieces by some of our best authors. The American perspective in literature is a unique one, indeed. So read on, like boats against the current... (Cheesy "Gatsby" joke)

"Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." -- "To Kill a Mockingbird", Harper Lee