America has voted and chosen its favorite book: the Bible. A new Harris Poll ranked American’s top 10 books. Classics, like “Gone with the Wind,” to modern-day favorites like “Harry Potter” were all included in the list. Kyle Cooper / ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR
According to a recent Harris Poll, American adults rank the Bible as the most popular book of literature.
The survey questioned more than 2,000 adults who overwhelmingly agreed that the Bible was the most favored piece of literature. However, discrepancies across demographic groups occurred, resulting in a five-way tie for the runner-up position.
Adult males chose J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” as their second favorite while women opted for Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone With the Wind.”
Age differentials occurred, further complicating the runner-up position. Adults between the ages of 18-31 named J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter series as their second choice. The 32-43 age group favored Stephen King’s “The Stand” and Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons.”
Sara Grace Smith, a senior in communication disorders, thought the poll was a fairly accurate reflection of demographic preferences.
“My favorite books are ‘Gone With the Wind’, ‘The Da Vinci Code’ and all of the ‘Harry Potter’ series,” Smith said. “Obviously my preferences are pretty in tune with the rest of my age group.”
Among the first and second runners up, a litany of classics completed the top-ten list of popular literature. Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,”
“The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand and both “Angels and Demons” and “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown.
Some Auburn students disagreed with the rankings, and found that many of their favorite books weren’t represented by the polls.
Stephanie Whitlow, a senior in sociology, was surprised that her favorite book, “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom failed to make an appearance on the list.
“It’s such a widely read book, especially by people our age,” Whitlow said. “I read it years ago and actually re-read it for a class last semester so I know it’s a part of many course curriculums. Albom in general is such an important author, so I’m shocked he wasn’t on the list at all.”
Many male students felt sports literature was poorly represented in the Harris Poll.
Gabe Simpson, a senior in criminology, thought the category is significant among college males and expected the poll to reflect this.
“My favorite book is Jose Canseco’s ‘Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big,’” Simpson said. “As far as reading for pleasure, most guys I know read similar types of books.”
As evident by the divergent choices for the second-place book, students find that with so many literature options available, ranking only ten is a difficult task.
“It’s hard to choose a favorite book,” Whitlow said. “I like so many genres it’s not easy narrowing it all down to one all-time favorite.”
