"Every couple [of] years somebody writes a book that gets called 'The Great American Novel.' So which actually is? Fitzgerald, Twain, Chabon, or somebody less obvious? (I'm hoping somebody less obvious. Maybe even a lady!) English majors and iconoclasts, let's argue." (Goodreads)
If you tick your way through the largely predictable first 90 or so works, you will be rewarded with some surprising, even bizarre, book choices. As is usual in these things, not all are actually novels, and I threw in the towel once I came across Kafka's 'Metamorphosis'. Also, Stephen King's books might be just a touch overrepresented.