I'm the same way, I guess... some American classics I read and loved, but there are others that I feel not much inclination to read, and I'm certainly worse read in American literature than in British and French literature (though probably better than in the other major "literatures" ). I guess it might be because the mindset is a bit different from the European one, without being exotic enough to become fascinating in its strangeness. Though of course that depends on the book; "The Age of Innocence" could well pass for European literature. And a book like "The Catcher in the Rye" is very American, but somehow very recognizable even to Europeans all the same.

You should try Carson McCullers. I still need to read, well, all of her oeuvre except the one book, but that one book (The Ballad of the Sad Cafe) was one which, to quote your post below, "survived being taught in school", even in translation. I might bump her other books a few spaces up my list.

What's with the Nelle?

It's funny how sometimes a writer can write a tremendously good book on their first try - and then stop publishing because they can never live up to the first one. Harper Lee is no doubt the best example, on a somewhat different level Margaret Mitchell comes to mind as well. Just imagine they'd written more books, even if none of those was quite as good as their magna opera (that looks very weird, but it should be right...).

How very unsurprising.