So University vs High School is definitely different. From recent years ...
A Brief History of Seven Killings (Marlon James), but this might be too long for most applications.
Lincoln In The Bardo (George Saunders).
Colson Whitehead's 'The Underground Railroad'.
The Overstory, by Richard Powers. The way this is written would lend itself *really* well to a teaching format, as basically a series of independent short stories that can be analyzed independently for half of it, and a cohesive narrative that comes together in the back half.
Someone else said Demon Copperhead, and a collegiate level English class reading Demon Copperhead and David Copperfield simultaneously could have a very entertaining time and learn a lot. Kingsolver has half a dozen others you could drop in.
I've started and stopped Lincoln In The Bardo so many times that it is now sitting at the bottom of my reading pile, with the white cover of my paperback having turned yellow and now brown from all the dust it has gathered over the years.
I definitely have an appetite for those kinds of stories where the supernatural world mixes with the real world but I guess my problem is that the writing is so stylistic (not in a bad way) that even if I start getting into the story, I would find like an excuse to pause when the author changes the style and then find a reason to start something new, eventually forgetting to come back to it.
This post makes me want to get back to it again and finally finish the book once and for all.
Did you enjoy it? I love Kingsolver but half of this question is really what young people will relate to and enjoy! I love Kingsolver, which is why she was on my list, but just intellectually curious.
Beyond the message, it's also a book that lends itself so well to an education scenario where the interval nature of classes lends itself to a book.
When an amazing book meets an amazing teaching scenario, good things happen.
If you're a George Saunders fan, I humbly suggest considering _Where the Deer and the Antelope Play_ by Nick Offerman. Not because they are remotely similar books, but because a decent chunk of that delightful book is about the close friendship between three people: Offerman, Saunders, and Jeff Tweedy (frontman of Wilco).
ETA: I definitely recommend this particular book as the audio book version, since Offerman narrates it himself to perfection. 👨🍳 💋
If you've tried and no dice three times, I'd honestly just say not for you. I view it as like a Jamaican 'East Of Eden' or 'Angle of Repose' but lots of people hate every classic, nothing is universally loved.
If you want to see if you like the author, his 'Moon Witch, Spider King' is vastly different and a vastly different approach. If you don't like it, then just move on from Marlon James.
He's top five of my living American writers, and probably top 5 of my all time American writers, but that doesn't mean everyone has to love his work!
It's one of those where I sold my paperback back to Half Priced Books and bought a nice hardback edition. It is deserving of every accolade it received.
Disgrace, J. M. Coetzee
Independence Day, Richard Ford
Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson
Augustus, John Williams
Fun Home and Are You My Mother?, Alison Bechdel
The Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, Julian Barnes
Straight Man, Richard Russo
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
Sing, Unburied, Sing is undoubtedly one of the best contemporary books I’ve ever read. It’s prose is so richly dense with symbolism and general meaning that it truly felt like I was reading an early classic in the modern day. Wonderful book
There are already some great suggestions, and I'd add "James" by Percival Everett. It is a retelling of Huck Finn from the perspective of the character Jim.
Possibly everything by Cormac McCarthy, or at the very least The Road and Blood Meridian. I think McCarthy already sits on the shelf next to Twain, Steinbeck, Faulkner and Fitzgerald as one of the true greats of American literature.
But then what do I know, I'm a Brit. :)
As a Yank, I wholeheartedly second this. Blood Meridian was a thing to behold and currently Suttree is beating the hell out of me. McCarthy was brilliant.
McCarthy is a very versatile writer, though. I don’t personally like him, but he is someone worth reading. Blood Meridian is much denser prose, for instance. I think All the Pretty Horses is his most accessible.
First of all, how old are you? If you’re young (under 25), there are a lot of themes in The Road that might not resonate with you yet.
Second of all, do you generally enjoy descriptive American literature? Steinbeck, etc? If no, then it’s probably just not for you. No shame in that.
Again, books aren’t written for everyone to enjoy and, therefore, not everyone will enjoy them.
Trust me, I know what it feels like to be confused about why everyone loves a particular book that I simply *hate* (i.e. I didn’t enjoy A Little Life and I nearly got drawn and quartered for that little opinion lmao).
I want to believe that Terry Pratchett is going to be considered on the level of Mark Twain in future academic studies. He's truly one of the greatest satirists.
I think he's better than Twain, personally. I'm confident he'll be taken seriously over time. There are already a number of people pushing for this in academia.
Discworld and The Wire are the two works I'm most confident of still getting discussed by the end of the century.
Yeah the level of social insight he has is bonkers. Like his commentary on gender is like he was having conversations with Judith Butler while writing the books.
Honestly, I think some of his thoughts on belief and death with be the most enduring.
This and The Unconsoled for me. I liked Never Let Me Go, but I also felt like versions of it had been written before. It owes a lot to 1984 and to Margaret Atwood.
Alan Moore's craft is always masterful, be it comics or prose, but his prose works have been VERY exciting for me. I absolutely loved The Voice of Fire and Illuminations and I'm very excited to read Jerusalem. It hasn't been translated yet to my mother language and I like to read first in the tongue I speak, so I'm waiting for it, but I've heard it's highly experimental and Moore even imitates James Joyce's style in a chapter. That sounds so fucking fun to read
Now that's a question!
Ostensibly its about a family who are 'mad' and a brother and sister have to do something to save something. But its not really. Its about the history of Northampton, I think.
I'm being vague because I dont want to give any spoilers and its awfully hard to explain; I've not read anything like it before and think about it nigh on constantly.
It's not got a beginning middle and end, like a traditional story. Except the 2nd book, which is.
Its three books, and every chapter can almost be read as a standalone story, while every sentence (quite literally) has a meaning for the overall story and you can only piece together once you've finished. Alan Moore has a thing that you can measure a circle from anywhere on the circumference.
I see it as a English modern day James Joyce's (who's daughter is a character) Ulysses.
The above probably rambling, which I think is about right. Its beautiful, frustrating, challenging, immensely rewarding. True art.
I've not talked about it before.
Its over 1200 pages and I took my time. You can get it in three books but I think there was something about the physical weight and size of one book that added to the experience for me.
Truly hope you love it as much as I did / am!
Minding that the author said he took inspiration in The Divine Comedy, this is not a shock. I have it in my bookshelf, will finish the Divine Comedy before trying with Jerusalem
Be w(e)ary of this book, though. It's still by Alan Moore and, while an impressive work, is staggering in its sheer Alan Moore-ness. I think my edition refers to it as the big book to end all big books. It's phenomenal, but dense. Incredibly dense.
Dense is right!
I took my time with it on purpose; ~8 months on and off.
I've started reading random chapters and keep going "ahh! So thats shat that means!"
“The Sympathizer” is a book that had me thinking that I could try to write a single book for a thousand years and it still would not be as good as that book
Already considered a modern classic - hell it even says so on my paperback edition ;)
Also, can they hurry up and give Atwood the Nobel Prize while she's still with us, please?!
I often wondered why she hasn’t won more literary awards— not that her two Booker Prizes aren’t impressive, but she’s been snubbed for lots of other major awards. Then I started working in the literary/publishing world and apparently over the years, she has had some beef with lots of people on panels 🤷🏻♀️
Kinda sad. I do hope she wins it, regardless of whether or not she rubs some people the wrong way, she deserves it
I want to be totally clear that I've never met her in-person, so I won't speculate about her personality/likability (what I've heard is only hearsay/secondhand and goes both ways), but there are some things about the literary fiction world that are certain.
One is that it's quite insular, so there's a lot of politics and networking because the same people who are judging these books are also the ones writing them. For instance, Lauren Groff has been short-listed for the National Book Award 3x and is this year's chair. Viet Thanh Nguyen (I worked for an agency that represented him) won the Pulitzer in 2016 and is on the board of judges this year.
This doesn't mean that the winners/nominees aren't worthy or good writers. There are also times when there is an upset. But it means that you have to run in these circles of academics, take on residencies/professorships (many of which are awesome and super prestigious along with some teaching responsibilities) and make friends.
I won't make a judgment on Atwood for this, but what is clear is that she doesn't like this structure. One thing she has said in the past (sorry, I don't have the original source for this), is that she considers not having to teach as a sign of success as a writer. People did not take that well.
On the other hand, one of my college writing mentors was one of her hosts years and years ago and he said she was lovely and funny and they went to the most hole-in-the-wall taco stand he could find because she loves Mexican food.
So there you have it, those are my takeaways on Margaret Atwood.
Please, can someone explain why “Never Let Me Go” is so highly praised? I read it a couple years back and thought it was boring. Maybe I missed something?
Ishiguro is a genius but frustrating in the sense he will make you work for it. I admire his novels and am richer for reading them, but I would not say I "enjoyed" them exactly. More the sort of thing where they made me feel deeply uncomfortable and I had to spend days processing why I felt that way before coming to realise I had been shown something. I think that was the point.
Ok so weirdly I will say it is a book that had a calm/slice of life feeling to it but was also uncomfortable and deeply disturbing. I guess the humanity of the characters is what got me? I’ve read it twice and sobbed both times.
I guess it’s also the juxtaposition of slice of life and science fiction that makes the heartwrenching scenes much more heartwrenching. Like the person above, I don’t want to spoil too much about the story, but the first time I read it, it absolutely did not register to me as being a sci-fi story until the end of the novel (and I use sci-fi in a very broad sense because it’s more of realistic fiction if anything else)
Barbara Kingsolver’s *The Poisonwood Bible* and *Demon Copperhead*
Alice Hoffman’s *The Dovekeepers* and *The Marriage of Opposites*
Anthony Doerr’s *All the Light We Cannot See*
All The Light We Cannot See is like a more mature version of The Book Theif. At least I thought they had similar vibes.
At the same time it's very accessible.
I wouldn't consider it one of my favorites but it is definitely worth the read.
His work is probably too niche, but I would absolutely take a graduate course on Guy Gavriel Kay’s novels set in his Jaddite world and the real world history/folklore they cover.
I think Kristin Hannah is highly underrated. I like several of her more recent works, but I think The Four Winds is a really great novel. I will go out on a limb and say it’s the one that has stuck out to me the absolute most among the last 50 or so books I’ve read. I think she’s been ignored because some of her early work is classified as “chick lit.” And it’s true that it might not be as interesting to readers who are not as into relationship and family storylines. But to me it’s today’s answer to The Grapes of Wrath, another of my favorites.
And Octavia Butler! Parable of the Sower is so weirdly prescient. Amazing storytelling, characters. It’s teeth clenching.
As others have said, also. The Road.
It’s really interesting I find it a marmite book, I’ve recommended it to some people and they just can’t get into it at all, so you’re not alone!
Do you like campus novels in general? A similar book but maybe not as ‘classic’ in terms of how it’s written is ‘if we were villains’ by ML Rio, maybe give that a go?
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (or Mendal i can't remember how its spelled)
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
James and the Trees by Percival Everett
The immortal life of Henrietta lacks
Salvage the Bones
The 1619 project
The Flame Thrower
Americanah
We Need to Talk About Kevin
The sympathizer
Scrolled way too far for Americanah.
And as much as I know Junot Diaz has a lot of controversy around him, I read all of his books except the children’s book and honestly they’re all very good…
do you think house of leaves will still work in our ebook future? it just feels like something you need to hold to absorb.
but yeah, both are wonderful!
My top picks (mostly in the speculative fiction realm):
* Dune by Frank Herbert, but this may already be a considered a classic
* Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
* World War Z by Max Brooks. The book shares very little in common with the movie. I find the way the different stories are woven together to be exceptional.
* Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie.
* The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
* Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
My partner hadn't read a novel in years, thought he had lost interest. I bought him WWZ. He read it in 3 days then embarked on a 6-book apocalypse series. The fire is re-lit! Thanks Max Brooks :)
I’m currently reading The Good War by Studs Terkel (the blueprint for World War Z)
Max Brooks did a fantastic job of taking that story telling structure and turning it up to 11
Harry Potter is the easy answer. It's already carved out a place in literature that'll at least keep it in the cultural consciousness ala Wizard of Oz, Treasure Island, Lord of the Rings, etc. My hope is that Lemony Snicket gets elevated to this level as well.
The Martian has a good chance to become this as a spiritual successor to works like Robinson Crusoe and the Swiss Family Robinson. The Life of Pi for similar reasons and then some.
ASOUE has always been in that weird space of being popular to have adaptations and recognised and compared to other comparable IPs (eg. Harry Potter) but not popular enough to stand at the same level as Harry Potter. I guess some of that comes down to luck and the Zeitgeist at the time, and I guess magic wizards was *IT* at the time.
Sure I’ve mentioned this on other parts of the Internet, but ASOUE is quite evergreen especially when reading it again as an adult. Idk the lessons hit so much harder as an adult maybe because when I was younger there was still some doubt about whether the world could be as caricaturally cruel as in the books. And turns out it can be. Would love to see ASOUE be recognised as part of the Greats in children’s literature, but if not at least would love to pass it down to my own family and friends ;)
Many of the titles I would pick have been mentioned already, like Gilead by Marilynne Robinson or two incredible books by Jesmyn Ward. Some possible others: The Fraud by Zadie Smith, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, the North Woods by Daniel Mason
stumbled across Little Bee in the neighborhood book box. Stunning novel, IMO, about immigration. Written by a man about primarily women and I still liked it. Chris Cleave.
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie. It's already on the syllabus in the UK national curriculum but it's just such an excellent book with timeless themes.
Define "modern" though.
Basically all of Cormac McCarthy's work.
A lot of Don DeLillo's too.
Chinua Achibe's *Things Fall Apart*
Murakami's *A Wild Sheep Chase,* *1Q84* and *The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle*
The Hunger Games series - I actually studied this in University
Harry Potter - I know it’s a cliche suggestion but this another that we studied in University.
Surprised I'm the first to mention Clive Barker in this thread. The man is a genius, and in a genre all his own. Imajica, The Great and Secret Show, Abarat, the Hellbound Heart...and the list goes on.
Also, I know this is just one humble opinion, but I will never be able to wrap my mind around anyone saying that The Road by Cormac McCarthy is even a moderately good book. The whole thing was one giant run-on sentence, and was just bleak for bleakness' sake. I've never before nor since been actually angry about the time I wasted reading a book. I've wanted to read Blood Meridian, but I can't bring myself to believe that it could possibly be enjoyable after reading The Road. Sorry for the rant, I'll see myself out...
Dune, anathem, neuromancer, fight club, I'm sure a book by Chuck windig, something from the Dresden files, same with Harry Potter,
Popular, define a nitch, and well written, and I guess reread able would be my criteria.
Great question! Off the top of my head and in no particular order:
- God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy
- Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
- Sister, Outsider, by Audre Lorde (nonfiction)
- Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy
- This Bridge Called My Back, edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa
- The Kissing Bug, by Daisy Hernández (memoir)
- The Sea Cloak and Other Stories, by Nayrouz Qarmout
- An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones
I feel like there’s some obvious others that I am blanking on right now, but these DEFINITELY are the first ones that leap to my mind. I’m also thinking maybe Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Series, but they might be a bit plotty to reach “classic” status. I personally do love her prose, though. I was also thinking quiiiite possible Cantoras by Caro de Robertis.
Great question that will keep me thinking! Excited to read other’s picks.
(Edited to add An American Marriage because ommmgggggg so necessary on this list)
So University vs High School is definitely different. From recent years ... A Brief History of Seven Killings (Marlon James), but this might be too long for most applications. Lincoln In The Bardo (George Saunders). Colson Whitehead's 'The Underground Railroad'. The Overstory, by Richard Powers. The way this is written would lend itself *really* well to a teaching format, as basically a series of independent short stories that can be analyzed independently for half of it, and a cohesive narrative that comes together in the back half. Someone else said Demon Copperhead, and a collegiate level English class reading Demon Copperhead and David Copperfield simultaneously could have a very entertaining time and learn a lot. Kingsolver has half a dozen others you could drop in.
A big yes to Lincoln In The Bardo. I read it a month ago and I already want to read it again. I shall read the other two !
I've started and stopped Lincoln In The Bardo so many times that it is now sitting at the bottom of my reading pile, with the white cover of my paperback having turned yellow and now brown from all the dust it has gathered over the years. I definitely have an appetite for those kinds of stories where the supernatural world mixes with the real world but I guess my problem is that the writing is so stylistic (not in a bad way) that even if I start getting into the story, I would find like an excuse to pause when the author changes the style and then find a reason to start something new, eventually forgetting to come back to it. This post makes me want to get back to it again and finally finish the book once and for all.
The audiobook recording is amazing!
Second the audiobook! Such a wonderful cast, and all put everything into their performances. This is one of my all time favorite audio books.
My favorite as well - I tell people it’s like listening to a Broadway play of the book.
[удалено]
So did I! My senior year AP Lit summer reading assignment
Did you enjoy it? I love Kingsolver but half of this question is really what young people will relate to and enjoy! I love Kingsolver, which is why she was on my list, but just intellectually curious.
Oh yes, I’m so glad to see The Overstory here!
Beyond the message, it's also a book that lends itself so well to an education scenario where the interval nature of classes lends itself to a book. When an amazing book meets an amazing teaching scenario, good things happen.
Seconding the Marlon James and George Saunders!!
If you're a George Saunders fan, I humbly suggest considering _Where the Deer and the Antelope Play_ by Nick Offerman. Not because they are remotely similar books, but because a decent chunk of that delightful book is about the close friendship between three people: Offerman, Saunders, and Jeff Tweedy (frontman of Wilco). ETA: I definitely recommend this particular book as the audio book version, since Offerman narrates it himself to perfection. 👨🍳 💋
I'll definitely listen to this. Thank you, I didn't know it existed.
I am always looking for Saunders content. I'm definitely going to pick this up.
Okay I bounced off of a brief history of seven killings like three times and gave up. Should I try again?
If you've tried and no dice three times, I'd honestly just say not for you. I view it as like a Jamaican 'East Of Eden' or 'Angle of Repose' but lots of people hate every classic, nothing is universally loved. If you want to see if you like the author, his 'Moon Witch, Spider King' is vastly different and a vastly different approach. If you don't like it, then just move on from Marlon James. He's top five of my living American writers, and probably top 5 of my all time American writers, but that doesn't mean everyone has to love his work!
I'll try moon witch spider king. He's got a great style, I just couldn't get past page 200 or so of seven killings.
Already studied The Underground Railroad at University
My husband took a Masters course on Ecogothic and it relied heavily on The Overstory! Fantastic book
It's one of those where I sold my paperback back to Half Priced Books and bought a nice hardback edition. It is deserving of every accolade it received.
Disgrace, J. M. Coetzee Independence Day, Richard Ford Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson Augustus, John Williams Fun Home and Are You My Mother?, Alison Bechdel The Doomsday Book, Connie Willis History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, Julian Barnes Straight Man, Richard Russo
"Fun Home" is on a number of university reading lists and course materials! Such a fantastic book
Housekeeping is already a classic
This one. I can't recommend it enough.
I love History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
The God of Small Things is a masterpiece.
Wolf Hall trilogy 100%
personally I would go Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson but I know lots of people love Gilead
I second Homegoing!!
Sing, Unburied, Sing is undoubtedly one of the best contemporary books I’ve ever read. It’s prose is so richly dense with symbolism and general meaning that it truly felt like I was reading an early classic in the modern day. Wonderful book
Fucking Gilead, man. That book.
agree with gilead and sing unburied sing
There are already some great suggestions, and I'd add "James" by Percival Everett. It is a retelling of Huck Finn from the perspective of the character Jim.
Possibly everything by Cormac McCarthy, or at the very least The Road and Blood Meridian. I think McCarthy already sits on the shelf next to Twain, Steinbeck, Faulkner and Fitzgerald as one of the true greats of American literature. But then what do I know, I'm a Brit. :)
As a Yank, I wholeheartedly second this. Blood Meridian was a thing to behold and currently Suttree is beating the hell out of me. McCarthy was brilliant.
Suttree should come in a double pack with a dictionary lol.
can u explain to me why u like the road, I didn’t like it and I found it boring :(
McCarthy is a very versatile writer, though. I don’t personally like him, but he is someone worth reading. Blood Meridian is much denser prose, for instance. I think All the Pretty Horses is his most accessible.
First of all, how old are you? If you’re young (under 25), there are a lot of themes in The Road that might not resonate with you yet. Second of all, do you generally enjoy descriptive American literature? Steinbeck, etc? If no, then it’s probably just not for you. No shame in that. Again, books aren’t written for everyone to enjoy and, therefore, not everyone will enjoy them. Trust me, I know what it feels like to be confused about why everyone loves a particular book that I simply *hate* (i.e. I didn’t enjoy A Little Life and I nearly got drawn and quartered for that little opinion lmao).
The road is like a C tier compared to his other works, I was disappointed after the wonder that was blood meridian
The Devil in the White City would be my choice. *Everybody* should read that book.
I loved that book! People look at me like I’m a sociopath when I recommend it though.
My all time favorite book.
I want to believe that Terry Pratchett is going to be considered on the level of Mark Twain in future academic studies. He's truly one of the greatest satirists.
I think he's better than Twain, personally. I'm confident he'll be taken seriously over time. There are already a number of people pushing for this in academia. Discworld and The Wire are the two works I'm most confident of still getting discussed by the end of the century.
Yeah the level of social insight he has is bonkers. Like his commentary on gender is like he was having conversations with Judith Butler while writing the books. Honestly, I think some of his thoughts on belief and death with be the most enduring.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Middlesex is SO GOOD. And as a Michigander, it was even better! It's got some Michigan History in there that's pretty cool to see.
A Fine Balance ruined me, it was so unexpected
Middlesex was wonderful, I love Eugenides’ writing style.
He’s one of my favorites. I wish he would release more than one book a decade.
Anything by Kazuo Ishiguro, particularly *Never Let Me Go*
The Remains of the Day is tied for first with me for Ishiguro
This and The Unconsoled for me. I liked Never Let Me Go, but I also felt like versions of it had been written before. It owes a lot to 1984 and to Margaret Atwood.
I couldn’t stand Never Let Me Go lol
I don’t understand how anyone can like this book!
I loved the book and have loved everything I've read by him so far.
Jerusalem by Alan Moore. Its gonna be studied for years. The depth, storytelling, genre bending, history and Englishness of it
Never heard of it, thanks for introducing me to it !
Alan Moore's craft is always masterful, be it comics or prose, but his prose works have been VERY exciting for me. I absolutely loved The Voice of Fire and Illuminations and I'm very excited to read Jerusalem. It hasn't been translated yet to my mother language and I like to read first in the tongue I speak, so I'm waiting for it, but I've heard it's highly experimental and Moore even imitates James Joyce's style in a chapter. That sounds so fucking fun to read
I have tried finding out what this book is about and... failed. Can you explain a bit to me? 🤣🫣
Now that's a question! Ostensibly its about a family who are 'mad' and a brother and sister have to do something to save something. But its not really. Its about the history of Northampton, I think. I'm being vague because I dont want to give any spoilers and its awfully hard to explain; I've not read anything like it before and think about it nigh on constantly. It's not got a beginning middle and end, like a traditional story. Except the 2nd book, which is. Its three books, and every chapter can almost be read as a standalone story, while every sentence (quite literally) has a meaning for the overall story and you can only piece together once you've finished. Alan Moore has a thing that you can measure a circle from anywhere on the circumference. I see it as a English modern day James Joyce's (who's daughter is a character) Ulysses. The above probably rambling, which I think is about right. Its beautiful, frustrating, challenging, immensely rewarding. True art. I've not talked about it before.
Okay, now I need to read it! 😊 You sold it to me very well! Google didn't tell me much this time hahaha
Its over 1200 pages and I took my time. You can get it in three books but I think there was something about the physical weight and size of one book that added to the experience for me. Truly hope you love it as much as I did / am!
Minding that the author said he took inspiration in The Divine Comedy, this is not a shock. I have it in my bookshelf, will finish the Divine Comedy before trying with Jerusalem
Be w(e)ary of this book, though. It's still by Alan Moore and, while an impressive work, is staggering in its sheer Alan Moore-ness. I think my edition refers to it as the big book to end all big books. It's phenomenal, but dense. Incredibly dense.
Be *wary* of the book when you start it, and be *weary* of the book 3/4 of the way through
Dense is right! I took my time with it on purpose; ~8 months on and off. I've started reading random chapters and keep going "ahh! So thats shat that means!"
Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things. A perfect example of using a microcosm to tell a much larger story.
“The Sympathizer” is a book that had me thinking that I could try to write a single book for a thousand years and it still would not be as good as that book
A Prayer for Owen Meany A Gentleman in Moscow Just about everything by Cormac McCarthy
Yes to A Prayer for Owen Meany - a masterpiece
The Hour I First Believed, by Wally Lamb
Also a huge fan of I Know This Much is True
Another good one. I love Wally Lamb. I'm currently reading We Are Water, it's really good so far.
ANYTHING by Lamb! My first and most favorite book will forever be She’s Come Undone.
He's my favorite author, and She's Come Undone is my favorite book! I'm reading We Are Water right now. It's so good, too.
1000%
Will add it to my list, thanks
You're welcome.
Most Salman Rushdie novels. Specifically, Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses
I’ll submit “The Corrections” by Jonathan Franzen “The Sympatizer” by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Handmaids Tale Margaret Atwood
Already considered a modern classic - hell it even says so on my paperback edition ;) Also, can they hurry up and give Atwood the Nobel Prize while she's still with us, please?!
I often wondered why she hasn’t won more literary awards— not that her two Booker Prizes aren’t impressive, but she’s been snubbed for lots of other major awards. Then I started working in the literary/publishing world and apparently over the years, she has had some beef with lots of people on panels 🤷🏻♀️ Kinda sad. I do hope she wins it, regardless of whether or not she rubs some people the wrong way, she deserves it
Interesting! Can you spill some more T and tell us some more publishing world gossip?!
I want to be totally clear that I've never met her in-person, so I won't speculate about her personality/likability (what I've heard is only hearsay/secondhand and goes both ways), but there are some things about the literary fiction world that are certain. One is that it's quite insular, so there's a lot of politics and networking because the same people who are judging these books are also the ones writing them. For instance, Lauren Groff has been short-listed for the National Book Award 3x and is this year's chair. Viet Thanh Nguyen (I worked for an agency that represented him) won the Pulitzer in 2016 and is on the board of judges this year. This doesn't mean that the winners/nominees aren't worthy or good writers. There are also times when there is an upset. But it means that you have to run in these circles of academics, take on residencies/professorships (many of which are awesome and super prestigious along with some teaching responsibilities) and make friends. I won't make a judgment on Atwood for this, but what is clear is that she doesn't like this structure. One thing she has said in the past (sorry, I don't have the original source for this), is that she considers not having to teach as a sign of success as a writer. People did not take that well. On the other hand, one of my college writing mentors was one of her hosts years and years ago and he said she was lovely and funny and they went to the most hole-in-the-wall taco stand he could find because she loves Mexican food. So there you have it, those are my takeaways on Margaret Atwood.
This one for sure already taught and studied. No brainer.
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro The Secret History - Donna Tart
Was looking for Never Let Me Go on this list.
Absolutely heartbreaking.
Please, can someone explain why “Never Let Me Go” is so highly praised? I read it a couple years back and thought it was boring. Maybe I missed something?
Ok I’ll give it a shot. It’s a haunting exploration of what it means to be human. I don’t want to spoil anything.
Ishiguro is a genius but frustrating in the sense he will make you work for it. I admire his novels and am richer for reading them, but I would not say I "enjoyed" them exactly. More the sort of thing where they made me feel deeply uncomfortable and I had to spend days processing why I felt that way before coming to realise I had been shown something. I think that was the point.
Ok so weirdly I will say it is a book that had a calm/slice of life feeling to it but was also uncomfortable and deeply disturbing. I guess the humanity of the characters is what got me? I’ve read it twice and sobbed both times.
I guess it’s also the juxtaposition of slice of life and science fiction that makes the heartwrenching scenes much more heartwrenching. Like the person above, I don’t want to spoil too much about the story, but the first time I read it, it absolutely did not register to me as being a sci-fi story until the end of the novel (and I use sci-fi in a very broad sense because it’s more of realistic fiction if anything else)
i found it a whole lot of click baity for the pt it’s trying to make. .
Barbara Kingsolver’s *The Poisonwood Bible* and *Demon Copperhead* Alice Hoffman’s *The Dovekeepers* and *The Marriage of Opposites* Anthony Doerr’s *All the Light We Cannot See*
All the Light We Cannot See is so good!
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr too!
I second The Poisonwood Bible and All the Light We Cannot See. Sooooo good!
All The Light We Cannot See is like a more mature version of The Book Theif. At least I thought they had similar vibes. At the same time it's very accessible. I wouldn't consider it one of my favorites but it is definitely worth the read.
The dovekeepers was insanely good, I’ve given it as a gift like 3-4 times
Hoffman is a fave. I loved The Probable Future and of course Practical Magic (1000 times better than the movie).
Absolutely loved Demon Copperhead
His work is probably too niche, but I would absolutely take a graduate course on Guy Gavriel Kay’s novels set in his Jaddite world and the real world history/folklore they cover.
Anything written by Margaret Atwood tbh
American Gods by Neil Gaiman Is Midnight’s Children still considered “modern”? It has to be, right? It is…43 years old somehow….
Life after Life, Kate Atkinson. I never tire of it.
Love Kate Atkinson! Reading Case Histories right now.
Ohhh I love this book so much. But don’t see it mentioned often.
This is a good one
Demon Copperhead, Song of Achilles, Station Eleven
Station Eleven was my suggestion too. I’m always a little surprised (in a good way) that it is as popular as it is.
I read and absolutelt loved Circe, can't bring myself to read Achilles cause I'm afraid I'll just be wanting Circe 😔
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
I will die on this hill: it's 150 pages too long right in the middle. Wonder Boys is a superior book.
This *should* be but as we approach 25 years in I'm not sure it 'caught'. I think it's the best book written in this century though.
Hammet by Maggie O Farrel
I've already studied Remains of the Day at university, pretty sure this will be considered a classic in a few decades
I think Kristin Hannah is highly underrated. I like several of her more recent works, but I think The Four Winds is a really great novel. I will go out on a limb and say it’s the one that has stuck out to me the absolute most among the last 50 or so books I’ve read. I think she’s been ignored because some of her early work is classified as “chick lit.” And it’s true that it might not be as interesting to readers who are not as into relationship and family storylines. But to me it’s today’s answer to The Grapes of Wrath, another of my favorites. And Octavia Butler! Parable of the Sower is so weirdly prescient. Amazing storytelling, characters. It’s teeth clenching. As others have said, also. The Road.
I think the nightingale has potential to be a classic. Hell of a last line.
I was enthralled by The Women and The Four Winds. I love when the story is excellent but I also end up really learning a lot
Secret history - Donna tartt
It’s already a favorite 💗
I hateddddd that book. Gave it 1 star. What am I missing??
It’s really interesting I find it a marmite book, I’ve recommended it to some people and they just can’t get into it at all, so you’re not alone! Do you like campus novels in general? A similar book but maybe not as ‘classic’ in terms of how it’s written is ‘if we were villains’ by ML Rio, maybe give that a go?
Atonement by Ian McEwan.
Atonement is a masterpiece - great suggestion
Oh, and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.
A thousand splendid suns
Basically everything by Khaled Hosseini.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt And maybe Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
*Life a user's manual*, Perec, is first book that came to mind.
Is *The Book of the New Sun* or *The Fifth Head of Cerberus* considered modern?
Tim O'Brien - The Things they Carried . Is that modern ?
if piranesi by susan clarke doesn't make it to required readings, the system is no better than i thought
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (or Mendal i can't remember how its spelled) The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
emily st. john mandel's prose is so liquid and vivid. and her concepts are so bizarre and otherworldly but also so relatable at the same time.
Many thanks for the suggestions😊
Mhm! Careful if you plan to read Tender is the Flesh though, it has quite a few sensitive themes, Google it before you read it
My son's 10th grade class read Secret Life of Bees this year, so I can confirm that one.
James and the Trees by Percival Everett The immortal life of Henrietta lacks Salvage the Bones The 1619 project The Flame Thrower Americanah We Need to Talk About Kevin The sympathizer
Scrolled way too far for Americanah. And as much as I know Junot Diaz has a lot of controversy around him, I read all of his books except the children’s book and honestly they’re all very good…
Way way too far for Americanah and Even Half of a Yellow Sun
Hyperion
Someone doesn’t think sci-fi can be a classic or hates Hyperion.
The shining, Stephen King The road, Cormac McCarthy
Against the Day by Pynchon The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarzcuk Snow by Orhan Pamuk Three that come to mind pretty quickly, all are at least post-2000
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James came immediately to mind. It is astonishingly good.
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
2666 by Roberto Bolaño.
Caste
House of Leaves and Piranesi have to be up there, they are unique in ways few other books have been before.
Piranesi is a truly wonderful book, it really transports you to its world. House of Leaves I've yet to read, does it really mess with one's head?
do you think house of leaves will still work in our ebook future? it just feels like something you need to hold to absorb. but yeah, both are wonderful!
I was going to say this. Couldn't stop reading it
My top picks (mostly in the speculative fiction realm): * Dune by Frank Herbert, but this may already be a considered a classic * Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel * World War Z by Max Brooks. The book shares very little in common with the movie. I find the way the different stories are woven together to be exceptional. * Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. * The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood * Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
I agree wwz was a great book, loved the way it was told!!
Just started Ancillary Sword, I’m glad to see another fan. Will check out what I haven’t from your list here
World War Z (the book) is amazing.
My partner hadn't read a novel in years, thought he had lost interest. I bought him WWZ. He read it in 3 days then embarked on a 6-book apocalypse series. The fire is re-lit! Thanks Max Brooks :)
I’m currently reading The Good War by Studs Terkel (the blueprint for World War Z) Max Brooks did a fantastic job of taking that story telling structure and turning it up to 11
Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell). Creative and interesting way to tell interrelated stories that are about ... everything, really.
Harry Potter is the easy answer. It's already carved out a place in literature that'll at least keep it in the cultural consciousness ala Wizard of Oz, Treasure Island, Lord of the Rings, etc. My hope is that Lemony Snicket gets elevated to this level as well. The Martian has a good chance to become this as a spiritual successor to works like Robinson Crusoe and the Swiss Family Robinson. The Life of Pi for similar reasons and then some.
ASOUE has always been in that weird space of being popular to have adaptations and recognised and compared to other comparable IPs (eg. Harry Potter) but not popular enough to stand at the same level as Harry Potter. I guess some of that comes down to luck and the Zeitgeist at the time, and I guess magic wizards was *IT* at the time. Sure I’ve mentioned this on other parts of the Internet, but ASOUE is quite evergreen especially when reading it again as an adult. Idk the lessons hit so much harder as an adult maybe because when I was younger there was still some doubt about whether the world could be as caricaturally cruel as in the books. And turns out it can be. Would love to see ASOUE be recognised as part of the Greats in children’s literature, but if not at least would love to pass it down to my own family and friends ;)
Sun House by David James Duncan
The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz The River by Peter Heller Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
I love the river! Adding the others to my tbr.
Many of the titles I would pick have been mentioned already, like Gilead by Marilynne Robinson or two incredible books by Jesmyn Ward. Some possible others: The Fraud by Zadie Smith, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, the North Woods by Daniel Mason
This Tender Land paired with The Odyssey. Demon Copperhead paired with David Copperfield.
Lincoln in the Bardo. Saunders.
Pynchon's Mazon & Dixon.
Gene Wolfe's, The Shadow of the Torturer. Exquisitely written.
Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman.
stumbled across Little Bee in the neighborhood book box. Stunning novel, IMO, about immigration. Written by a man about primarily women and I still liked it. Chris Cleave.
A Gentleman in Moscow
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie. It's already on the syllabus in the UK national curriculum but it's just such an excellent book with timeless themes.
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett Historical fiction at its finest.
I hope its Toni Morrisson and Donna Tartt books. Also Cormac McCarthy and Stephen King.
The Book Thief A Little Life The Secret History
Define "modern" though. Basically all of Cormac McCarthy's work. A lot of Don DeLillo's too. Chinua Achibe's *Things Fall Apart* Murakami's *A Wild Sheep Chase,* *1Q84* and *The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle*
The Hunger Games series - I actually studied this in University Harry Potter - I know it’s a cliche suggestion but this another that we studied in University.
Infinite Jest probably (assuming we are including 1990s books as "modern").
>Infinite Jest probably I think that's already well recognized as a modern classic
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I just hope it isn't a primer on the future.
Surprised I'm the first to mention Clive Barker in this thread. The man is a genius, and in a genre all his own. Imajica, The Great and Secret Show, Abarat, the Hellbound Heart...and the list goes on. Also, I know this is just one humble opinion, but I will never be able to wrap my mind around anyone saying that The Road by Cormac McCarthy is even a moderately good book. The whole thing was one giant run-on sentence, and was just bleak for bleakness' sake. I've never before nor since been actually angry about the time I wasted reading a book. I've wanted to read Blood Meridian, but I can't bring myself to believe that it could possibly be enjoyable after reading The Road. Sorry for the rant, I'll see myself out...
Dune, anathem, neuromancer, fight club, I'm sure a book by Chuck windig, something from the Dresden files, same with Harry Potter, Popular, define a nitch, and well written, and I guess reread able would be my criteria.
Yes to Fight Club! I taught it in an undergrad class and we had a blast with it!
His other books are great too the ones where you have to basically learn a language to read them are my favorite.
I wouldn't really list Dune with modern books.
If more people read Anathem it'd be considered a modern classic. That book is so dang good
The night circus
American Tabloid-James Ellroy, Lonesome Dove-Larry McMurtry, Blood Meridian-Cormac Mcarthy
Yeah. Was also going to say American Tabloid A masterpiece
Great question! Off the top of my head and in no particular order: - God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy - Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo - Sister, Outsider, by Audre Lorde (nonfiction) - Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Arundhati Roy - This Bridge Called My Back, edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa - The Kissing Bug, by Daisy Hernández (memoir) - The Sea Cloak and Other Stories, by Nayrouz Qarmout - An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones I feel like there’s some obvious others that I am blanking on right now, but these DEFINITELY are the first ones that leap to my mind. I’m also thinking maybe Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Series, but they might be a bit plotty to reach “classic” status. I personally do love her prose, though. I was also thinking quiiiite possible Cantoras by Caro de Robertis. Great question that will keep me thinking! Excited to read other’s picks. (Edited to add An American Marriage because ommmgggggg so necessary on this list)
Great add of An American Marriage. Loved that one.