Modern-day Classics

The book you know will go into the canon of literature, on par with Tolkien, Shakespeare, Austen and other greats. The books that will one day be part of a school curriculum, or are beginning to be accepted as such. These are the books in the last hundred years or so that have really touched many by their literary genius.
1

by
4.26 avg rating — 6,737,211 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.15 avg rating — 2,349,721 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.20 avg rating — 771,092 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
4.22 avg rating — 1,981,758 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.14 avg rating — 1,554,314 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.35 avg rating — 3,425,987 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,675,430 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.39 avg rating — 2,821,218 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.58 avg rating — 4,718,480 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.28 avg rating — 741,420 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.09 avg rating — 715,170 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
3.95 avg rating — 555,363 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
3.89 avg rating — 1,577,100 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
3.99 avg rating — 876,994 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.43 avg rating — 4,384,650 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.12 avg rating — 2,751,812 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.27 avg rating — 939,813 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
4.05 avg rating — 1,172,937 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.09 avg rating — 500,956 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,374,482 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
4.28 avg rating — 406,445 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.29 avg rating — 1,585,971 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
4.14 avg rating — 389,694 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.28 avg rating — 322,974 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.09 avg rating — 500,230 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.30 avg rating — 572,359 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 757,677 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.18 avg rating — 632,675 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.24 avg rating — 3,083,188 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,686,077 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.97 avg rating — 705,159 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.12 avg rating — 5,617,097 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.31 avg rating — 1,456,338 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.24 avg rating — 1,962,006 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
4.19 avg rating — 7,236 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.14 avg rating — 348,313 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.47 avg rating — 2,976,972 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,600,019 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.13 avg rating — 1,040,839 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.98 avg rating — 131,304 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.92 avg rating — 3,466,472 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,090,087 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.35 avg rating — 815,032 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.45 avg rating — 2,689,308 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.02 avg rating — 637,517 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
3.93 avg rating — 9,738 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
4.10 avg rating — 1,341,836 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.97 avg rating — 1,267,974 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.14 avg rating — 339,363 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.95 avg rating — 176,311 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
3.72 avg rating — 183,716 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.94 avg rating — 538,983 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.17 avg rating — 193,493 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.40 avg rating — 455,960 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.57 avg rating — 226,762 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.01 avg rating — 1,342,364 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.38 avg rating — 1,341,495 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.86 avg rating — 75,957 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.33 avg rating — 1,084,484 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.16 avg rating — 52,557 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
4.12 avg rating — 386,111 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.18 avg rating — 217,406 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
4.11 avg rating — 236,773 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.05 avg rating — 154,792 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.04 avg rating — 92,338 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.33 avg rating — 90,862 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.31 avg rating — 703,354 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
4.11 avg rating — 783,832 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.25 avg rating — 362,159 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.87 avg rating — 251,298 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.92 avg rating — 290,940 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.88 avg rating — 151,310 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
4.01 avg rating — 242,999 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.15 avg rating — 150,720 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
3.98 avg rating — 22,220 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
4.20 avg rating — 119,042 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.13 avg rating — 291,421 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.10 avg rating — 982,323 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.03 avg rating — 108,753 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
4.09 avg rating — 124,801 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
4.20 avg rating — 4,103,682 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
3.85 avg rating — 121,998 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
4.25 avg rating — 704,815 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.89 avg rating — 248,647 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
3.99 avg rating — 117,394 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.25 avg rating — 814,109 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.97 avg rating — 432,636 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
4.38 avg rating — 157,752 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.30 avg rating — 502,973 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.06 avg rating — 141,965 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.06 avg rating — 459,732 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
4.16 avg rating — 189,984 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
3.88 avg rating — 53,017 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
4.26 avg rating — 44,682 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.96 avg rating — 161,921 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
4.06 avg rating — 444,231 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
4.29 avg rating — 431,889 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
4.21 avg rating — 83,983 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
3.91 avg rating — 268,541 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
4.26 avg rating — 214,617 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
363 books · 188 voters · list created March 30th, 2012 by Sam Sigelakis-Minski (votes) .
73 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Sam 4182 books
192 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3384 books
853 friends
Soumya 1374 books
38 friends
JanBreesmom 2425 books
235 friends
Joe 1336 books
45 friends
Harry 43 books
13 friends
Winnie 700 books
25 friends
Michaela 502 books
62 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-18 of 18 (18 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Ayesha (last edited Mar 23, 2013 06:13AM) (new)

Ayesha why is a goosebumps book on this list!!


message 2: by Sarah (new)

Sarah I like this list, however there are some books on here that don't belong simply for the reason that they are not modern... Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens are great writers and their books are classics, but they belong to the 1800's... Not the last 50 years.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Sam, you want me to "clean" this list? Remove anything from before, say, 1960?


message 4: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Susanna wrote: "Sam, you want me to "clean" this list? Remove anything from before, say, 1960?"

Just cleaned it up a bit; please let me know if there are any other books you find should be removed.


message 5: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Sarah wrote: "I like this list, however there are some books on here that don't belong simply for the reason that they are not modern... Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens are great writers and their books are clas..."

Just cleaned it up a bit; please let me know if there are any other books you find should be removed.


message 6: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (last edited Jul 20, 2013 10:44AM) (new)

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was first published in 1950, and Animal Farm is from 1945.


message 7: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Susanna wrote: "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was first published in 1950, and Animal Farm is from 1945.">

The list does say "fifty years OR SO" for a reason; so that people can loosely interpret that and put books on here that they find are classics that have not entered the standard literary canon yet. That being said, I removed the books you think do not belong there so that there is no more problems.



message 8: by Lina (new)

Lina I'm fine with people voting for whatever they deem worthy to be called "modern classics". What I'm not fine with is that there are not a few books that are already undoubted classics, like books by Faulkner or Bulgakov. The idea is good but the list author doesn't seem to edit it accordingly.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads "The list author" is currently 63 people. Most listopias are crowd sourced.

It's easy to add books to lists; at the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."


message 10: by Chris (new)

Chris Gager This list wants a bit of editing as some books are listed twice.


message 11: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Chris wrote: "This list wants a bit of editing as some books are listed twice."

I just ran the Goodreads "duplicate checker;" it has found and removed five duplicates from the list.


message 12: by Chris (new)

Chris Gager Nice!


message 13: by Fiona (new)

Fiona Hurley Published > 50 years ago:

To Kill a Mockingbird (#1)
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (#32)
Native Son (#105)
Rebecca (#121)
A Town Like Alice (#129)
On the Beach (#134)
1984 (#246)
Jamaica Inn (#269)
Frenchman's Creek (#271)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (#302)


message 14: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Fiona wrote: "Published > 50 years ago:

To Kill a Mockingbird (#1)
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (#32)
Native Son (#105)
Rebecca (#121)
A Town Like Alice (#129)
On the Beach (#134)
1984 (#246)
Jamaica I..."


What part of "or so" did you not understand?


message 15: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Catherine wrote: "I'm fine with people voting for whatever they deem worthy to be called "modern classics". What I'm not fine with is that there are not a few books that are already undoubted classics, like books by..."

That is a highly subjective opinion. This list is for the people to decide. You, as a person, can add books thst you feel are more fitting.


message 16: by Kurt (new)

Kurt Fox The Hobbit 1937 - 81 years. more than 50% greater than 50 years or so.
The Time Machine 1890s - over 100 years. More than twice 50 years.

If the list criteria had a firm date, it would make the list easier to maintain.


message 17: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Kurt wrote: "The Hobbit 1937 - 81 years. more than 50% greater than 50 years or so.
The Time Machine 1890s - over 100 years. More than twice 50 years.

If the list criteria had a firm date, it would make the li..."


Make your own list with firm criteria, then. This list was created literally seven years ago, and to be frank, I do not have time to maintain and edit it. People have the ability to add and subtract books at their own will. If you feel that strongly about this, I will change the description to 100 years.


message 18: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski To all who are complaining that this list is inaccurate, has books outside of a time range you are comfortable with, or that you *insist* are already classics or not classics at all, become a Librarian and edit the list yourself.

From the Goodreads page:
"Important: if you're on this page you have been granted a special "librarian" status, and can edit list data. Don't take this responsibility lightly—if you can help correct any inaccuracies or add any missing data, please do so! But only make changes if you're sure they're correct."


back to top



Related News

Hollywood has been mining the world of books for a long time—since 1899, according to some reckonings. The practice has been ramping up in recent...

Anyone can add books to this list.