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.
301

by
4.37 avg rating — 3,495 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
302

by
4.20 avg rating — 459,953 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
302

by
4.45 avg rating — 2,102 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
302

by
3.79 avg rating — 1,481 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
305

by
4.01 avg rating — 19,686 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
305

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 13,022 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
307

by
4.06 avg rating — 6,958 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
307

by
4.26 avg rating — 8,164 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
309

by
4.12 avg rating — 18,904 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
309

by
4.07 avg rating — 1,284 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
311

by
4.04 avg rating — 1,852 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
311

by
4.44 avg rating — 856 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
313

by
3.72 avg rating — 2,736 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
313

by
3.93 avg rating — 45,629 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
315

by
4.23 avg rating — 23,014 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
316

by
4.15 avg rating — 59,798 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
316

by
3.73 avg rating — 1,884 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
316

by
3.74 avg rating — 54,304 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
319

by
3.88 avg rating — 52,774 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
319

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,408 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
319

by
3.53 avg rating — 2,118 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
322

by
4.14 avg rating — 17,641 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
322

by
3.84 avg rating — 4,693 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
322

by
4.10 avg rating — 595 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
325

by
4.44 avg rating — 202 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
325

by
4.28 avg rating — 9,106 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
327

by
3.33 avg rating — 11,797 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
327

by
4.21 avg rating — 10,309 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
329

by
4.15 avg rating — 43,606 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
329

by
4.18 avg rating — 7,929 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
331

by
3.67 avg rating — 51,431 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
331

by
3.41 avg rating — 4,865 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
333

by
4.17 avg rating — 12,424 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
334

by
3.55 avg rating — 19,329 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
334

by
4.22 avg rating — 6,920 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
336

by
3.94 avg rating — 167,328 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
336

by
4.35 avg rating — 247,573 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
336

by
4.08 avg rating — 22,615 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
339

by
3.94 avg rating — 138,767 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
340

by
4.23 avg rating — 267,091 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
341

by
4.33 avg rating — 7,899 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
341

by
4.11 avg rating — 4,413 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
343

by
3.98 avg rating — 63,332 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
343

by
3.97 avg rating — 11,353 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
345

by
4.01 avg rating — 205,093 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
345

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,256 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
347

by
3.90 avg rating — 47,403 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
347

by
3.90 avg rating — 84 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
349

by
3.93 avg rating — 68,225 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
349

by
4.07 avg rating — 157 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
351

by
4.03 avg rating — 30,253 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
352

by
4.07 avg rating — 1,894 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
353

by
3.92 avg rating — 85,828 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
354

by
4.24 avg rating — 72,103 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
355

by
4.04 avg rating — 6,088 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
356

by
3.85 avg rating — 108,287 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
356

by
3.91 avg rating — 19,915 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
358

by
3.86 avg rating — 5,852 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
359

by
3.72 avg rating — 121 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
360

by
4.01 avg rating — 5,669 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
361

by
3.96 avg rating — 5,808 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
362

by
4.19 avg rating — 7,053 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
363

by
4.15 avg rating — 5,496 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.