The topic for today's Top Ten Tuesday is "21st Century Books I think will become Classics." Before I get to my list I want to share two views of what a "classic" is.
“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” ― The Uses of Literature
“′Classic′ - a book which people praise and don't read.” ―
I compiled my list (which is a top twelve because I couldn't leave off any of these) based on Calvino's definition, but I think there is a lot of truth in Twain's.
- The Blind Assasin by Margaret Atwood* (2000)
- Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami* (2002)
- Crow Lake by Mary Lawson (2002)
- The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu (2007)
- The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer (2008)
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2011)
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2014)
- A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles* (2016)
- The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (2016)
- The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (2017)
- Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (2017)
- The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai* (2018)
The authors marked with an asterisk have other books that I think might belong on this list as well, but I picked only one to include.
I’ve heard so many good things about Station Eleven.
ReplyDeleteMy post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-21st-century-books-i-think-will-become-classics/
Interesting list. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't able to comment on your list directly for some reason so I am piggybacking onto Cindy's comment. A very good list! I've only read Station Eleven and enjoyed it (and half of Underground Railroad then had to give it back). Thanks for sharing it with us.
DeleteI forgot about The Blind Assassin. I liked that book and think it will stick around for a long time.
ReplyDelete