I teach high school and last year we read The Hate U Give together in my sophomore class. I think it’s a great alternative for To Kill a Mockingbird that is own voices and more relevant for today’s teenagers, especially with recent events! Great recommendations, thanks!
@@bookslikewhoa You really really really need to read The Invention of Wings. It's historical fiction and I absolutely fell in love with it. I also recommend Practical Magic. It's not based on romance, but it shows more of real life problems.
I applaud your willingness to try something different. I have thought the first 50 pages or so of Mockingbird was very slow, and students nowadays might be bored by it before giving up.
Such a great list! I'd add: The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, and A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid. I think some Latinx authors would qualify: Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Laura Esquivel, Sandra Cisneros, Julio Cortazar, etc. SFF: Octavia Butler and Ursula K LeGuin. Comics: Maus by Art Spiegelman, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel.
I didn’t know there was a movie! I’ll have to look it up because I tried to watch the Netflix show and couldn’t get into it. Maybe I’ll like the movie better :)
Toni Morrison is so good and so layered. I bet she is lost on a lot of high schoolers (unfortunately, but not surprisingly). If you pick her up again, I definitely recommend her audiobooks as she narrates many of them and is so good. I also definitely need to grab a copy of The Remains of the Day soon!
I love The Things They Carried, we studied it at school and it’s the only school book I’ve ever seen universally loved. Everyone said it was an incredible book, and it is.
What a wonderful list! It is interesting that you started modern classics at the year 1950. Most people I’ve talked with start their definition of modern classics as anything written after World War 1, seeing as how that is the event that not only changed the world as we knew it, but also changed how many people saw the world as well. My favorites are the great dystopian sci-fi’s such as Animal Farm and 1984 by Orwell, Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler, and Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury.
Thanks so much for listing the titles in the description!!! So many booktubers don’t and then it’s hard to remember/find the titles when I want to look them up.
My all time favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird as I see a lot of me in Boo Radley, It is also my favorite movie and I was in the play back in 1998. I just ordered If Beale Street Could Talk. Some books I also enjoy are One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time
Stoner, Gilead, and Excellent Women on one list. Wow! That's my kind of list. I know I'm late to the party; I just discovered this channel, but I would offer Their Eyes Were Watching God, Slaughterhouse 5, and Death Comes to the Archbishop as will-be modern classics. Thanks for a great analysis.
My list of suggested reads as modern classics is as follows :- Atonement - Ian McEwan A Thousand Splendid Suns -Khaled Hosseini One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Alexander Solzhenitsyn The Road - Cormac McCarthy Thank you for your video which has given me much inspiration for future reads.
As for guesses for 'future modern fiction'/currently kinda sort of modern fiction in my eyes, I'll also add Octavia Butler, Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Bell Hooks. (those are the ones I can think of right now)
just read these books recently but i somewhat feel like "kafka on the shore" and especially "norwegian wood" by haruki murakami may be seen as classics at some point
For me, One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez), East of Eden (John Steinbeck), Pedro Paramo (Juan Rulfo), The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver), and White Teeth (Zadie Smith) are some of my favourite modern classics. I definitely predict that Signs Preceding the End of the World (Yuri Herrera), Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel), The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot, non-fiction), Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel), Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Madeleine Thien), and Emperor of All Maladies (Siddhartha Mukherjee non-fiction) will (hopefully) all be classics one day *crossed fingers* Really enjoyed this video and everyone's recommendations in the comments!
@@apocalypsereading7117 yeah! We read it for school and to be honest is the only book I was forced to read that I actually enjoyed. It was really good 👍
I can’t recall how I found your channel, but I’m so glad I did as it’s improved my sleep! I like watching your videos during the day and re-listening to them as I fall asleep. I find your voice so soothing. Thanks for making awesome videos about classics!
You have interesting ideas. I was surprised that you didn’t include any Latin writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Juan Rulfo, Carlos Fuentes, among others. I’d also include Ray Bradbury, Asimov, and George Orwell.
Several of your recs (The Sparrow, The Secret History, The Remains of the Day) are among my favorite books of all time! For some reason I feel way more invested in talking about modern classics and even just classics from the 20th Century than from the earlier centuries because it feels like you're more able to participate(?) in the discourse of whether they do become modern classics or not. One writer who stands out for me is Clarice Lispector, whose books used to be so hard to find when I was in college, but has since had a push for rediscovery that involves translations and reprintings. Guesses of writers who would become considered moderns classics: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ursula K. Le Guin (already established as an sff classic but I think she has crossed over for people considering "literary merit"), Orhan Pamuk.
I've just read Things Fall Apart and I loved it so much! 💖📚 It is such a brilliant book I absolutely loved descriptions of their culture and the everyday life of the people in the tribe. I've already bought the whole trilogy and I'm super excited to read the rest of the African trilogy. 🌞🌺📚
I’ve been reading 1984, and I it’s scarily real. Written in 1949, titled 1984, still real in 2020. Maybe even too close to reality. Sometimes it’s even uncomfortable. So I’d definitely add that to this list. Early this year I read Fahrenheit 451 and it’s also so applicable to reality. I would add that to the list too. I read I know why the caged birds sing by Maya Angelou in June and I absolutely LOVE IT. Her writing is amazing, I kept being stunned by her and it’s a book that I already want to pick up to read again. I plan on reading to kill a mockingbird till the end of the year, can’t wait!
Your make up looks 💕 especially the lipstick. Lol sorry had to mention it. I am new at the modern classics. I read lots of Victian Lit. Appreciate this video.
I loved hearing your thoughts on this topic. I totally agree that Remains of the Day and Stoner are ~~~flawless~~ novels! My favourite modern classic is The Master and Margarita, but I think my "gateway" modern classics were books by Kurt Vonnegut and J.D. Salinger :)
I read If We Were Villains for a bookclub and really enjoyed it! Also enjoyed Song of Solomon, which I also read in school. My favorite "modern classic" is We Capture the Castle, which is technically outside your timeframe (1948). I think it's really accessible, especially for people who enjoy romance
As a 65 year old woman of color, I've read several books by Toni Morrison. I tried to read Beloved when it first came out and I couldn't finish it. I didn't like the book or the movie. I started with Sula by Toni Morrison back in the '70's. This is a good book to start with and it's not very long.
The Bluest Eye is a story that has stayed with me as few things have..I also want to say that I really appreciate your take on Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is hard to Find..
Where did those 24+ minutes go? Thank you for providing an excellent video. Outof your selection, I have read only 3 books Never Let You Go, To Kill a Mockingbird (I finished the audiobook today), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I certainly cannot argue with your selection,, nor would I want to as it has given me food for thought. For additional suggestions, I would have included John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men), Ian McEwan (Atonement ) and Khaled (Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns) Thank you again and I look forward to your next video.
What a nice video! loved the list. I read some & have most of these books, so can't wait to read them. If this is a British list, Daphne Du Maurier would be on there for sure, can't do without the gothic option :) I'd like to recommend an overlooked, translated author into the mix though, Stefan Zweig, a German author. I think he has very strong prose in his very short books. I'd recommend Chess and 24 Hours In The Life Of A Woman, which are both little novellas. People's favorite would be more Chess, if you want to try one :) I think you'd enjoy it. Cheers.
Yeah, Du Maurier got caught in between my 2 videos, because I've since defined "modern classic" as post-1950... if I ever revise that first classics video, she's such a great place to start!!
LOVE this video! I would like to recommend a dark horse candidate for modern classic: Jesmyn Ward. I think she is good to read along side Toni Morrison and James Baldwin; she incorporates a lot of their themes. Also, her prose is devastatingly beautiful. "Salvage the Bones" is where everyone starts, but I would submit her memoir "Men We Reaped" is just as good a starting point.
Apparently, The Prime of Miss Jean Brody, is now available in full for free to watch on U Tube, thank goodness Julie Andrews who was considered for the title role didn't get cast ahead of Maggie Smith who gives a truly memorable performance in the title role.
The Best Modern Classics I have read thus far 1980 - A Confederacy of Dunces 1974 - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 1967 - The Master and the Margarita 1959 - Naked Lunch 1959 - The Haunting of Hill House 1957 - On the Road
This list is amazing. I love to hear how you talk about books. I think it is like taking a short lit class!! And I am loving your new podcast too. Thanks for all your amazing content.
Great recommendations. Some of my favourite modern classics are 1984 & Animal farm by Orwell, People in the Summer Night by F. E. Sillanpää, The Left Hand of Darkness by Le Guin & anything by Italo Calvino 😀
Wow, this is close to the list I would have picked for the same category. There are only a couple that I didn’t like/wouldn’t recommend, and so many that I love. Great video, Mara.
I am mexican so I am totally biased, but do take into consideration the MASTER of modern classic latin literature... Gabriel García Márquez. Thank you for your recommendations, I will consider for future reading. ;)
You make such a good point about different countries having different books. I havnt even thought about it much! Some books may not make it to US publishing house.. based on little scraps of info I’ve gathered regarding the industry. And an ARC I just got mentioned the authors other works is standard reading in English or British schools... made me more aware of things. Lol love this video! Okay... HOW did I make it through life without even knowing what to kill a mockingbird was about 🤦🏽♀️ lol
I think there are some fantastic choices in this video. I've just recently read If Beale Street Could Talk and would like to read more James Baldwin. For Toni Morrison I would definitely recommend Song of Solomon
For people interested in reading Louise Erdrich, she runs a bookstore called Birchbark books in Minneapolis which fulfills online orders and if you buy one of her books she'll sign it for you! Opportunity to support a native-owned business
Thanks for the great recommendations! Definitely a few of these on my TBR now. If you like coming of age stories in a boarding school setting you have to read Moab is my washpot by Stephen fry. I don't often read or recommend biographies but this is a true gem. Also the writing is just beautiful. Definitely worth checking out
amazing i was wondering what your opinion of the secret history was!! i loved it- if we were villains is also brilliant (don’t know if it’ll be as much a classic as tsh but still very enjoyable) so would love to hear your thoughts on that and the “dark academia” genre as a whole! sounds as though you’d love it.
I love this video. My freshman English teacher taught me to love and pick apart classic and modern literature and I’ve learned to love it. I have a list of books I’m interested in but I’m glad I can get a perspective on them (and find some new interesting books) before I read them. Usually the back summary doesn’t really catch my interest very well. Edit: I recently bought “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” and I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about it.
I read Song of Solomon in school as a teenager and while I recognized the writing as exceptional, I didn't exactly enjoy my time reading it. A couple books I LOVED which I consider modern classics are A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. Highly recommend if you havent picked them up.
Yes, I get it because I am Mexican American and it’s sad that people clump the ,” Hispanics or Latin people “ in the same category, we all have our own:culture, foods, books, heroes and even languages. It is very frustrating.
So, turns out I haven't actually read any of these, with the exception of The Handmaid's Tale, which is a favourite. But I've wanted to read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie for a long time now, I must get onto it (I did read Memento Mori by Muriel Spark many, many years ago, but can't remember it too well). You need to see the movie of Jean Brodie, it's SO good! The Remains of the Day is one that sounds right up my alley. Thanks for this list, I think I will put a number of these on my TBR: ASAP list. I'm inspired!
If you like Remains of the Day you might also enjoy Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo. It's about a young woman who moves from China to England and keeps a diary to learn English but also to just process everything and it has that dual perspective. i've wanted to read flannery o'connor for a long time but apparently she hated james baldwin and i just can't vibe with that at the moment, lol. maybe i'll get to it one day but i'm not in a rush. great list tho!
Thanks for these recommendations I think they're great! But I am quite surprised The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath wasn't included as a modern classic. If you haven't read it I think its a great read !
I think The Hunger Games will rest among the great dystopias of literature such as 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451. It absolutely stands up and wile its flashier than the others, its clear Suzanne Collins had something to say about our society and she says it well. Another on le is Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, though I’m pretty sure it has already earned its spot in the American English literary cannon.
Don't agree with many of your picks-which is fine. Actually, I feel like I'm always disagreeing with your views hahaha. I very much respect your opinions and enjoy listening to them. I have read 4 novels by Morrison and think PARADISE is the absolute best. Granted I have yet to read BELOVED or THE BLUEST EYE. I did read SoS and found it was not my cup of tea. If you read it, I hope you have better luck with it. I think HOMEGOING will be a modern classic. The prose is gorgeous and the story is captivating.
Haha I actually always think of you when I think of people who probably follow me to get "anti-recommendations" :D - but I always appreciate your perspective!
@@bookslikewhoa Oh no! haha I think I've said this before but you and I have very similar or almost identical benchmarks/criterion for fiction and nonfiction. I'd even say we have similar ideas on books. We have enjoyed some of the same books, but where we diverge we Really Diverge. We both loved THE LIBRARY AT MOUNT CHAR, WHY WE GET FAT, and NO VISIBLE BRUISES. I just wrote on GR my review for NEVER LET ME GO-spoiler I think the book is terrible. I know you would not agree with it, but I think you would see my view as valid. I think our main tastes differ in that I love and read more lit in translation; I'm not a fan of light romances, fantasy romance, nor contemporary romances; and that I rarely if ever read fantasy. Oh! And I read more horror than you.
I read Never Let Me Go as a teen and LOVED it. I read Remains of the Day as a teen and I hated it, when I was a kid. Maybe it's time for me to revisit it...
your summaries were really great - just enough to make me intrigued. The Bloody Chamber is such a dream (albeit a gory one) ^_^ I think I actually liked the film of The Remains of the Day more than the book! unfortunately Wide Sargasso Sea was forced upon me in high school with basically no context except "it's postcolonial"...
I've either never read these books or read them so long ago ... and was utterly traumatized by them. (That's probably why I prefer romance.) I read The Handmaid's Tale back when it was published and, since I spent many years of my young life fighting for the ERA and women's rights, it just devastated me. I was so sure this is where we were heading as a society and I'm not so sure I was wrong. I read The Lottery in high school and it gave me nightmares. (Why do so many "classics" scare the shit out of me?) I do like Barbara Pym very much. My personal favorite is Quartet in Autumn, which is ironic because I read it as a young woman. But now, as a woman of the age of the characters, it would probably depress me incredibly.
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver is an absolutely brilliant book. It tackles the issue of climate change through the lens of rural farm town America. It is a beautiful book that should be widely read.
Very nice! Thanks for the recommendations. I would suggest a couple of Beat authors: Jack Kerouac (On the Road) and William S. Burroughs ( Naked Lunch). Trippy!!
I couldn't connect to The Handmaids Tale at all but when The Testaments came out i absolutely loved it and got completely sucked in. The two books really contrast eachother in terms of how THT is very much following one characters journey while Testaments is the world building/cultural context side of everything. The Testaments is what I wanted The Handmaids Tale to be
I agree!! I am reading the Testaments and can barely put it down but took a while to read the Handmaid’s Tale (even though I enjoyed it). I have been thinking about the Testaments nonstop for a few days and needed to see someone feel the same way 😁😭 thank you
Oh, interesting...I read The Secret History first, but I liked If We Were Villains better. I didn’t know there was a trend about that. I love guessing about which currently writing authors are going to get canonized but I don’t think I’m very good at it haha
I would add Zora Neal Hurston, Octavia Butler, Isaac Asimov, A Clockwork Orange. I think The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin is going to end up being a modern classic.
I actually really hated 'if we were villains' but I think it was a very misguided recommendation, because I really enjoyed 'a lesson in venegence' because I liked the portrayal of unhealthy friendship (romance) between queer women and being friends with someone who is obviously hiding things from you and you're not seeing the full picture. I ended up loving the second book recommended "the secret history". I also think the pages and pages of shakespeare quotes got on my nerves and I started enjoying it more when she eased up on them. The secret history uses greek and references greek texts sparingly and in a way that you don't feel annoyed by not understanding the full context of. 'If we were villians' used Shakespeare so often that I felt like I was missing entire chunks of context by not researching and analysing the quotes. I also work backstage in theatre so my suspension of disbelief is a lot lower than someone who doesn't have a theatre background. Some of the plays they put on are a logistical nightmare for a school that doesn't seem to have a proper stage crew. I also find it hard to believe the art classes would want to sacrafice so much time to make fake blood, masks and I'm assuming set and costume. She really should've made it a performing arts school.
Mara, I love your videos. I wish you could share with us THE GOLDFINCH. I just loved it, my favourite from Donna Tartt. I strongly think that it will become a modern classic. The writing is so beautiful, different, based on this blending of analogies with reality, with memories, with imagination. A book which from my point of view is important from its writing, not the story itself. I would love to know your opinion.
Another modern classic that I think is really under appreciated in the English speaking world, is Under the North Star. I have only read the first book of the trilogy, but it was really good.
