Top Ten Tuesday: 21st Century Books Likely to Become Classics
Classics are books which continue to have something important to say years after they are published. When re-reading a classic one has just as much a sense of discovery as the first time.
*Hyperlinked titles available for reviews of those books which I read before I began blogging. Books are listed in random order.
1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2001)
"A wonderfully original
novel, which recounts the remarkable life of Pi Patel. Martel skillfully blends Pi's adventures of the mind and spirit
with an unforgettable physical journey, making this a magical
coming-of-age narrative."
"The Shadow of the Wind is a coming-of-age tale of a young boy
who, through the magic of a single book, finds a purpose greater than
himself and a hero in a man he’s never met. With the passion of García
Márquez, the irony of Dickens, and the necromancy of Poe, Carlos Ruiz
Zafón spins a web of intrigue so thick that it ensnares the reader from
the very first line. The Shadow of the Wind is an ode to the art of reading, but it is also the perfect example of the all-encompassing power of a well-told story."
3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003)
"The Kite Runner
is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process
of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of
betrayal, and the possibility of redemption; and an exploration of the
power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies."
"Station Eleven is at once a gripping post-apocalyptic page turner
and a hopeful, elegiac masterpiece that explores the connections that
bind humanity."
"The Goldfinch is a
haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling
power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense,
it is a beautiful, addictive triumph - a sweeping story of loss and
obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of
love, identity and fate."
"In this WWII-centered novel follows the lives of two children as they grow up among all the turmoil. Through his stunning use of metaphor and an unpredictable timeline, Doerr explores kindness and how people perceive the world."
7. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
"Eugenides packs so much richness into this classical
saga-cum-bildungsroman-cum–paean to the American Dream that Dickens
would be proud. Starting with the burning of Smyrna and winding its way
through Prohibition to the 1967 Detroit race riots, Middlesex does what any viable candidate for the Great American Novel should; it broadens the definition of 'American.'"
"Like the protagonist of Gulliver’s Travels,
Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey—hers is
an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly
re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre–Civil War era,
his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal
importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad
is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to
escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on
the history we all share."
9. Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)
"Ian McEwan’s symphonic
novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness
provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative and the
provocation we have come to expect from this master of English prose."
10. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2007)
"Diaz immerses us in the
tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large,
rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight
the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human
capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss. A true
literary triumph."
"Cloud Cuckoo Land is, among other things, a paean to the nameless
people who have played a role in the transmission of ancient texts and
preserved the tales they tell. But it’s also about the consolations of
stories and the balm they have provided for millenniums. It’s a wildly
inventive novel that teems with life, straddles an enormous range of
experience and learning, and embodies the storytelling gifts that it
celebrates" (NYT).
As I think about all these books I started to wonder if they are made into a movie or a miniseries if it increases or decreases in its likelihood of becoming a classic book read by generations to come. Hmm. I don't know the answer.
-Anne
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