As a follow on to my last post, I’m looking for your ideas about what books written from about 1975 and on you think will stand the test of time and eventually be viewed as classics. There are no constraints or criteria for your nominations. You can list as many books as you like and they can be written by authors from anywhere in the world in any genre, but to be realistic, they probably have to be books that were/are somewhat widely read. You don’t have to provide reasons, but please do if you have ideas about why you believe your choices will continue to be read. If you're having a hard time coming up with ideas, you may be inspired if you look at award winning books here. Thanks to Kristen at From Here to There and Back for suggesting this.
13 comments:
I actually did write this in response to your last post. for some reason it disappeared. My list would be
Gabriel Garcia Marquez.:
Love in the time of cholera.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
The God of Small things by Arunditha Roy.
Those I can think off from the top of my head.
Iain Banks: The Crow Road
Neil Gaiman: American Gods
Audrey Niffenegger: The Time Traveller's Wife
and though I don't think the deserve it from a writing POV, The Harry Potter Chronicles.
I think Cormac McCarthy's work will be remembered. Probably "Blood Meridian" and "The Road."
Peter Matthiessen's work, particularly, "The Snow Leopard," my favorite book of all time.
I hope James Sallis will be remembered. He's a phenomenal writer.
Excuse the repetition, but:
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
This seamlessly written love story -- that endures the test of time between its covers -- should prevail in real time as well.
Okay, here's my list:
The Living, by Annie Dillard
Atonement, by Ian McEwan
A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
Stones From the River, by Ursula Hegi
All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx
Plainsong, by Kent Haruf
The Kiterunner, by Khaled Hosseini
Leo the African - Amin Maloof
Any HUman Heart - William Boyd
The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield ( for pure beauty of the descriptions)
i have been thinking of the authors of the past that possibly weren't critically acclaimed but were loved by the masses, so i throw any works by these authors into the hat:
Stephen King
John Grisham
Pat Conroy (critically loved and also much beloved regionally and beyond)
Michael Crichton
One of my all-time favorite books is John Grishom's first, and in my opinion best, A Time To Kill
Patti's so right. Commercially popular writers and their works deserve to be recognized as modern day classics.
All, these are really great nominations. Some are books I've read and loved and some are books I've not read or heard of and will now have to check out. I'll leave this post up for another day or so and then post the whole list of what we end up with plus my own picks. Thanks to you all and if you think of more, please come back and add them.
I'll second the Kent Haruf nomination. I'll add The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien and The Cider House Rules by John Irving.
OK, so it's been more than a couple of days. Something has happened -- life is intruding on my good intentions!
Including and in addition to many of the fine nominations, I think mine would have to include:
Sophie's Choice, by William Styron
The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx
The Stand, by Stephen King
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
This list made me realize there are a lot more writers out there that I still need to read. I suspect I'd nominate a Philip Roth and a Saul Bellow, but I need to read more of both to decide which ones. Maybe some Tobias Wolff, maybe some Richard Ford, maybe some others -- we'll have to revisit this every few months! Thanks to all for contributing.
Here are the ones have stuck with me, and that I feel have fantastic writing (not always the same thing!). Personal tastes have got to have a big influence.
In no particular order:
Cider House Rules, by John Irving
Rabbit At Rest, by John Updike
The Stand, by Stephen King
Breathing Lessons, by Anne Tyler
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Ross! My Lighthouse friend! I've read all of your picks but Rabbit at Rest -- which is weird because I own it. I feel like I need to read the other three Rabbit Angstrom books before I read it (I can't even remember why I have it), but maybe not? Thanks for commenting!
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