Hey y’all! Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish question idea that was originally created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, from way back in June 2010! Since January 2018, Top Ten Tuesday has been hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Thanks for taking it over! The idea is to make a list of ten books or bookish things on different topics each week. Check out her site for details on how to join and what the upcoming prompts are. 😊
This week’s prompt is actually “21st century books you think will become classics” but I have no idea where to go with that one so I made a list of ten classic books I’ve never read! Being a voracious reader and an English major, this is kind of an exclusive list for these books. Which maybe means there’s a reason I haven’t tackled these ones. 😅
My ten classic books I’ve never read!
So why haven’t I read these books before?
A Tale of Two Cities: I tried Oliver Twist and was bored to tears. Sorry, Dickens.
Frankenstein: actually, kind of interested in this one for the drama of the story behind it’s writing
The Count of Monte Cristo: just purchased a copy! Holly loved it, and got me interested
Wuthering Heights: sounds dreary and Bella loved it
The Grapes of Wrath: seems as dry as the dust bowl itself
Dracula: probably not as cool as I would want it to be
Don Quixote: seems super weird with the dude talking to windmills and such
Little Women: I might actually read this one, or at least some retellings
The Metamorphosis: if Don Quixote is too weird for me, what even is this
The Little Prince: never came up in my childhood, but I see it referenced often in K dramas & webtoons
Which of these have you read, or are you in the same boat as me? 🙂 Drop a comment on what modern books you think will become classics, so I can read them now and be prepared!
My Book Joy 
There are three on this list—Dracula, Count of Monte Cristo, Tale of Two Cities—I haven’t read yet, but hope to read soon. There are several—Grapes of Wrath, Little Prince, Metamorphosis, Don Quixote—that I have on my all-time favorite books list.
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Wow, all time favorites! I guess that’s why they’re classics when folks feel that way ☺️
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The Grapes of Wrath wasn’t a dry read at all! I found it incredibly interesting and still pertinent to modern life given what it had to say about greed, the exploitation of the working class, and how love knits families together. (But no pressure to read it, of course. There are plenty of classics I don’t like either).
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-21st-century-books-i-think-will-become-classics/
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I just read a short summary of it and it sounds much different than what I thought, to be honest haha. I’m sure it’s a classic for a reason with plenty of folks adoring it 🙂
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I’ve read Little Women and absolutely loved it. Some of the others are on my TBR to read eventually.
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Yeah, it’s one that I’ve heard from several others that they read it on their own and were fans, so it seems a little more accessible to me, I suppose!
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Yeah classics are hit or miss for me and Little Women was an easy one for me.
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Honestly, they’re usually a miss for me 😅 I”m always happy to find the gems though. The Outsiders was a lovely surprise for me.
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I loved The Outsiders as well. I also really loved Anne of Green Gables.
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I absolutely love Frankenstein and will say it’s a pretty short read!! For Dracula, I’d say skip it and read either Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. Varney the Vampire would also be better but it is a lot longer (876 pages total) than either Dracula or Carmilla.
My TTT: https://nonbinarylibrarian.wordpress.com/2022/03/29/ttt-21st-century-books-i-think-will-become-classics/
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Awesome, thanks for the recos! I’ll take a peek. Classic vampire lit seems like it would surely deliver ^.^
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Ah, The Little Prince. It’s a sweet story but one that I also never came across in my child/teenhood and I only read it a few years ago but did enjoy it a lot! I loved Holly’s review of Monte Cristo and aside from the manga version that I read, it made me want to pick up the book asap! I hope you enjoy it 😃
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Oooh I do love a good manga version of classics. Manga Shakespeare has some incredible adaptations. I was really impressed with their version of Macbeth if you’re looking for more classic-lit manga! Monte Cristo buddy read…? 😉
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I’m not really a big fan of classics, I liked Black Beauty, and some children’s classics like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, but by and large, they’re something I tend to avoid. I have a funny story about Oliver Twist, since you briefly mentioned it when talking about Dickens: when I was in Year Seven (equivalent to I think 6th grade in the US, not sure), we were studying Oliver Twist and I found it really boring and had finished my work, so I was reading Black Beauty instead and it ended up being confiscated by my English teacher.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2022/03/29/top-ten-tuesday-361/
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Hahaha well at least you were reading, that must count for something right? 😂
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Ha ha that’s what I thought!
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A great twist to today’s topic. I have read Little Women and maybe a few of the others in high school. I did not read The Little Prince but saw the movie and we hated it! I couldn’t understand why it was a kid’s book. My post: https://cindysbookcorner.blogspot.com/2022/03/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-think-could-be.html
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I had no idea it was a movie too! I guess it didn’t translate well to the other media for you. Ah well!
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Despite being an English major, I’m not a big lover of classics. I find most of them dead dull. That being said, I have read half of the books you listed. Of them, my hands-down favorite is LITTLE WOMEN. It’s one of my favorite books of all time. I adore it.
My husband was supposed to read DON QUIXOTE as part of a Spanish literature course he took for his Spanish major in college. He was super proud of himself for getting through 1/4 of it and that was A LOT more than anyone else in the class managed. Ha ha.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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I’ve read 6 of these! I have a big list of classics I want to read, but I avoid a lot of them because they’re huge. How did so many giant books become required reading? 🙂
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Dracula is absolutely not as cool as you want it to be. I also didn’t care too much for Frankenstein but it is nice to know the origin story.
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Haha that’s what I suspected… I only vaguely know the story of Dracula, so I feel like I would be struggling to get through the actual thing!
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I have to agree that The Metamorphosis was a weird read, but it’s actually really good! And A Tale of Two Cities stands out in my memory as one of the books I had to read in high school but wound up enjoying a lot.
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