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In the summer of 2008, Entertainment Weekly published a list called "The New Classics:" The 100 Best Books of the Last 25 Years. The books they think will stand the test of time. It has a wide range and good fodder for conversation.
The original list.
Vote for your favorites and/or the ones that you have read. ***Please do not add books to this list. It should only contain the 100 books shown at the above link. ****
The original list.
Vote for your favorites and/or the ones that you have read. ***Please do not add books to this list. It should only contain the 100 books shown at the above link. ****
Score
A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.
| 1 |
The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)
by
Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)
4.15 avg rating — 2,383,011 ratings
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| 2 |
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
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4.57 avg rating — 4,144,282 ratings
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| 3 |
A Prayer for Owen Meany
by
John Irving (Goodreads Author)
4.24 avg rating — 335,342 ratings
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| 4 |
The Poisonwood Bible
by
4.11 avg rating — 788,822 ratings
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| 5 |
The Kite Runner
by
Khaled Hosseini (Goodreads Author)
4.35 avg rating — 3,455,999 ratings
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| 6 |
The Road
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,023,238 ratings
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| 7 |
The Giver (The Giver, #1)
by
Lois Lowry (Goodreads Author)
4.12 avg rating — 2,776,184 ratings
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| 8 |
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1)
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4.15 avg rating — 655,577 ratings
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| 9 |
The Lovely Bones
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3.86 avg rating — 2,453,415 ratings
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| 10 |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
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3.89 avg rating — 1,585,736 ratings
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| 11 |
Atonement
by
Ian McEwan (Goodreads Author)
3.95 avg rating — 559,553 ratings
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| 12 |
Watchmen
by
Alan Moore (Goodreads Author)
4.39 avg rating — 590,509 ratings
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| 13 |
The Joy Luck Club
by
Amy Tan (Goodreads Author)
3.97 avg rating — 707,337 ratings
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| 14 |
The Secret History
by
4.15 avg rating — 1,000,158 ratings
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| 15 |
Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1)
by
3.98 avg rating — 485,441 ratings
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| 16 |
Love in the Time of Cholera
by
3.94 avg rating — 542,937 ratings
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| 17 |
The Glass Castle
by
Jeannette Walls (Goodreads Author)
4.33 avg rating — 1,347,698 ratings
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| 18 |
Lonesome Dove (Lonesome Dove, #1)
by
4.57 avg rating — 233,289 ratings
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| 19 |
His Dark Materials (His Dark Materials #1-3)
by
4.29 avg rating — 167,713 ratings
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| 20 |
Cold Mountain
by
3.89 avg rating — 249,313 ratings
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| 21 |
The Remains of the Day
by
Kazuo Ishiguro (Goodreads Author)
4.14 avg rating — 354,086 ratings
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| 22 |
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by
4.19 avg rating — 211,718 ratings
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| 23 |
The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)
by
Dan Brown (Goodreads Author)
3.93 avg rating — 2,505,273 ratings
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| 24 |
Bridget Jones’s Diary (Bridget Jones, #1)
by
Helen Fielding (Goodreads Author)
3.81 avg rating — 1,019,006 ratings
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| 25 |
Holes (Holes, #1)
by
Louis Sachar (Goodreads Author)
4.01 avg rating — 1,352,183 ratings
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| 26 |
The Complete Maus
by
4.58 avg rating — 251,011 ratings
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| 27 |
High Fidelity
by
3.90 avg rating — 214,085 ratings
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| 28 |
Mystic River
by
Dennis Lehane (Goodreads Author)
4.17 avg rating — 163,889 ratings
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| 29 |
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster
by
Jon Krakauer (Goodreads Author)
4.26 avg rating — 561,512 ratings
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| 30 |
Possession
by
3.90 avg rating — 83,989 ratings
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| 31 |
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by
3.75 avg rating — 206,437 ratings
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| 32 |
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
by
4.14 avg rating — 312,062 ratings
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| 33 |
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
by
3.65 avg rating — 195,118 ratings
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| 34 |
Bel Canto
by
3.94 avg rating — 318,780 ratings
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| 35 |
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
by
3.69 avg rating — 183,326 ratings
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| 36 |
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by
Stephen King (Goodreads Author)
4.34 avg rating — 315,215 ratings
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| 37 |
Cloud Atlas
by
4.01 avg rating — 265,937 ratings
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| 38 |
Neuromancer (Sprawl #1)
by
3.89 avg rating — 360,573 ratings
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| 39 |
The Things They Carried
by
4.14 avg rating — 342,109 ratings
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| 40 |
The Complete Persepolis
by
4.40 avg rating — 203,323 ratings
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| 41 |
Naked
by
4.10 avg rating — 272,336 ratings
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| 42 |
Eat, Pray, Love
by
Elizabeth Gilbert (Goodreads Author)
3.64 avg rating — 1,834,254 ratings
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| 43 |
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by
3.89 avg rating — 277,440 ratings
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| 44 |
Blindness
by
4.18 avg rating — 333,314 ratings
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| 45 |
Gilead (Gilead, #1)
by
3.85 avg rating — 123,267 ratings
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| 46 |
The Corrections
by
3.84 avg rating — 196,775 ratings
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| 47 |
Practical Magic (Practical Magic, #1)
by
Alice Hoffman (Goodreads Author)
3.71 avg rating — 163,550 ratings
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| 48 |
A Thousand Acres
by
Jane Smiley (Goodreads Author)
3.82 avg rating — 72,070 ratings
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| 49 |
Interpreter of Maladies
by
4.18 avg rating — 205,158 ratings
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| 50 |
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
by
4.01 avg rating — 850,661 ratings
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| 51 |
American Pastoral
by
3.95 avg rating — 87,556 ratings
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| 52 |
The Absolute Sandman, Volume 1
by
4.64 avg rating — 22,643 ratings
score: 773,
and
9 people voted
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| 53 |
On Beauty
by
3.78 avg rating — 90,339 ratings
score: 726,
and
9 people voted
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| 54 |
Case Histories (Jackson Brodie, #1)
by
3.79 avg rating — 121,975 ratings
score: 722,
and
9 people voted
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| 55 |
The Bonfire of the Vanities
by
3.92 avg rating — 86,414 ratings
score: 721,
and
9 people voted
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| 56 |
The House on Mango Street
by
3.68 avg rating — 229,525 ratings
score: 678,
and
9 people voted
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| 57 |
America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction
by
4.01 avg rating — 97,137 ratings
score: 677,
and
9 people voted
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| 58 |
Rabbit at Rest (Rabbit Angstrom, #4)
by
4.01 avg rating — 16,393 ratings
score: 663,
and
8 people voted
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| 59 |
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic
by
4.39 avg rating — 29,112 ratings
score: 638,
and
8 people voted
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| 60 |
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
by
4.08 avg rating — 24,644 ratings
score: 627,
and
8 people voted
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| 61 |
The Ruins
by
3.69 avg rating — 65,773 ratings
score: 623,
and
8 people voted
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| 62 |
Bright Lights, Big City
by
Jay McInerney (Goodreads Author)
3.81 avg rating — 36,793 ratings
score: 616,
and
8 people voted
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| 63 |
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
by
Alison Bechdel (Goodreads Author)
4.07 avg rating — 200,475 ratings
score: 615,
and
8 people voted
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| 64 |
Cathedral
by
4.24 avg rating — 39,795 ratings
score: 613,
and
8 people voted
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| 65 |
The Year of Magical Thinking
by
3.93 avg rating — 294,535 ratings
score: 582,
and
7 people voted
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| 66 |
The Stone Diaries
by
3.89 avg rating — 41,870 ratings
score: 573,
and
8 people voted
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| 67 |
The Liars' Club
by
3.94 avg rating — 71,697 ratings
score: 541,
and
7 people voted
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| 68 |
Close Range: Wyoming Stories
by
3.99 avg rating — 18,353 ratings
score: 510,
and
7 people voted
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| 69 |
The Line of Beauty
by
3.78 avg rating — 31,484 ratings
score: 490,
and
7 people voted
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| 70 |
Selected Stories
by
4.26 avg rating — 7,212 ratings
score: 476,
and
6 people voted
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| 71 |
Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table
by
4.05 avg rating — 22,288 ratings
score: 455,
and
7 people voted
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| 72 |
Underworld
by
3.95 avg rating — 33,567 ratings
score: 440,
and
6 people voted
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| 73 |
Friday Night Lights
by
4.14 avg rating — 66,032 ratings
score: 433,
and
6 people voted
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| 74 |
Drop City
by
T. Coraghessan Boyle (Goodreads Author)
3.83 avg rating — 15,215 ratings
score: 400,
and
6 people voted
|
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| 75 |
Presumed Innocent (Kindle County Legal Thriller, #1)
by
Scott Turow (Goodreads Author)
4.09 avg rating — 125,570 ratings
score: 393,
and
6 people voted
|
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| 76 |
Eva Luna
by
Isabel Allende (Goodreads Author)
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 58,705 ratings
score: 368,
and
5 people voted
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| 77 |
The Ghost Road (Regeneration, #3)
by
4.09 avg rating — 18,259 ratings
score: 361,
and
5 people voted
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| 78 |
Black Water
by
3.54 avg rating — 9,540 ratings
score: 285,
and
4 people voted
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| 79 |
Clockers
by
4.09 avg rating — 10,325 ratings
score: 264,
and
4 people voted
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| 80 |
LaBrava
by
3.81 avg rating — 4,254 ratings
score: 258,
and
4 people voted
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| 81 |
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments
by
4.13 avg rating — 53,782 ratings
score: 256,
and
4 people voted
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| 82 |
Birds of America: Stories
by
4.09 avg rating — 16,580 ratings
score: 252,
and
4 people voted
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| 83 |
A Sight for Sore Eyes
by
3.83 avg rating — 4,971 ratings
score: 233,
and
4 people voted
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| 84 |
Pastoralia
by
4.06 avg rating — 26,215 ratings
score: 226,
and
4 people voted
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| 85 |
Waiting to Exhale (Waiting to Exhale, #1)
by
Terry McMillan (Goodreads Author)
3.99 avg rating — 17,943 ratings
score: 224,
and
4 people voted
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| 86 |
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women
by
4.05 avg rating — 9,299 ratings
score: 210,
and
3 people voted
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| 87 |
Money
by
3.69 avg rating — 25,392 ratings
score: 209,
and
3 people voted
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| 88 |
Kaaterskill Falls
by
Allegra Goodman (Goodreads Author)
3.70 avg rating — 3,031 ratings
score: 194,
and
4 people voted
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| 89 |
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
by
4.20 avg rating — 88,563 ratings
score: 176,
and
3 people voted
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| 90 |
World's Fair
by
3.85 avg rating — 4,937 ratings
score: 153,
and
3 people voted
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| 91 |
Parting the Waters: Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement 1954-63
by
4.36 avg rating — 10,027 ratings
score: 147,
and
2 people voted
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| 92 |
Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley
by
4.17 avg rating — 10,075 ratings
score: 138,
and
3 people voted
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| 93 |
Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir
by
4.37 avg rating — 2,914 ratings
score: 135,
and
2 people voted
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| 94 |
Jesus’ Son
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4.12 avg rating — 40,104 ratings
score: 118,
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3 people voted
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| 95 |
Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx
by
4.26 avg rating — 13,608 ratings
score: 106,
and
3 people voted
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| 96 |
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by
4.18 avg rating — 370,938 ratings
score: 95,
and
1 person voted
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| 97 |
The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)
by
Angie Thomas (Goodreads Author)
4.45 avg rating — 1,001,354 ratings
score: 94,
and
1 person voted
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| 98 |
All the Light We Cannot See
by
Anthony Doerr (Goodreads Author)
4.31 avg rating — 1,945,843 ratings
score: 93,
and
1 person voted
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| 99 |
A Thousand Splendid Suns
by
Khaled Hosseini (Goodreads Author)
4.45 avg rating — 1,715,346 ratings
score: 92,
and
1 person voted
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| 100 |
The Journalist and the Murderer
by
3.80 avg rating — 5,732 ratings
score: 66,
and
2 people voted
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Justine
99 books
4 friends
4 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads
3386 books
852 friends
852 friends
Loren
460 books
62 friends
62 friends
Greyweather
2660 books
65 friends
65 friends
League of Native Nations
12 books
3 friends
3 friends
Bettie
15673 books
19 friends
19 friends
Lee
6822 books
261 friends
261 friends
Liliana
81 books
4 friends
4 friends
More voters…
Comments Showing 1-34 of 34 (34 new)
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message 1:
by
Lee
(new)
Mar 06, 2009 03:04PM
What do you mean no way?
reply
|
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How can a person vote on which of these is considered worthy of the label new classic when we can't see all 100 of the EW titles? Or am I not understanding this list?
"How can a person vote on which of these is considered worthy of the label new classic when we can't see all 100 of the EW titles? Or am I not understanding this list?"I edited the description to include a link to the full list at ew.com
Bettie (Goodreads Reader!) wrote: "Lee wrote: "I've added a few I KNOW you've read my dear. "that doesn't mean I liked 'em *growly growls*"
So you've been giving five stars to books you didn't like? You're a very generous person. ;-)
Greyweather wrote: ""How can a person vote on which of these is considered worthy of the label new classic when we can't see all 100 of the EW titles? Or am I not understanding this list?"I edited the description to ..."
Thanks.
Justine wrote: "I just started typing this in this morning. Haven't finished yet."Sorry, Justine, that's understandable. Didn't mean to be impatient.
Sigh -- while I've read quite a few of these, I'd not give them the label new classics -- well, at least not yet. It might be some of these earn that eventually and some may already be called that -- but time is the key and we all know "classics" and authors of the same which are on the classics list and then disappear and reappear over the decades.
I just voted for some of the books that I liked. I don't really think many of them will be become classics.
It's fun to see comments already! My first list and sorry for the delay. I was surprised by some of the picks. Really gutsy to pick The Road as #1, I think, because it is so recent. Some of the books seem like classics in the sense that they will continue to be assigned in literature courses. And thanks for adding the link, Greyweather. I appreciate it.
Justine wrote: "It's fun to see comments already! My first list and sorry for the delay. I was surprised by some of the picks. Really gutsy to pick The Road as #1, I think, because it is so recent. Some of the boo..."I'd say it's even more gutsy to put a children's book in the number two slot.
I didn't see anything called Infinite Jest on the list when I looked just now. Did see Comfort Me With Apples, though, which I missed last time I looked. (D'oh!)
Hm...this list was all right. I didn't know too many books on this list, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not good! I give it a three out of five.
The original list has 100 books ... looks like this one is in for a bit of pruning -- or do we want to extend it to whatever WE think should be deemed a "new classic" as well?
Your link to the original list is outdated. The new URL is http://www.ew.com/article/2007/06/18/...Thanks for putting this list together. It saved me doing it :)
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