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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 — 2,379,462 ratings
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| 2 |
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
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4.57 avg rating — 4,139,533 ratings
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| 3 |
A Prayer for Owen Meany
by
John Irving (Goodreads Author)
4.24 avg rating — 335,158 ratings
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| 4 |
The Poisonwood Bible
by
4.11 avg rating — 788,339 ratings
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| 5 |
The Kite Runner
by
Khaled Hosseini (Goodreads Author)
4.35 avg rating — 3,452,931 ratings
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| 6 |
The Road
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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,021,853 ratings
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| 7 |
The Giver (The Giver, #1)
by
Lois Lowry (Goodreads Author)
4.12 avg rating — 2,773,469 ratings
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| 8 |
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1)
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4.15 avg rating — 655,294 ratings
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| 9 |
The Lovely Bones
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3.86 avg rating — 2,452,589 ratings
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| 10 |
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by
3.89 avg rating — 1,584,734 ratings
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| 11 |
Atonement
by
Ian McEwan (Goodreads Author)
3.95 avg rating — 559,095 ratings
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| 12 |
Watchmen
by
Alan Moore (Goodreads Author)
4.39 avg rating — 591,960 ratings
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| 13 |
The Joy Luck Club
by
Amy Tan (Goodreads Author)
3.97 avg rating — 707,093 ratings
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| 14 |
The Secret History
by
4.16 avg rating — 996,980 ratings
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| 15 |
Beloved (Beloved Trilogy, #1)
by
3.98 avg rating — 484,860 ratings
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| 16 |
Love in the Time of Cholera
by
3.94 avg rating — 542,579 ratings
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| 17 |
The Glass Castle
by
Jeannette Walls (Goodreads Author)
4.33 avg rating — 1,346,406 ratings
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| 18 |
Lonesome Dove (Lonesome Dove, #1)
by
4.57 avg rating — 232,643 ratings
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| 19 |
His Dark Materials (His Dark Materials #1-3)
by
4.29 avg rating — 167,645 ratings
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| 20 |
Cold Mountain
by
3.89 avg rating — 249,225 ratings
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| 21 |
The Remains of the Day
by
Kazuo Ishiguro (Goodreads Author)
4.14 avg rating — 353,441 ratings
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| 22 |
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by
4.19 avg rating — 211,602 ratings
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| 23 |
The Da Vinci Code (Robert Langdon, #2)
by
Dan Brown (Goodreads Author)
3.93 avg rating — 2,503,443 ratings
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| 24 |
Bridget Jones’s Diary (Bridget Jones, #1)
by
Helen Fielding (Goodreads Author)
3.81 avg rating — 1,018,670 ratings
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| 25 |
Holes (Holes, #1)
by
Louis Sachar (Goodreads Author)
4.01 avg rating — 1,351,117 ratings
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| 26 |
The Complete Maus
by
4.58 avg rating — 250,697 ratings
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| 27 |
High Fidelity
by
3.90 avg rating — 213,966 ratings
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| 28 |
Mystic River
by
Dennis Lehane (Goodreads Author)
4.17 avg rating — 163,707 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 — 560,864 ratings
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| 30 |
Possession
by
3.90 avg rating — 83,945 ratings
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| 31 |
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by
3.75 avg rating — 206,422 ratings
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| 32 |
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
by
4.14 avg rating — 311,758 ratings
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| 33 |
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
by
3.65 avg rating — 195,068 ratings
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| 34 |
Bel Canto
by
3.94 avg rating — 318,379 ratings
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| 35 |
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
by
3.69 avg rating — 183,298 ratings
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| 36 |
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by
Stephen King (Goodreads Author)
4.34 avg rating — 314,913 ratings
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| 37 |
Cloud Atlas
by
4.01 avg rating — 265,725 ratings
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| 38 |
Neuromancer (Sprawl #1)
by
3.89 avg rating — 360,218 ratings
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| 39 |
The Things They Carried
by
4.14 avg rating — 341,736 ratings
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| 40 |
The Complete Persepolis
by
4.40 avg rating — 203,098 ratings
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| 41 |
Naked
by
4.10 avg rating — 272,264 ratings
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| 42 |
Eat, Pray, Love
by
Elizabeth Gilbert (Goodreads Author)
3.64 avg rating — 1,833,377 ratings
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| 43 |
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by
3.89 avg rating — 277,282 ratings
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| 44 |
Blindness
by
4.18 avg rating — 332,870 ratings
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| 45 |
Gilead (Gilead, #1)
by
3.85 avg rating — 123,114 ratings
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| 46 |
The Corrections
by
3.84 avg rating — 196,623 ratings
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| 47 |
Practical Magic (Practical Magic, #1)
by
Alice Hoffman (Goodreads Author)
3.71 avg rating — 163,174 ratings
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| 48 |
A Thousand Acres
by
Jane Smiley (Goodreads Author)
3.82 avg rating — 72,038 ratings
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| 49 |
Interpreter of Maladies
by
4.18 avg rating — 205,020 ratings
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| 50 |
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
by
4.01 avg rating — 850,300 ratings
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| 51 |
American Pastoral
by
3.95 avg rating — 87,485 ratings
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| 52 |
The Absolute Sandman, Volume 1
by
4.64 avg rating — 22,638 ratings
score: 773,
and
9 people voted
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| 53 |
On Beauty
by
3.78 avg rating — 90,263 ratings
score: 726,
and
9 people voted
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| 54 |
Case Histories (Jackson Brodie, #1)
by
3.79 avg rating — 121,832 ratings
score: 722,
and
9 people voted
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| 55 |
The Bonfire of the Vanities
by
3.92 avg rating — 86,361 ratings
score: 721,
and
9 people voted
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| 56 |
The House on Mango Street
by
3.68 avg rating — 229,063 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 — 97,113 ratings
score: 677,
and
9 people voted
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| 58 |
Rabbit at Rest (Rabbit Angstrom, #4)
by
4.01 avg rating — 16,386 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 — 29,100 ratings
score: 638,
and
8 people voted
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| 60 |
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
by
4.08 avg rating — 24,636 ratings
score: 627,
and
8 people voted
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| 61 |
The Ruins
by
3.69 avg rating — 65,640 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 — 36,760 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 — 200,251 ratings
score: 615,
and
8 people voted
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| 64 |
Cathedral
by
4.24 avg rating — 39,732 ratings
score: 613,
and
8 people voted
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| 65 |
The Year of Magical Thinking
by
3.93 avg rating — 293,940 ratings
score: 582,
and
7 people voted
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| 66 |
The Stone Diaries
by
3.89 avg rating — 41,832 ratings
score: 573,
and
8 people voted
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| 67 |
The Liars' Club
by
3.94 avg rating — 71,653 ratings
score: 541,
and
7 people voted
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| 68 |
Close Range: Wyoming Stories
by
3.99 avg rating — 18,333 ratings
score: 510,
and
7 people voted
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| 69 |
The Line of Beauty
by
3.78 avg rating — 31,430 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 — 22,286 ratings
score: 455,
and
7 people voted
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| 72 |
Underworld
by
3.95 avg rating — 33,554 ratings
score: 440,
and
6 people voted
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| 73 |
Friday Night Lights
by
4.14 avg rating — 65,959 ratings
score: 433,
and
6 people voted
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| 74 |
Drop City
by
T. Coraghessan Boyle (Goodreads Author)
3.83 avg rating — 15,212 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 — 125,492 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 — 58,644 ratings
score: 368,
and
5 people voted
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| 77 |
The Ghost Road (Regeneration, #3)
by
4.09 avg rating — 18,246 ratings
score: 361,
and
5 people voted
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| 78 |
Black Water
by
3.54 avg rating — 9,522 ratings
score: 285,
and
4 people voted
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| 79 |
Clockers
by
4.09 avg rating — 10,317 ratings
score: 264,
and
4 people voted
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| 80 |
LaBrava
by
3.81 avg rating — 4,245 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 — 53,723 ratings
score: 256,
and
4 people voted
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| 82 |
Birds of America: Stories
by
4.09 avg rating — 16,561 ratings
score: 252,
and
4 people voted
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| 83 |
A Sight for Sore Eyes
by
3.83 avg rating — 4,968 ratings
score: 233,
and
4 people voted
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| 84 |
Pastoralia
by
4.06 avg rating — 26,183 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 — 17,931 ratings
score: 224,
and
4 people voted
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| 86 |
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women
by
4.05 avg rating — 9,292 ratings
score: 210,
and
3 people voted
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| 87 |
Money
by
3.69 avg rating — 25,378 ratings
score: 209,
and
3 people voted
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| 88 |
Kaaterskill Falls
by
Allegra Goodman (Goodreads Author)
3.70 avg rating — 3,029 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 — 88,493 ratings
score: 176,
and
3 people voted
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| 90 |
World's Fair
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3.85 avg rating — 4,928 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 — 10,025 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 — 10,065 ratings
score: 138,
and
3 people voted
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| 93 |
Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir
by
4.37 avg rating — 2,911 ratings
score: 135,
and
2 people voted
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| 94 |
Jesus’ Son
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4.12 avg rating — 40,028 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 — 13,588 ratings
score: 106,
and
3 people voted
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| 96 |
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by
4.18 avg rating — 370,307 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 — 1,000,455 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 — 1,943,447 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 — 1,713,505 ratings
score: 92,
and
1 person voted
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| 100 |
The Journalist and the Murderer
by
3.80 avg rating — 5,717 ratings
score: 66,
and
2 people voted
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Justine
99 books
4 friends
4 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads
3386 books
853 friends
853 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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