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The book you know will go into the canon of literature, on par with Tolkien, Shakespeare, Austen and other greats. The books that will one day be part of a school curriculum, or are beginning to be accepted as such. These are the books in the last hundred years or so that have really touched many by their literary genius.
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3.99 avg rating — 906,136 ratings
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3.96 avg rating — 579,700 ratings
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4.43 avg rating — 4,684,509 ratings
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17

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3.89 avg rating — 1,636,834 ratings
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18

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4.27 avg rating — 964,914 ratings
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19

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4.10 avg rating — 515,882 ratings
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20

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4.30 avg rating — 4,644,739 ratings
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21

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4.30 avg rating — 599,613 ratings
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22

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4.28 avg rating — 452,682 ratings
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23

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4.24 avg rating — 3,234,079 ratings
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24

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4.29 avg rating — 1,715,397 ratings
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25

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4.14 avg rating — 408,115 ratings
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25

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4.12 avg rating — 5,894,366 ratings
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27

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4.09 avg rating — 536,589 ratings
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28

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 794,046 ratings
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29

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4.18 avg rating — 665,595 ratings
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30

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4.12 avg rating — 1,728,601 ratings
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31

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4.27 avg rating — 335,654 ratings
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32

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3.97 avg rating — 719,311 ratings
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33

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4.16 avg rating — 2,147,818 ratings
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34

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4.04 avg rating — 1,648,979 ratings
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35

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4.31 avg rating — 1,506,169 ratings
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36

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4.18 avg rating — 7,661 ratings
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37

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4.14 avg rating — 388,145 ratings
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38

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3.97 avg rating — 1,314,775 ratings
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39

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4.47 avg rating — 3,103,564 ratings
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40

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4.14 avg rating — 1,103,273 ratings
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41

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3.97 avg rating — 136,863 ratings
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42

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4.24 avg rating — 2,078,183 ratings
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43

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3.92 avg rating — 3,766,516 ratings
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44

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4.35 avg rating — 860,955 ratings
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45

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4.15 avg rating — 356,923 ratings
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46

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4.45 avg rating — 2,823,916 ratings
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47

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4.02 avg rating — 672,422 ratings
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48

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3.91 avg rating — 10,380 ratings
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49

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4.10 avg rating — 1,374,354 ratings
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50

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3.94 avg rating — 185,935 ratings
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51

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3.72 avg rating — 195,148 ratings
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52

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3.94 avg rating — 564,287 ratings
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53

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4.17 avg rating — 200,268 ratings
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54

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4.40 avg rating — 480,064 ratings
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55

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4.60 avg rating — 291,760 ratings
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56

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4.02 avg rating — 1,403,231 ratings
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57

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4.38 avg rating — 1,406,335 ratings
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58

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4.20 avg rating — 4,340,693 ratings
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59

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3.87 avg rating — 81,251 ratings
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60

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4.34 avg rating — 1,154,232 ratings
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61

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4.16 avg rating — 53,287 ratings
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62

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4.12 avg rating — 393,508 ratings
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63

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4.18 avg rating — 228,050 ratings
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64

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4.21 avg rating — 127,630 ratings
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65

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4.11 avg rating — 242,959 ratings
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66

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4.06 avg rating — 168,071 ratings
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67

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4.04 avg rating — 94,422 ratings
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68

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4.34 avg rating — 94,579 ratings
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69

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4.31 avg rating — 755,353 ratings
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70

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4.12 avg rating — 814,996 ratings
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71

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4.25 avg rating — 370,718 ratings
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72

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3.88 avg rating — 263,470 ratings
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73

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3.91 avg rating — 306,798 ratings
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74

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3.88 avg rating — 155,735 ratings
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75

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really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 252,477 ratings
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76

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4.15 avg rating — 156,593 ratings
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77

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3.98 avg rating — 23,389 ratings
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78

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4.14 avg rating — 326,174 ratings
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78

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4.10 avg rating — 1,006,225 ratings
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80

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4.28 avg rating — 475,458 ratings
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81

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4.02 avg rating — 113,674 ratings
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82

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4.09 avg rating — 128,791 ratings
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83

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3.85 avg rating — 130,987 ratings
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84

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4.25 avg rating — 770,164 ratings
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85

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3.89 avg rating — 252,809 ratings
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86

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3.99 avg rating — 124,331 ratings
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87

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4.25 avg rating — 848,377 ratings
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88

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4.38 avg rating — 165,555 ratings
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89

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4.31 avg rating — 535,109 ratings
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89

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4.14 avg rating — 1,132,365 ratings
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91

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4.07 avg rating — 157,091 ratings
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92

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4.06 avg rating — 468,863 ratings
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92

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4.13 avg rating — 3,886,247 ratings
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92

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4.16 avg rating — 198,327 ratings
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95

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3.95 avg rating — 406,262 ratings
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96

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3.88 avg rating — 53,994 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 45,865 ratings
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97

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3.96 avg rating — 167,622 ratings
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99

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3.97 avg rating — 440,584 ratings
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99

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4.17 avg rating — 270,386 ratings
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366 books · 200 voters · list created March 30th, 2012 by Sam Sigelakis-Minski (votes) .
76 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Sam 5061 books
194 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3388 books
848 friends
Soumya 1374 books
38 friends
JanBreesmom 2425 books
235 friends
Joe 1292 books
45 friends
Harry 43 books
13 friends
Winnie 750 books
25 friends
Michaela 502 books
62 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-18 of 18 (18 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Ayesha (last edited Mar 23, 2013 06:13AM) (new)

Ayesha why is a goosebumps book on this list!!


message 2: by Sarah (new)

Sarah I like this list, however there are some books on here that don't belong simply for the reason that they are not modern... Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens are great writers and their books are classics, but they belong to the 1800's... Not the last 50 years.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Sam, you want me to "clean" this list? Remove anything from before, say, 1960?


message 4: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Susanna wrote: "Sam, you want me to "clean" this list? Remove anything from before, say, 1960?"

Just cleaned it up a bit; please let me know if there are any other books you find should be removed.


message 5: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Sarah wrote: "I like this list, however there are some books on here that don't belong simply for the reason that they are not modern... Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens are great writers and their books are clas..."

Just cleaned it up a bit; please let me know if there are any other books you find should be removed.


message 6: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (last edited Jul 20, 2013 10:44AM) (new)

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was first published in 1950, and Animal Farm is from 1945.


message 7: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Susanna wrote: "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was first published in 1950, and Animal Farm is from 1945.">

The list does say "fifty years OR SO" for a reason; so that people can loosely interpret that and put books on here that they find are classics that have not entered the standard literary canon yet. That being said, I removed the books you think do not belong there so that there is no more problems.



message 8: by Lina (new)

Lina I'm fine with people voting for whatever they deem worthy to be called "modern classics". What I'm not fine with is that there are not a few books that are already undoubted classics, like books by Faulkner or Bulgakov. The idea is good but the list author doesn't seem to edit it accordingly.


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads "The list author" is currently 63 people. Most listopias are crowd sourced.

It's easy to add books to lists; at the top of the list, at the tab next to "all votes."


message 10: by Chris (new)

Chris Gager This list wants a bit of editing as some books are listed twice.


message 11: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Chris wrote: "This list wants a bit of editing as some books are listed twice."

I just ran the Goodreads "duplicate checker;" it has found and removed five duplicates from the list.


message 12: by Chris (new)

Chris Gager Nice!


message 13: by Fiona (new)

Fiona Hurley Published > 50 years ago:

To Kill a Mockingbird (#1)
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (#32)
Native Son (#105)
Rebecca (#121)
A Town Like Alice (#129)
On the Beach (#134)
1984 (#246)
Jamaica Inn (#269)
Frenchman's Creek (#271)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (#302)


message 14: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Fiona wrote: "Published > 50 years ago:

To Kill a Mockingbird (#1)
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (#32)
Native Son (#105)
Rebecca (#121)
A Town Like Alice (#129)
On the Beach (#134)
1984 (#246)
Jamaica I..."


What part of "or so" did you not understand?


message 15: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Catherine wrote: "I'm fine with people voting for whatever they deem worthy to be called "modern classics". What I'm not fine with is that there are not a few books that are already undoubted classics, like books by..."

That is a highly subjective opinion. This list is for the people to decide. You, as a person, can add books thst you feel are more fitting.


message 16: by Kurt (new)

Kurt Fox The Hobbit 1937 - 81 years. more than 50% greater than 50 years or so.
The Time Machine 1890s - over 100 years. More than twice 50 years.

If the list criteria had a firm date, it would make the list easier to maintain.


message 17: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski Kurt wrote: "The Hobbit 1937 - 81 years. more than 50% greater than 50 years or so.
The Time Machine 1890s - over 100 years. More than twice 50 years.

If the list criteria had a firm date, it would make the li..."


Make your own list with firm criteria, then. This list was created literally seven years ago, and to be frank, I do not have time to maintain and edit it. People have the ability to add and subtract books at their own will. If you feel that strongly about this, I will change the description to 100 years.


message 18: by Sam (new)

Sam Sigelakis-Minski To all who are complaining that this list is inaccurate, has books outside of a time range you are comfortable with, or that you *insist* are already classics or not classics at all, become a Librarian and edit the list yourself.

From the Goodreads page:
"Important: if you're on this page you have been granted a special "librarian" status, and can edit list data. Don't take this responsibility lightly—if you can help correct any inaccuracies or add any missing data, please do so! But only make changes if you're sure they're correct."


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