I’m a book worm. It’s no secret. I’m nerdy and wordy and everything in-between. 
I’ve been working through Dumas’ D’Artagnan Romances and I am SO in love. Like madly, passionately attached. They’re not only enthralling in their adventures, but you feel connected to the characters. You bond! Seriously!
I love classics. I am totally a classics girl. Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t read other things too, I do. I just love my classics best of all!
I once read a list of the BBC’s Top 100 Books Of All Time and I was intrigued. There were lots of obvious choices (like Three Musketeers and Pride and Prejudice) but there were a few surprises- modern novels! I was a little upset, well maybe not upset- more like annoyed.
I pondered it some more, and finally decided that “modern classics” do exist. After all, “classics” don’t become that just because they’re old. It’s because the are epic, or tragic, or moving in some great way.
I don’t agree 100% with every choice on the list, but I do think that I need to be more open minded about current titles becoming modern classics.
What do you think? What do you think are “modern classics?” What are some of your most favorite books? What character has stayed with you? What book do you think will stand the test of time? Have you read more than 6 of the BBC’s Top 100 books?
**I might cry if anyone puts down Twilight Saga as a “modern classic.” I’m not saying they don’t have their purpose and audience… but I am of the opinion that in 100 years, no one will still be reading them.
J, I’ve read 10 of these (more if you count the individual books of Chronicles of Narnia). I can see how Memoirs of a Geisha can become a classic…but Lovely Bones, although popular, I don’t think will last. My faves are The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, Two From Galiliee by Marjorie Holmes, and Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness books. I think they have potential.
I have read 17 (which is a lot compared to their average of 6) but I think I need to be somewhere around 30 to really feel accomplished. I would REALLY like to read the following books in the next 5 years or so:
The Count Of Monte Cristo (Dumas is one of my all time favorite authors)
Les Miserables
War and Peace
A Tale Of Two Cities
Crime and Punishment
I hope I can get them all in. There are so many I like! I am a classics girl but I also enjoy modern fiction too. I just read The Hunger Games in less than two days- which is nice to break up a 1,500 page classic with a quick, easy read. Now I am going to go back to my beloved Dumas and finish the rest of the D’Artagnan Romances.