Hi all! This week’s Top 5 Wednesday topic is: Future Classics. I’ll admit, this one was a bit tricky for me, since I generally read books that no one seems to have heard of. 😉 But I’ll take a whack at it!
Since I tend to believe that anything written over 30 years ago will already be considered a ‘classic in the making’ if not a straight up ‘classic’, I’m going to be sticking to books that were written during my lifetime. 🙂
American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
This book was AMAZING. I have always been a fan of mythology and this book managed to incorporate pretty much all of it! It even introduced me to a lot of gods & legends that I’d never heard of; pretty impressive considering how long I’ve been reading about them. And I liked the invention of the ‘new’ gods; it’s an interesting look at how societies have changed (and not changed). This one will definitely be a long-lasting book, especially amongst the history & mythology set.
All The Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr)
I am only about a third of the way through this book, since I am listening
to it on audio, but I can already tell that it will definitely be one that gets assigned in Literature classes (and maybe even History classes) in the future. The descriptions of WWII from the eyes of both a civilian child and a soldier really give you an inside look at what it must have been like to live during that horrific war. I have a feeling this one is going to change me as a person, as all the best books do.
The Martian (Andy Weir)
This one is definitely going to be a future sci-fi classic. It’s a great introduction to the genre for a non-science person. There is a ton of technical discussion, but even the really tricky bits are written in such a way that a layperson can understand what’s happening. The main character is very humorous and personable, which makes you really eager to find out what happens to him. And the descriptions of Mars are wonderful, especially the bits where the main character runs into real-world things, like the Pathfinder. Great for space geeks and adventure hounds, this one is definitely going to be sticking around.
Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)
I will be the first to admit, I actually really disliked this book, BUT that
was mainly due to not liking the characters and not because the book itself was bad. The writing in this novel is amazing and the idea behind the plot is intriguing. It kept me interested all the way to the end, even though I couldn’t stand ANY of the people I was reading about. Quite impressive! I can definitely see this as being a future classic in that it seems to have brought about a change in how thrillers are written. Any book that upends its genre deserves to stick around for a while, and considering people are still describing books as “the new Gone Girl”, I have a feeling this one will.
Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)
Well, this one is kind of a no brainer, but it wouldn’t be a complete list without it. This book series completely changed my childhood, as it did to so many of us. It brought the joy of reading to so many people, children and adults alike; it made it cool to read again. This one isn’t just a future ‘fantasy’ classic, it’s a classic period. The world wouldn’t be quite the same without Harry Potter.
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So what do you guys think? Got any books you would choose as a Future Classic?
The Life and Books of a GorJess Nerd 