Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Hi everybody and welcome to a new Top Ten Tuesday! Today we’re talking about modern books we think will be classics in the future.
Now, when we talk about modern, I’m going to roughly say anything released post 2000, so the last 25 years.
And when we talk about classics, I googled ‘what makes a book a classic’ and got this answer which sounded perfect to me: A book becomes a classic through a combination of enduring quality, timeless themes, and lasting cultural relevance that allows it to stand the test of time across generations.
I also only picked books I’ve actually read myself. This was not an easy post, but I came up with the 10 books below, which I think fit the bill:
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – The Fault in our Stars by John Green – The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid – The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune – The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Tell Me:
Do you agree with any of my picks?
What book do you think will be a classic in the future?
Fun as I think topics like this are, I’m terrible at judging something like this (what makes a classic). As a result, I relied on published lists other readers made talking about possible modern classics – and we share a couple this week. 🙂
It is such a difficult judgement to make! But sounds like you came up with a great twist!
I’d like to try The Book Thief, one day.
Predicting a classic was a good topic to make the brain cells think.
Here’s a link to my TTT post
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2025/11/18/%f0%9f%93%9a-toptentuesday-10-modern-books-that-might-be-future-classics-tuesdaybookblog-booktwitter-bookx/
Haha yes it was definitely a tricky topic! I hope you’ll enjoy The Book Thief if you read it.
Great choices. I’m looking at a lot of lists and thinking ‘of course, why didn’t I think of that one?’!
Here’s mine for this week: https://portobellobookblog.com/2025/11/18/top-ten-tuesday-18th-november-ten-books-which-might-be-classics-in-the-future-toptentuesday-amreading-bookrecommendations-tuesdaybookblog-booksky-%f0%9f%92%99%f0%9f%93%9a/
Thanks! It’s definitely a tricky topic!
The fact that several of these books are popping up on more than one TTT list this week would seem to be a strong argument for them as classics of the future! 🙂
That’s great to hear, it was definitely not an easy topic 🙂
I went rogue today as I didn’t think I could make a full list, but I was actually thinking of Evelyn Hugo, Song of Achilles, THUG, and of course, The Hunger Games! I feel like Hunger Games is already a classic now, lol
So true about The Hunger Games! And yes, this definitely wasn’t an easy topic, but I’m glad to hear we’re thinking of some of the same books!
The Hate U Give was thought provoking for sure.
It really was.
I think The Hunger Games will for sure become a classic! Also, isn’t it wild that 2000 was 25 years ago??
I can’t believe it either, still feels like only yesterday, even if I was only 15 back then!
I agree with your choices, especially The Song of Achilles, The Hunger Games and The Night Circus!
Thanks! Those all have such classic feels to them!
these are great picks – and definitely on their way to becoming classics! My TTT
Thanks!
This was too hard of a list for me to make but I agree with Song of Achilles!
It was indeed such a difficult topic!
That’s a fantastic definition of a classic, focusing on **timeless themes** and **lasting cultural relevance**. I wholeheartedly agree with your inclusion of *The Hate U Give*; I think it’s a vital book that will remain culturally relevant for generations to come.
Thank you! THUG is definitely already a classic in my mind.
I love how you included THUG in your list. I feel like it’s a modern classic.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/what-nonfiction-books-have-i-read-in-2025/
It’s the first book I thought about when I saw this topic!
Reading through your list I was just nodding to myself, “yep, yep, yep” except when I got to Simon vs, the Homo Sapiens Agenda – I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it before. I will have to check it out.
I hope you’ll enjoy Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda if you decide to give it a try!
And again, some books I totally forgot to add!
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2025/11/18/top-ten-tuesday-modern-books-that-will-be-classics-in-the-future/
Good that there are so many options 🙂
When I was thinking of my list I also had in mind published from about 2000 or later as my ‘modern’ descriptor. We have three of the same books in our lists so I can see we were on the same wavelength lol. I loved The Night Circus and I can certainly see becoming a classic too. My list: https://darkshelfofwonders.com/top-10-modern-books-that-could-be-future-classics/
Great that we had similar thoughts about what qualified as ‘modern’ 🙂