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Original poster

Modern Classics…

79 replies

AlwaysSometimesNever · 11/12/2025 18:16

DS17 is loving English A Level and has asked for ‘10 modern classics’ for his Christmas present. I’ve bought Catch 22.
Now my brain is frazzled. Catcher in the Rye? What else? Help!

OP posts:
BuyWhichHouse · 12/12/2025 17:00

The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck
The Third Man by Graham Green
Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham

The above are all books I loved at around his age and that have enough excitement and plot to keep him interested, and I think they'd appeal to a young man. I can't imagine many 17 year old boys enjoying things like Mrs Dalloway particularly but then again I don't know your DS!
But yes agree with a PP that it would be good to expose him to women writers and writers of colour so Beloved by Toni Morrison for example could be a good choice.

Frannyisreading · 12/12/2025 18:58

icedpuddles · 12/12/2025 16:30

I have read many of the above suggestions and whilst some are great there are plenty there that are pretty much unfinishable in my opinion or very hard going so he shouldn't be put off if they don't suit him. Everyone has different tastes but for example I would not recommend The Sea, the Sea (boring and everyone is unlikeable in it), Mrs Dalloway (a classic but it did nothing for me), I have read several Steinbeck greats and not enjoyed a single one, I spent 4 years trying to read Sons and Lovers before I eventually gave up, On the Road, The Bell Jar, White Teeth, read them all and could not have bothered.
Some suggestions off the top of my head not covered are:
Almost anything by Hemmingway - A Farewell to Arms, For whom the bell tolls, etc
I think Atonement is poor, a truly beautiful book covering similar ground is The Go Between
Almost anything by Graham Green - The Bomb Maker of Geneave, The Quite American, Travels with my Aunt, Our Man in Havana etc
The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford

I suggested The Sea, The Sea because when I was the same age as OP's son it was one of my favourite books! I got a nice offer to read English at uni after an interview in which I discussed it.

You're right, totally a matter of taste and I'm sure OP will use her knowledge of her son's likes to choose from these suggestions.

Frannyisreading · 12/12/2025 19:02

And I'm not sure what's wrong with reading "edgy" stuff at 17 - Lolita blew my mind at that age with its incredible prose and unreliable narrator. I'd never encountered anything like that in Dickens or Austen. I'd encourage wide reading including edgy and uncomfortable subjects!

AudiobookListener · 12/12/2025 19:21

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
Spies Michael Frayn

If translations are ok, and depending on definition of modern:
All Quiet on the Western Front
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

Grumpycowww · 12/12/2025 19:55

We Need to Talk About Kevin. Mind blowing. I've only read it once because it was too upsetting to go back to but I think 17 would be old enough. Others may disagree! Also Handmaid's Tale, Secret History, Life of Pi.

marplemead · 12/12/2025 20:00

I lent my nephew Slaughterhouse Five when he was around that age. He loved it.

Fishneedscycle · 12/12/2025 20:06

A lot of these seem old for modern classics. I’d say
Remains of the Day or Never Let Me Go Ishiguro
Atonement or Enduring Love Ian McEwan
White Teeth Zadie Smith
Small Island Andrea Levy
Regeneration Pat Barker
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Attwood

RedRosie · 12/12/2025 20:10

A house for Mr Biswas or A bend in the river? I don't think Naipaul was a very nice man. But a fabulous writer.

Original poster
AlwaysSometimesNever · 12/12/2025 21:22

More excellent ideas! Thank you!
Some brilliant books to start his own collection with. He loves a book too, not a fan of e-readers.
Has just finished Tinker, Tailor and enjoyed that.
Quite jealous of him reading these for the first time!
Thank you 😊

OP posts:
barefootcook · 12/12/2025 21:56

What about The Picture of Dorian Gray?

Pandorea · 12/12/2025 22:02

Crime and Punishment
Metamorphosis or maybe The Trial

LittleJustice · 16/12/2025 22:04

Can I suggest John Wyndham here? Perhaps Day of the Triffids?

collectkdsasmed · 16/12/2025 22:30

Not sure if they’d be called classics but I love Ira Levin, A Kiss Before Dying is my favourite, then you have stepford wives and rosemary’s baby of course. If she likes a darker read!

collectkdsasmed · 16/12/2025 22:31

*sorry he, I’m envious you’ve got a son reading so avidly!

mambojambodothetango · 16/12/2025 22:41

IdaGlossop · 12/12/2025 16:43

More women writers:

'Love in a cold climate', Nancy Mitford
'The Cazelet Chronicles', Elizabeth Jane Howard
'The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie', Muriel Spark
'The Country Girls', Edna O'Brien
'Their Eyes Were Watching God', Zora Neale Hurston
'The Age of Innocence', Edith Wharton
'Milkman', Anna Burns
'Elmet', Fiona Mozley

Love your taste. Hardly anyone i know has read Elmet. It blew my mind. Same with Milkman.

Brawsome · 17/12/2025 18:44

I can never resist recommending And the Land Lay Still, by James Robertson. Loved that book.

everdine · 17/12/2025 18:48

berlinbaby2025 · 11/12/2025 19:57

Lolita
The Remains of the Day
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
A Little Life

A Little Life was heartbreaking!

everdine · 17/12/2025 18:50

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

everdine · 17/12/2025 18:52

The Outside by Albert Camus

everdine · 17/12/2025 18:52

Meant to say Outsider!

yorkshiretoffee · 17/12/2025 18:54

Inspired by the above - how about The Outsiders S E Hinton?

everdine · 17/12/2025 18:56

Jules et Jim by Henri-Pierre Roché

everdine · 17/12/2025 19:00

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood

Fgfgfg · 17/12/2025 19:05

Lots that have already been mentioned but also
Ray Bradbury - Farenheit 451
John Wyndham - The Trouble with Lichen or The Chrysalids

everdine · 17/12/2025 19:11

AudiobookListener · 12/12/2025 19:21

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
Spies Michael Frayn

If translations are ok, and depending on definition of modern:
All Quiet on the Western Front
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich puts your whole life into perspective! Such a brutal life in the Gulag!