Modern Classics…

[AlwaysSometimesNever]

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!

The Great Gatsby
1984

I re read both recently at the first is so delicate and well written. The second is powerfully done.

I loved Down and Out in Paris and London (George Orwell) at that age.

Just remembered The 39 Steps by John Buchan. Probably read it about his age.

The Great Gatsby - yes - Also The Sun Also Rises (Fiesta ) Hemingway , just to get a balanced view of two great American novelists who apparently did not get on 😊 I think The Secret History ( Donna Tartt ) stands the test of time but not sure it would actually be called a modern classic yet (Sorry just noticed suggested already. ) I'd chuck in a PG Wodehouse for light reading.

But so many good ideas.

-Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

For a mix of variety and modern books which caused a stir at the time but have been a bit overlooked since maybe consider

-Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
-Passing by Nella Larsen
-Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
by Ken Kesey
-A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines
-The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, although that's marmite I think. Important though.

Agree with suggestion of We Need To Talk About Kevin. Some brilliant recommendations on here!

I both do and don't envy you OP - I would love someone to ask me for this gift, then find it impossible to narrow it down!
I'd love to know what you go with.

I know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I read quite a few of her books in my teens.

I’ve read The Well of Loneliness. It got banned for a while after publication, thought to be obscene!

That was my thinking, it's culturally important. I read it in my teens and remember being a bit suprised and bemused why it was banned. Maybe I was expecting something a bit racy and if anything it's quite dry and sad. In my youth I didn't fully appreciate how different the times were.

The Bell Jar is a hugely overrated misery memoir. Don’t give that to anyone you like!

Same but by the time we read it times were different! I found it quite sad too.

Another book Maurice wasn’t published until after E.M Forster had died. He kept delaying publication as he knew the public weren’t ready for it! When I read it in my teens I thought it was quite tame. I suppose it’s a bit like Lady Chatterley’s Lover!

Some fabulous recommendations here

Catcher in the Rye

Great book! I read all 4 of his books in my teens.
i liked Franny and Zooey as well.

Papillon

I read Catcher in the Rye at school and didn't get it at all. I'm probably missing something though.

Modernish books that have stayed with me:

Rebecca (my favourite).
We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Lord of the Flies.

Boring:

Remains of the Day.
White Teeth.
Mrs Dalloway.

Underwhelming:

Atonement.
Room with a View.

If in doubt, I generally revert back to Barbara Vine, but I don't think she has classic status (yet). Will be one day, though, I think. Dark Adapted Eye is an absolute banger.

I really liked A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine. The idea of communal living appealed to me at the time and the fact it was set in the 70s!

I agree Rebecca is a great novel, I first read Lord of the Flies in school. It’s another book that stays with you. We Need to Talk About Kevin is devastating. I read it after I had become a mother and just couldn’t imagine what Eva was going through.

These are brilliant, thank you!!
I’m off to our local bookshop tomorrow to spend spend spend.
I’m currently reading ‘Harvest’ by Jim Crace which is the best thing I’ve read for ages!

I found him a lovely old copy of ‘Lord of the Flies’ at a book fair, which I hope he will enjoy the feel of as well as the content.

This is a fab thread and as I’ve recently got back into reading (who knew it would be as easy as deleting the time wasting scourge that is Instagram!) I shall be returning to look up recommendations.

My offering would be The Master and Marguerita by Bulgakov.

I know why the Caged Bird Sings
Handmaid's
The Well of Loneliness Radcliffe Hall.
The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith.
Perfume.

I gave a much loved student my copy of A Suitable Boy when he left . It's an undertaking but its wonderful.

Agree with Beloved and would also add Captain Corelli, God Of Small Things and White Teeth as books 17 year old A level readers enjoy but might not read otherwise.

There are some really good French and Russian authors. I really liked Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn when I was younger.

@AlwaysSometimesNeverwhich ten did you go for in the end?!

Why not? Surely we should ignore everything except the quality of the work. If all the best novels have been written by straight, white, conservative men, then we should be honest and say so, not pretend that a second rate novel is great just because the author ticks certain boxes.

Bloody hell @Dappy777 are you still coming out with that racist and sexist opinion? Straight, white, conservative men are a minority in the world. If your criteria says they are the only good writers that suggests your criteria are wrong. The history of literature goes back thousands of years and for much of that Europe didn't have access to paper and so literacy was much less widespread than in other parts of the world. You really think there have never been any great writers in China, Japan or India? West Africa, Egypt, Persia? And if you are (yet again) going to plead ignorance of works in translation please explain why you are repeatedly dismissive of black female writers in the anglosphere. Live a little, read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or Buchi Emecheta. You may have your tiny mind blown.