Hi, as the title mentions i only read classics and i have ever since i was in elementary school and now as a high schooler all i read is still classics. It doesn’t matter what the book genre is as i read everything in classics and my reasoning for is that i love the unnecessary detail and the language and so i never picked up a modern book as they were too different from what i would read in novels and they always felt too wattpad to me or just fan fiction in general and i have nothing against fanfiction but i dont think that in book format these were for me although i never gave them a chance personally i just read a few pages from here and there and never a full book, the closest thing to modern books which i have read are the hunger games, the secret history, the book theif, the perks of being a wallflower, harry potter obviously.
here’s some of my personal favorite books so if something is similar character wise i would prefer but any book is completely fine as long as it feels like a piece of literature that is to be studied at some point or just a book in general and no the page number doesn’t really matter as in middle school i would devour 1 or 2 classics per day depending on how long it is but anyways:
1. the entire sherlock holmes series: purely because of the fact that he’s my favorite character in all of fiction
2. pride and prejudice
3. the divine comedy
4. a tale of two cities (side note; if any book has any character similar to sydney PLEASE recommend it)
5. the secret history
6. the phantom of the opera
7. the count of mount cristo
8. the illad
9. wuthering heights
10. around the world in 80 days
11. east of eden
12. arsene lupin
13. not a novel but hamlet
14. letters to a young poet
15. dubliners
i’m also a huge fan of poetry as so if there’s any modern poets that are worth reading i would love them to be recommended!!
by satoruian
2 Comments
Based on your list, you’d probably dig **The Goldfinch** – it’s got that dense, literary prose you’re craving and tackles some heavy themes. For something with Sherlock vibes, **The Thursday Murder Club** series has clever detection work but with more modern sensibilities.
Since you loved Sydney Carton, check out **A Little Life** (warning: it’s emotionally brutal) – one of the main characters has that same self-sacrificial complexity. And **The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo** reads like classic Hollywood drama with solid character development.
For poetry, definitely look into Ocean Vuong and Tracy K. Smith – they write with the kind of literary weight that’ll scratch that itch 📚 Also Mary Oliver if you want something more accessible but still profound 💀
So, from what year and forward would be modern to you? 😄 1950s? 2000s?