Modern Classics: What Counts, and 12 to Start With
What makes a book a modern classic, how the publishers' series define it, and twelve 20th-century novels to start with, sorted by what kind of read you want.
Last updated September 2026
Contents5
Modern classics are books from roughly the last hundred years that have already shown they last. They stay in print, stay on reading lists and keep being argued about long after the first reviews. The term covers everything from The Great Gatsby to Beloved.
This guide explains what earns a book the label. It also suggests twelve to start with. It's part of our classics and reading guides hub, which also covers American, English and Russian books.
TL;DR: a modern classic is a 20th-century or recent book with a proven track record. Short, approachable starting points are The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, Things Fall Apart and The Old Man and the Sea. Move on to Beloved, One Hundred Years of Solitude and Mrs Dalloway once you want something richer.
What makes a book one of the modern classics
Four signals come up again and again.
- Time. Most books called modern classics are at least a few decades old. Staying power takes time to show.
- Teaching. The book is still assigned in schools and universities. New study guides and introductions keep appearing.
- Influence. Later writers borrow its ideas, form or language. 1984 gave English words like "Big Brother" and "doublethink".
- Reissue in a classics series. Publishers such as Penguin Modern Classics and Harper Perennial Modern Classics add a book to their lines when they think it will last.
A bestseller can be great without being a modern classic. The label is about survival, not sales.
Twelve modern classics to start with
Short and approachable
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925). Under 200 pages, and the most common first modern classic. Our American classic novels guide links a recommended edition.
- George Orwell, Animal Farm (1945). A farmyard fable about revolution, readable in an afternoon.
- Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea (1952). A short novel about an old fisherman and a giant marlin.
- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958). The story of a proud man in an Igbo village as colonial rule arrives. Short, clear and widely taught.
Mid-length and widely taught
- George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). The dystopia that shaped how we talk about surveillance. See our 1984 guide.
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932). A pleasure-driven dystopia, often read alongside Orwell.
- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). A child's view of a trial in 1930s Alabama.
- Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day (1989). An English butler looks back on a life of service. It won the Booker Prize.
Richer and more demanding
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway (1925). One day in London told through the thoughts of its characters.
- Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987). A formerly enslaved woman haunted by her past. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967). Seven generations of one family in an invented Colombian town. Read Gregory Rabassa's translation.
- Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita. The Devil visits Soviet Moscow. Our Russian books guide links an edition.
Modern classics versus contemporary fiction
Contemporary fiction is simply recent. Modern classics have already faced a test recent books haven't passed: decades of rereading after the launch buzz fades. That's why lists of modern classics change slowly. A book from the last ten years may well get there. For now, though, it's contemporary fiction, however good.
Buying and borrowing modern classics
Most modern classics are still under copyright in the United States. So free public-domain ebooks don't exist for them. A few have crossed over as their copyrights expired. The Great Gatsby and Mrs Dalloway, both published in 1925, entered the US public domain in 2021.
For the rest, a library app such as Libby is the cheapest way to read them. A series edition, such as a Penguin Modern Classics paperback, usually adds an introduction worth reading after you finish the book.
Verdict
Modern classics are 20th-century and recent books with a proven record of lasting. Start with a short one, such as The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm or Things Fall Apart. Then try Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Remains of the Day. Save Beloved, Mrs Dalloway and One Hundred Years of Solitude for when you want a richer read.
Questions people also ask
How recent can a book be and still count as a modern classic?
There's no fixed cutoff. Most lists treat a book as a modern classic once it has stayed in print, in classrooms and in conversation for a few decades. A great novel from the last few years may get there. But the label describes a track record, not a guess.
Is a modern classic the same as a classic?
Not quite. Classic on its own usually points to older books, most of them now in the public domain. Modern classic flags a 20th-century book that has earned similar standing. It's still recent enough to be under copyright in many countries.
What is the Penguin Modern Classics series?
A long-running Penguin imprint that reissues 20th-century books it sees as lasting, usually with a new introduction. Being in the series is one practical signal that a book has made the jump. Other publishers run similar lines, such as Harper Perennial Modern Classics.
Are modern classics harder to read than older classics?
Usually easier on language, sometimes harder on form. The English is close to ours. But some Modernist novels play with time, point of view and structure. Short, plot-driven modern classics are among the easiest classics of any era.