But more important, we’ve rounded up books that broke ground, kept us thinking and even created new book genres.
So what exactly qualifies a work as classic literature? Broadly speaking, classic novels are groundbreaking for their era, have broad appeal beyond one community or country, and have withstood the test of time—their stories and messages remain relevant today. For our list, we chose classic novels written in the 20th century or earlier, and every book on this list is more than 25 years old. We combed through bestseller lists of old to dig up books that have been well-reviewed and acclaimed. But more important, we’ve rounded up books that broke ground, kept us thinking and even created new book genres.