EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion

Hello all!

I've picked books for the first two months to get us started, but would love to poll the group and get some ideas for reads in the "Modern Classics/Popular Reads" category. Starting for the month of July, I can set up a poll so we all can vote on what we'd most like to read.

Some books I was thinking about for this category:
The Book Thief Markus Zusak
The Shining Stephen King
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson
Tuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom
Cloud Atlas David Mitchell
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
A Game of Thrones George R.R. Martin

This category is a leeetle more free-form than the other, so would love feedback on what people are most interested in reading. Let me know if you all have any more ideas!

Best,
Kasey

I don't have as many for this one either, have to give it some more thought:
The Pillars of the Earth

Authors:
Neil Gaiman
Stephen King

More authors:
Isabel Allende
Julia Alvarez
Oscar Hijuelos
Barbara Kingsolver
Amy Tan
John Grisham
Luis Alberto Urrea

I think the following qualify and could be interesting:

Ender's Game
The DaVinci Code
Wicked
Go Set A Watchman
Catch-22 ( may not be considered Modern)
Anything by Amy Tan and Ayn Rand

Tons of suggestions. I hadn't read a lot of popular books til I joined Goodreads book clubs:



Almost anything by
Nicolas Sparks
John Grisham
Dan Brown
Mitch Albom
James Patterson
Michael Crichton

would count in the category of super popular see those on shelves at used bookstores all the time. Most of the women authors I can think that I'd want to read of all wrote established classics except for Octavia E. Butler but I'm not sure how wide read or popular her books are.

Love all the Stephen King suggestions!!! I feel like his books are all popular and I've only read one (and loved it).

Patricia Engel
Cristina Henriquez
Cristina Garcia
Lisa See
Jean Kwok

Can't really help on the modern classics I haven't gotten round reading any on my list apart from Dan Brown.

I had a coworker recommend The Road by Cormac McCarthy today. McCarthy won a Pulitzer in 2007 for this novel so I don't know how much more modern or classic it gets.

How would you define "modern classic." I am having a hard time thinking of suggestions because I am not quite sure of the criteria.

Hi Melanie,

I guess it's a little open ended. I figured more "modern" classics would be anything written in the last 20-30 years that became really popular and is constantly recommended; very recently published books can/should also be included. I think Luella's list above really nails it - lots of best-sellers, critically acclaimed books that seem to have high read counts and lots of positive feedback. There are so many of those books that I have on a very long to-read list...

I've seen lists starting "modern" classics as anything written post WWII, then I've seen lists not considering something a "modern" classic unless it was written after 1980.
I don't really think there is a set definition.

I suggest this books:

Homèros' Odyssee
Madame Bovary
Lolita
1984
Animal Farm
Lolita]
Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights contains links to free audiobook