This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday is 21st century books we believe will become the next set of classics, the ones that stand the test of time. People still continue to read Austen and will continue to do so a century later as well. The same with books like Little Women, Black Beauty, and countless others. While we have no idea what people will be reading a century or even a few years later, I do hope (and believe) that the books on my list will join the classics library!

21st Century Books: The Classics List

I have way too many books I want to list below, but I decided to stop at 13 (a little over the Top Ten, I know, but…)

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
2. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson
3. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
4. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Varghese
5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
6. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
7. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
8. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
9. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
10. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
11. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
12. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanidhi
13. Wonder by R. J. Palacio

I skipped some of the series (Harry Potter, some of which did get published in the 21st century/Percy Jackson/Hunger Games/Twilight – yes, this one too is going to have staying power despite its flaws), or, did I really skip them?! 😉

A Couple of Classic Wondrous Words That We Should Be Using

• starrify (verb): To decorate with stars
• uhtceare (verb): To lie awake in the period just before dawn worrying too much to be able to sleep. Based on definitions and the couple of usages seen, it could also be a noun that refers to the pre-dawn worry itself.

So here is my attempt at a sentence with these words

Instead of spending time suffering from uhtceare, I decided to starrify the ceiling of our room.

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where you can share new words that you’ve encountered, or spotlight words you love.  Feel free to get creative! It was first created by Kathy over at Bermuda Onion and is now hosted at Elza Reads.

Related Reads

• Check out my list of Top Ten Books I am Thankful For (today and always!)
• Or this one of the Top Ten Books That Gave Me a Book Hangover
• And if you are in the need for a smile, this is the list for you: Ten Books That Make You Smile
• 50 Forgotten Words That Need to Be Brought Back and one of the 50 is uhtceare!

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, have you read any of these books? What are your thoughts on them? Do you think any of them will become the classics of the future? What are the books I might see on such a list from you?