Putting aside the inarguable fact that everyone has different tastes, including in the genre of classics, there are some that have genuinely stood the test of time. The internet has a plentiful selection of any number of listicles of books that have not aged well, and those are often for good reason: most commonly outdated sociopolitical views including but not limited to racism and other forms of discrimination. Sometimes it’s as simple as picking something up from a past century and saying to yourself, “Yikes, this would not fly at all today.” However, there’s also something to be said in the ways in which the social media era is quick to judge and pounce on a piece of media, books included, that they deem to have not stood the test of time and by no means should anyone ever pick up this book again for that reason and I won’t stop talking about it until the dead horse is beaten. Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, for example, is arguably one of the most beloved pieces of literature from the last century, but in recent years it’s come under fire for its uses of casual racism and depiction of non-intersectional white feminism. While I won’t excuse any displays of racism from any year, such discourse is a good case for the ways in which literature, and especially classic literature, should be evaluated: is this piece of media I love imperfect in certain ways? Yes. Does that mean I shouldn’t try to analyze said flaws and still find ways to appreciate it for enduring across time? Absolutely not. Are there times that the flaws overpower any effort of appreciation and thus we discard it? Definitely. But that’s a different article. It’s ultimately impossible to please everyone, but there are in fact some “classic” novels that have stood the test of time and are worth the read in the 21st century, if that’s what you happen to be fancying at the moment. There are lots of books that have gotten better with age that could make up their own list entirely: George Orwell’s 1984 or Animal Farm, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, or Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, to name a few. I have not personally read every title recommended as such by the internet, your local librarian, or high school English teacher, so I have compiled a few titles of my own that I consider having gotten better with age — each for their own reasons.
Books That Have Gotten Better With Age
What are some books that you think have gotten better with age?
