A Tale of Two Cities, Romeo and Juliet, To Kill a Mockingbird—these books line the shelves of not only your sophomore English class but also Barnes & Noble’s classics section. But why? Classic novels endure for the reasons they emerged: eloquent, exemplary language; resounding, telling themes; and, more often than not, a locale or era that underscores and even dramatizes the events of the novel. These elements, in classics, coalesced such that these books ascended to the top shelf and have sat there ever since—and they’ve been sitting there, for decades or even centuries. Their status, however, doesn’t keep classics from expiring. While classics should enrich and empower, they can also read dull, stale, and far past their expiration date to a modern reader. Enter the modern classic. Definitions vary; to me, the modern classic genre includes any contemporary novel with the weight and staying power of a classic. This isn’t to say that modern classics can or should replace classics—classics are imbued with and shaped by history in a way that modern classics are not. No one can rewrite To Kill a Mockingbird. But modern classics reframe the human condition, proving that modern authors can still pen novels that influence readers to the same, if not a greater, extent as venerated authors’ because their novels relate to readers in ways traditional classics cannot.

This trio of novels from my own reading exemplifies the attributes of modern classics, each harnessing potent theme and technique to tell the tale of a generation.