Thursday, November 19, 2009

Booking Through Thursday (12)



Booking Through Thursday asks:

Today’s question was suggested by Barbara:

Do you think any current author is of the same caliber as Dickens, Austen, Bronte, or any of the classic authors? If so, who, and why do you think so? If not, why not? What books from this era might be read 100 years from now?


Same caliber as Dickens, Austen, Brontë, or other classic authors? That's a tough question, because those folks weren't really of the same caliber even amongst the group of "classics authors". Some were more prolific, some were more wordy, some were more accessible, and some are only considered "classic authors" because their books are old (not because they're particularly appealing). If we're going by the ability to use proper grammar and spelling, then I'd have to say no; today's authors could learn a thing or two (or more) from yesterday's authors.

As for what people will be reading 100 years from now, I can only hope it's not the Twilight series (unless it's for some psychology class about the weirdness of the Twi-hard phenomenon). I think people might still be reading Harry Potter, simply because it was such a big deal and captured so many people's imaginations (and got them reading).

It would be nice to see award-winning books being read 100 years from now, too. Some of them aren't as popular as the bestsellers... but popular doesn't always mean good.

2 comments:

  1. Good answer. I was wondering about the whole Twilight craziness as well. I think once all the movies are released it will really die down and people will lose interest.

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  2. Ack! I hope that the Twilight series isn't ever considered classic either! I did enjoy the Harry Potter series. Also like Diana Gabaldon's OUtlander series but I wouldn't ever consider her books classics either.

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