World Book Day 2024: 7 Classical Books That Continue To Resonate with the Contemporary Readers

World Book Day 2024: Books are an immersive world of new experiences, skills, learning, and escape. Readers and Authors around the world have been influencing social-political and cultural realities with their interpretations and opinions. Literature as a form of art continues to influence and inspire varied forms of art including cinema, painting, literature, and more. 

Classical Books's Appeal 

Every reader or author would at least mention ‘a classical book’ they came across and loved. Classical books, usually written in a time period with the most distant socio-cultural context, and even distinct language, have continued to entertain and encourage their readers. But, how do you call a certain section of books classical and not another?   

Well, a classical book’s key feature is its ability to stay perennial. It attained this state by standing the test of time among the books that came before and after them. Additionally, the themes of classical books transcend a time period. Of course, they are brilliantly articulated and Craftly written, but they always stay relevant and approachable because they touch upon universal themes.    

7 Classical Books Still Relevant to Contemporary Readers

Human trials and tribulations are foundationally the same across generations and time periods. And these classical books bring the same challenges in face, making them seem and further lessening the magnanimity of the issues, as everyone across time faced them and survived.  

1984 by George Orwell

Totalitarianism, propaganda, and censorship are the most relevant today more than ever. George Orwell, with his dystopian novel, compels one to think about the consequences of allowing a government to exercise totalitarianism through a cautionary tale of Oceania.   

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 

Ambition fuels most of us to go beyond limits to achieve our dreams. We all are expecting a rather better future like the protagonist Pip, who in his ‘great expectations’ of climbing the social ladder for self-improvement turns condescending and arrogant only to learn his lessons the hard way. 

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

A romance like Darcy and Elizabeth is wished upon in pop culture. The novel however is not all about love, it goes to lessons in prejudice, self-discovery, and personal growth. Both Darcy and Ms. Bennet have to walk towards each other overcoming their prejudices to make it the greatest love story.     

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 

Anyone who is stuck in the past would have a crumbling future. But the past holds learning, values, and morals that will prove essential in the coming time. Tradition has to be evolving or else the tighter we grip to it the more likely it is to dissolve in our fist. Achebe gives these lessons with the story of the Igbo people. 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly 

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein continues to stay relevant and widely read for elaborating the consequences of meddling with nature and possessing Faustian ambition. 

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Walker’s epistolary novel stays relevant even today for its feminist themes, and celebration of womanhood, and sisterhood while addressing gender equality and female sexuality and desire. 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 

A revenge story with the most romantic undertones ever. Could you imagine? The book stays relevant for a plethora of reasons. It shows the destructive sides of love and passion between Heathcliff and Catherine while also giving a window into the heads of so many women for whom the only way to have financial stability has been marrying rich historically. So they make the hard choice of financial stability over love.