Will 21st century authors produce any classics? As the number of books of fiction produced each year approaches staggering numbers, classics bookshelves must find themselves frustrated in their search for the needle in the proverbial haystack.

I'm issuing a challenge to readers for the new year: for every new book that you read this year, read (or-re-read) a classic book. I am going to attempt to undertake this challenge myself.

This Thursday, Cozy Classics (by Simply Read Books) will launch with Pride and Prejudice and Moby-Dick. What is Cozy Classics, you might ask? Well, th...

Why does history remember some novels, and forget others? Okay, because most novels are forgettable. But there are some, a handful or two, that brush up against greatness itself, and yet don't seem to get a ticket on the literature train.

Great literature, because it asks big questions and communicates big ideas, stays relevant, even if it is very old. You will be richer, wiser, and smarter if you make classic literature a regular part of your life.

A recent comment on our book club discussion points out an odd moment in "The Sun Also Rises," in which Hemingway writes, "He was the archivist, and a...

What makes a must-own classic book? After all, there are many kinds of book available. There are the coffee-table books, designed to be flicked throug...

As a teen and young adult, I managed to polish off some famous books. But, for various reasons, other renowned novels remained tantalizingly in my future.

The only way to maintain literacy on an Internet overrun with Bed Intruders, tub-related women and epic treadmill fails is with subliminal messages. ...

Lolita. Light of my life. Lo. Li. Ta Very Much. If you wonder where my peculiar interests came from, I should have to say it started when I was 13 wit...

It's Ray Bradbury's birthday and sorry, fellas. There's a new heartthrob in town. Actually, "new" is doing the man an injustice. Ray Bradbury's been...

This is a particularly handsome series, complete with gold, silver and bronze-foiled Jazz Age patterns, and each book feels great in the hand. Bickfor...

On a day that will find many gay rights activists celebrating, we look to the books that have provided a richer understanding of the joys and challeng...

It's time to stop pretending that "To Kill a Mockingbird" is some kind of timeless classic that ranks with the great works of American literature. Its...

Abandon all hope ye who enter the secret code to Level 9. The first part of Dante Alighieri's pre-Renaissance masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, has been...

Here are my twelve: Each book celebrates the birth month of an author, a holiday or some other event connected to that month.

I recommend this assignment to those with the crisp copies of Moby-Dick and Brave New World on display probably just to impress people.