- or books that are already on their way to becoming classics. I researched and chose these books from various sources to create a mixed list of what books we know of now that may become 'classics' several decades from now. 

Of course, many classics are books that slip under the radar and then become well-known many years later. Ultimately we can't be certain what will and won't be a classic. This is just a list of books that currently well-known to some degree, and have some traits of most classics we know of.

I've limited it to 30 or this list would've ended up pretty long, and I wanted it to be manageable. I've also limited the scope of this list to the last 40 years (1985-2025), from what research on 'classic' status has told me.

Also - I haven't read many of these myself, so I personally can't say if I agree with these popular picks that are touted as future classics (at least not yet). I wanted to make this list because I'm interested in what the classics of the future could be, and I wanted to offer up some 'educated guesses' based on research (whilst adding to my own TBR a little too). There are also some contemporary books that are already tagged as classics (like Atonement by Ian McEwan, published 2001) that aren't on here.

In short; check out these books, see how you feel about these being possible classics! I would also encourage that you look up these books and check for possible trigger warnings (particularly for the more serious or contentious books like A Little Life that ended up on this list)

Happy reading :)