Defining a "cult classic" is practically impossible, but we all know it when we encounter it. They range from the horrid and cringeworthy to the brilliant and beautiful. They cross genres and eras and styles. But they all have one thing in common (in my humble opinion) :: They deliver a serious mindf*ck. These are stories designed to rearrange your thinking. With a tendency to challenge the status quo, cult classics veer off the beaten path and offer readers something new. They also change the reader in some way, and many a reader of a cult classic finds him/herself keeping a dog-eared copy on hand, well-read and practically memorized.
Here are some of the top cult classics:
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
- A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
- Dianetics by L. Ron Hubbard
- Dune by Frank Herbert
- The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
- Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
- Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
- The Stranger by Albert Camus
- Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
- Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
- The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
- Necromancer by William Gibson
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
- The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
- I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
- The Magus by John Fowles
- Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susan
- Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
- Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
- The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailor
- Howl by Allen Ginsberg
- Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- The Third Policeman by Brian O'Nolan (Zibilee)
- Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews (Care)
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (Trish)
- Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa (Rajdeep)
- Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (Kristen)
- The Tao of Poo by Benjamin Hoff (Kristen)
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach (Kristen)
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding (bookdout)
- 1984 by George Orwell (Jenny Girl)
I am looking to make this list an even 50, so let me know what I'm missing here!!!
Great list although some of what you list is a surprise: 25 and 26? But I love the idea and the picture is just great!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you put Lolita on the list. That was my first thought and I realized some people might find it uncomfortable to put Lolita on a cult list, haha! :D
ReplyDeleteI would add The Third Policeman, but that is a personal choice that I try to push on everyone! I have read a few of these, and some of them are wonderful books. One of my favorites is A Confederacy of Dunces. Just a wonderful book!
ReplyDeleteGreat list! I have read (actually read, completed and all) nine of these books. I started and set aside three others, and I own a whole bunch more. Good luck with your project!!!
ReplyDeleteI was just saying over at Marie's the other day (who was talking about the same thing) that when I hear "cult" I think of movies. Weird that I don't think of books at cult. But now that you all are bringing it up, yeah, I guess they are. I can count on one hand how many of these I've read, so obviously I need to get cracking.
ReplyDeleteFlowers in the Attic? That is the first book that comes to my mind. Twilight will be on a cult list someday.
ReplyDeleteI might have thrown up a little bit when I read Portrait of the Artist. Ick. I immediately thought of Handmaid's Tale but not positive that'll work. Would also add Snow Crash by Stephenson, though it's a bit lesser known/read.
ReplyDeleteOh Lord … I'm terrible at thinking of things on the fly like this. Sounds like you are really doing challenges but calling them projects! HAHA.
ReplyDeleteThe Black Book — Orhan Pamuk
ReplyDeleteMy Name is Red — Orhan Pamuk
Feast of The Goat — Mario Vargas Llosa
To The Lighthouse — Virginia Woolf
I never thought about "cult" books before, but it's so true! There are some great ones on your list.
ReplyDeleteZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. Man, most of these books make me want to puke now (except for good old Salman). ;)
ReplyDeleteI tried to read Thus Spoke Zarathustra once. It didn't go well. Good luck with getting through some of these!
I'd suggest Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
ReplyDeleteShelleyrae @ Book'd Out
Great list and not sure this one fits but 1984? Seems to pop often and could be considered on of the earliest dystopian books other one are inspired by. But seriously, I am not sure so go ahead and laugh.
ReplyDelete