In keeping with my cost-conscious efforts, I downloaded War and Peace for free using my Kindle app on my iPad. As you probably know this book is ridiculously long so this is not a review. I had not gotten very far in the book before I started to think about how well-known this book is as a classic. Then I started to wonder what makes a book a classic. How did enough people read this book in its entirety to deem it classic-worthy?

''What makes a book a classic?' Cue Google. Apparently I am not the only that had this question. After some quick skimming I came to the unsatisfying conclusion that there is no definite answer. Instead, there are many ideas and interpretations of what defines a classic.

A couple of characteristics that make sense to me are:

Time: Does this book relate to readers over time or is it really only appreciable in the short-term? This is the 'classic' factor when a book makes us think 'old' and 'I've heard of it before'.

Universal Appeal: Does this book appeal to the masses? Can its themes and messages be related to by the mass majority even though few can say they've been through the same experience?

Of course there are many other characteristics which you can find people debating on forums but even just these two raise questions. Take the Harry Potter series for example. Wildly popular, but most wouldn't consider it a classic because of the time factor. But then would we consider it a classic 50 years later? 100 years?

Perhaps it is all just a popularity contest.


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