I wouldn't consider hardly any of these cult classics. I mean, Huckleberry Finn?? Catcher in the Rye?? The Great Gatsby?? Someone needs to look up the definition of cult.

While some of these books certainly don't fit into the "cult" category today, most of those that don't today did at the time when they were written. Even something like Huckleberry Finn, which has been considered a classic for as long as it's been around, was and still is one of the most frequently banned or challenged books in existence.

This list has an awful lot of books by Kerouac and Vonnegut. Not that there is anything wrong with that, On the Road and Slaughterhouse Five are generally agreed to be cult, but not everything they wrote. Maybe remove most of their books from this list, create a separate list of "cult authors" and put them on it. And then add some other Cult books to this list because there seems to be some missing volumes. (catch 22?)

Beowulf??? No

Why isn't Beowulf cult?

there are some authors that are excellent yet I don't find them here...WHY???on the other hand there are some I consider of little value.

Janna wrote: "I wouldn't consider hardly any of these cult classics. I mean, Huckleberry Finn?? Catcher in the Rye?? The Great Gatsby?? Someone needs to look up the definition of cult."

couldn't agree more

why twilight trilogy not included in here? Lots of craps..

Atlas Shrugged

Rayroy wrote: "Janna wrote: "I wouldn't consider hardly any of these cult classics. I mean, Huckleberry Finn?? Catcher in the Rye?? The Great Gatsby?? Someone needs to look up the definition of cult."

couldn't ..."

Exactly! This list seems to me to be a list of canonical western contemporary classics rather than a list of cult classics. Here's a tip: if a book ever has been on a high school or lit 101 required reading list, it's possibly a classic, but there is definitely nothing cult-ish about it.

I agree- these are classics, but very few are cult classics

Unfortunately, the original list compiler didn't define 'cult classic', and seems to have been confused about what the phrase denotes. If you look at his own votes, most of his choices are well-known, or very well-known books.

Sadly, I don't think that this list is useful, since as others have noticed, in effect it's just another list of popular classics.

Checked for duplicates: 6 books removed.

There are books repeated on this list. i.e. Fahrenheit 451' Let the Right One in, etc.

Ross wrote: "why twilight trilogy not included in here? Lots of craps.."
Definitely agree. Although these books weren't my kind of book, there was definitely a cult following. MANY friends of mine practically pushed me into reading them saying they weren't really about vampires. Pish Posh, it's Jane Eyre vampire style, but had a huge cult following.

Since no one else has done it yet I googled "cult classic books". I found the definition below on AbeBooks.com. Is this a good definition?

"Defining a cult book is not easy. Let's start with the more obvious aspects of cult lit. To begin, a cult book should have a passionate following. Buckets of books fall into this category, including classics like J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and On the Road by Jack Kerouac. But even mega sellers Harry Potter and 50 Shades of Grey can be considered cult lit by that definition."

It goes on to say...

"A cult book should have the ability to alter a reader's life or influence great change."

The Raven is not a book. The Pit and the Pendulum is a short story.

Almost scary to see so many of my books on this list...

Does anyone know how to ADD books to Listopia lists?

At the top of the page it says "add books to this list" - there you go ...

Chris wrote: "At the top of the page it says "add books to this list" - there you go ..."Thanks, man. So easy I looked right past it.

No problem ...

Ross wrote: "why twilight trilogy not included in here? Lots of craps.."

Because it's crap

Shame it's mostly native english books.

Took me a long time to get a list of a couple hundred books worth reading. There is far too much rubbish on this list. I am disappointed that so many mysteries and thrillers are included here -- not to mention the 'shock-shlock' genre (Pahaniuk, Will Self, et al) -- only serving to prove the paucity of contemporary taste, knowledge, culture and literacy in the early 21st century. Yawn.