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The classics making waves on TikTok

The classics making waves on TikTok

17 April 2025

min read

A “classic” is not a permanent thing: books are forever in dialogue with each other and the present day, with interpretations evolving along with readers’ perspectives and worldviews. Such is the case online, where communities like BookTok are continually unearthing books from the canon and finding new ways to engage with their themes, characters and ideas from a modern perspective.

From non-fiction collections to rediscovered gems by beloved authors, these are the classic books achieving newfound popularity thanks to TikTok.

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1848)

The most interesting books aren’t necessarily ones we agree on; they’re the ones that inspire conflicting interpretations and endless debates with friends and fellow book club members. It’s hardly shocking then, that Dostoyevsky’s Little Black Classics edition of White Nights, a short novella about two strangers who meet, share a series of deep conversations, and then part, has blown up on TikTok. Readers are divided on whether it’s a romantic story of unrequited love, an exploration of humanity’s capacity for idealisation and projection, or both. Why not give it a read (or listen to the audiobook, narrated by Bridgerton’s Luke Thompson) and decide for yourself? (Translated by Ronald Meyer )

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I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (1995)

Jacqueline Harpman’s 1995 post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel explores the lives of 40 women kept in an underground bunker under the watch of male guards. Its inhabitants have no recollection of life before the bunker, how they got there, or if they are even still on Earth. But one newcomer, our protagonist, has questions that will eventually provide a key to escape. Through a feminist lens, I Who Have Never Known Men asks pertinent existential questions of its own about what defines our humanity, and offers an implicit answer: each other; connection; community. It is, therefore, unsurprising that this book has found its audience online.

Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali (1943)

This is the book that launched a thousand existential sit-and-stares for readers on TikTok. Madonna in a Fur Coat follows shy, lonely dreamer Raif who, feeling alienated by society, leaves his homeland Turkey to take up work in Berlin. It is there that he comes across a painting that changes his life: the titular Madonna in a Fur Coat, whose beautiful subject he falls in love with. When he meets its creator, Maria, both of their lives are turned upside-down – but whether this disorienting new situation is sustainable provides the heart-wrenching tension and pathos of this incredible 1943 novel, translated from its original Turkish in 2016 and and making waves in 2025. (Translated by Maureen Freely and Alexander Dawe)

Stoner by John Williams (1965)

This 1965 novel follows William Stoner, described by one BookToker as an “unremarkable protagonist”, through his similarly unremarkable life: after growing up on a farm, he becomes obsessed with English literature at university, graduates, marries, works, and then dies. Stoner’s genius lies not just in author John Williams’ gorgeous, thoughtful prose, but in the meaningful aggregation of these sometimes mundane details – the thoughts, decisions, victories, losses, loves, heartbreaks and routines – that make up any human existence. Life may be ephemeral, but does that make it insignificant? With elegance and guile, Stoner says no.

Letters to Milena by Franz Kafka (1952)

It’s hardly a surprise that this book, comprising letters sent by acclaimed 20th-century author Franz Kafka to his erstwhile lover and muse, Milena Jesenska, has set BookTok ablaze. Words could barely capture the ardency of Kafka’s feelings for Jesenska, which began, appropriately enough, when he was moved by her Czech translations of his own fictional work. Their correspondence has TikTokers wondering why they’re settling for a one-word text back when Milena was receiving poetic declarations like: “You are the knife I turn inside myself”.

Reading lists

Where to start reading Franz Kafka’s books

Get to know Franz Kafka with our essential guide to his works.

Right-Wing Women by Andrea Dworkin (1983)

One could argue that it was only a matter of time before Andrea Dworkin’s writing found its home on TikTok, such is the importance of her work. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, her feminist activism and writing produced hugely influential texts like Woman Hating (1974), about society’s deeply ingrained and normalised hatred for women; Pornography (1981), about how that hatred manifests in pornography; and Right-Wing Women (1983), her visionary analysis of how and why women seek power and protection by aligning themselves with their oppressors. All three are incisive, valuable reads, worthy of their current online buzz and finding a new generation of readers in light of the current political climate.

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (1929)

Blame it on the internet, or on the two years of forced solitude brought about by the pandemic, but with young people feeling lonelier than ever, it’s little wonder they’re trying to make sense of – and find meaning in – their isolation. Enter Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, a collection of correspondences from Rilke to a younger friend with advice on all aspects of life, from love and sex to suffering and loneliness. BookTok is awash with posts from readers who resonated with Rilke’s powerful words about surviving difficult times and finding strength in solitude.

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