/lit/ - Literature

what makes a "good" book?

is it valid to say that classic writters such as shakespeare, cervantes, joyce, goethe, proust etc. are superior to contemporary ones, equally famous (if not more), known all over the globe, such as jk rowling, grr martin, stephenie meyer, dan brown, agatha christie, stephen king and paulo coelho?

if so, why?

after reading the 5 books of ice and fire chronicles, i have this feeling that all those thousands of pages cant get close to the profoudness of books that, although are considered classics, are very small, e.g. the stranger, werther, the metamorphosis. couldnt avoid to think: what a waste of time