[coldtea]

One way to see the parents comment is not as:

- "These will be classics"

but as:

- "These authors are already dead/or will be, and their books are already decades old, but they are very good according to me, even classic status worthy".

In that sense, it's an answer to TFA's question: "why read classic books" if we consider it as not just asking "why read classic==canonized books?" but "why read class==old books?"

And the answer is "because old books can be great, and contemporary books that are great will at some point be 'classics' themselves".