what on earth is a classic?

Last week I went to the inaugural meeting of a new classics bookclub. The mediator and I had chosen three books as possible first books: Sense and Sensibility, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and The Bell Jar. They're different in style and content, and I hoped the disparate titles would spark a discussion about what types of book we'd like to read.
Yup, that's what happened. Lots of discussion, to little point. Between the people who want to read the Greeks and don't consider 20th-C literature classic (it's too new), the people who wouldn't mind reading poetry, and the people who think a "modern classic" like The Bell Jar is Jim-dandy, there was plenty to talk about. One woman wanted to talk about the Scottish classics, the English classics, maybe even the Welsh - I'm an Anglophile, and even I was startled by the narrow focus.
Next month each member is supposed to bring a book that she wants the group to read. No idea what I'll bring - maybe Kate Chopin's The Awakening. Given the number of Anglophiles, maybe I should consider Things Fall Apart or some other non-Western classic. Any suggestions?