https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.html NYT best books of the 21st century list. I've read 13/100, which is actually more than I thought considering how little I keep up with new books. A few random observations: - Awesome to see Never Let Me Go up so high - I continue to not get the fawning over Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - I guess I should read Elena Ferrante? - Looking at the individual ballots, Stephen King is an absolute god for voting for Under the Dome
100. Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson 99. How to Be Both - Ali Smith 98. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett 97. Men We Reaped - Jesmyn Ward 96. Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments - Saidiya Hartman 95. Bring Up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel 94. On Beauty - Zadie Smith 93. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel 92. The Days of Abandonment - Elena Ferrante 91. The Human Stain - Philip Roth 90. The Sympathizer - Viet Thanh Nguyen 89. The Return - Hisham Matar 88. The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis - Lydia Davis 87. Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters 86. Frederick Douglass - David W. Blight 85. Pastoralia - George Saunders 84. The Emperor of All Maladies - Siddhartha Mukherjee 83. When We Cease to Understand the World - Benjamín Labatut 82. Hurricane Season - Fernanda Melchor 81. Pulphead - John Jeremiah Sullivan 80. The Story of the Lost Child - Elena Ferrante 79. A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin 78. Septology - Jon Fosse 77. An American Marriage - Tayari Jones 76. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin 75. Exit West - Mohsin Hamid 74. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout 73. The Passage of Power - Robert Caro 72. Secondhand Time - Svetlana Alexievich 71. The Copenhagen Trilogy - Tove Ditlevsen 70. All Aunt Hagar’s Children - Edward P. Jones 69. The New Jim Crow - Michelle Alexander 68. The Friend - Sigrid Nunez 67. Far From the Tree - Andrew Solomon 66. We the Animals - Justin Torres 65. The Plot Against America - Philip Roth 64. The Great Believers - Rebecca Makkai 63. Veronica - Mary Gaitskill 62. 10:04 - Ben Lerner 61. Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver 60. Heavy - Kiese Laymon 59. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides 58. Stay True - Hua Hsu 57. Nickel and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich 56. The Flamethrowers - Rachel Kushner 55. The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright 54. Tenth of December - George Saunders 53. Runaway - Alice Munro 52. Train Dreams - Denis Johnson 51. Life After Life - Kate Atkinson 50. Trust - Hernan Diaz 49. The Vegetarian - Han Kang 48. Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi 47. A Mercy - Toni Morrison 46. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt 45. The Argonauts - Maggie Nelson 44. The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin 43. Postwar - Tony Judt 42. A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James 41. Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan 40. H Is for Hawk - Helen Macdonald 39. A Visit From the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan 38. The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolaño 37. The Years - Annie Ernaux 36. Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates 35. Fun Home - Alison Bechdel 34. Citizen - Claudia Rankine 33. Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward 32. The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst 31. White Teeth - Zadie Smith 30. Sing, Unburied, Sing - Jesmyn Ward 29. The Last Samurai - Helen DeWitt 28. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell 27. Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 26. Atonement - Ian McEwan 25. Random Family - Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 24. The Overstory - Richard Powers 23. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage - Alice Munro 22. Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo 21. Evicted - Matthew Desmond 20. Erasure - Percival Everett 19. Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe 18. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders 17. The Sellout - Paul Beatty 16. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon 15. Pachinko - Min Jin Lee 14. Outline - Rachel Cusk 13. The Road - Cormac McCarthy 12. The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion 11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Díaz 10. Gilead - Marilynne Robinson 9. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro 8. Austerlitz - W.G. Sebald 7. The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead 6. 2666 - Roberto Bolaño 5. The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen 4. The Known World - Edward P. Jones 3. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel 2. The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante
I’m also at 13. The lack of genre fiction on here makes me seriously side eye it a bit, despite it not being surprising.
That's up very soon on my to read list, definitely looking forward to it. I thought it had come out in the '90s, but now that I see it was in 2000 I am actually a little surprised A Storm of Swords didn't make it. Seems like that would have been the one to break through since the show obviously did.
it's a tough read at times but very very good, definitely earns the accolades. I didn't like the sequels as much but I know a lot of people who loved the entire trilogy
I’m surprised at the lack of Japanese fiction, but I guess it comes down to who submitted ballots in the end
I’ve read three on the list. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow Fun Home The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao There’s a few on there I want to read but also a majority I have no interest in lol
I’m halfway through The Wager and I gotta be honest… it’s not holding my interest at all. I’m genuinely shocked because so many people recommended it to me and it’s right in my wheelhouse. It’s just not clicking for me.
A book I consider the worst book I’ve ever read is on that list, so that gives me enough insight into many of the 87 I haven’t read or heard of to know I’m not going to that list for many recs.
Which one? I don’t think it’s among the worst I’ve ever read, but I’ve never been able to finish Kavalier and Clay despite how lauded it is.
Lincoln in the Bardo is so overrated and comes away a little weightless by the end. Also kind of wild that there’s not a single poetry book on there.
They did ask a lot of writers to submit ballots, it’s not a list they themselves came up with, so it’s not really their fault what ended up being on there
I think if I were voting, some of my ten would be something like Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir The included Never Let Me Go and The Goldfinch would definitely be in the mix, too. Maybe The Kite Runner. Harry Potter 4 or 6. Definitely forgetting a lot while I’m ruminating over my quick lunch before getting in the pool.
They really should have separated them. You can see some of the ballots from authors here, but it’s behind the NYT paywall. Stephen King, Sarah Jessica Parker and More Share Their Top Books of the 21st Century
I’m shocked Gone Girl wasn’t on there. I saw a bunch of people put it on their lists and that book had a stranglehold over everyone for a bit (and I did really enjoy it). Some others I would have expected on there just based on how they were received critically (not necessarily because I like all of them or think they should): All the Light We Cannot See Everything is Illuminated Kafka on the Shore No Country For Old Men Educated
bout halfway through Angel of Indian Lake, absolutely fantastic so far. some of the most emotional lines in the whole trilogy and it's still getting to the really good stuff. I like that we're mostly back in Jade's POV to end it even though I appreciated getting the other characters in Reaper
Has anyone read Demon Copperhead? I have a little book club with my friends and we are starting that this week.