July 27, 2024 (NYTimes.com)
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Readers Pick
Their 100 Best Books
of the 21st Century
When the Book Review published a list of the 100 best books of the century, we knew we’d hear from readers who were incensed or gutted or driven wild by grief. How could So-and-So’s book not make the cut?
One of the best things about working in books is just this: the passion of our constituency. No way would we deprive readers of the chance to vote for their own list and make their voices heard.
And so you have. There’s some overlap between your list and ours — we agreed on 39 books. As for the 61 new entries here, what stands out most is that they’re the books that captured cultural moments and sparked lively literary conversations. They’re also great. Enjoy!
The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century
- The Book Review’s List of 100
- See how your favorite authors voted
- Let us help you find a new book to read from the list
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The Reader Top 100
Hide Books on the Book Review’s List
1.
Demon Copperhead
No. 61 on the Book Review’s list
2.
All the Light We Cannot See
3.
A Gentleman in Moscow
4.
The Goldfinch
No. 46 on the Book Review’s list
5.
Pachinko
No. 15 on the Book Review’s list
6.
Educated
7.
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
No. 76 on the Book Review’s list
8.
My Brilliant Friend
Elena Ferrante; translated by Ann Goldstein
No. 1 on the Book Review’s list
9.
Never Let Me Go
No. 9 on the Book Review’s list
10.
Station Eleven
No. 93 on the Book Review’s list
11.
A Little Life
12.
The Overstory
No. 24 on the Book Review’s list
13.
The Underground Railroad
No. 7 on the Book Review’s list
14.
Wolf Hall
No. 3 on the Book Review’s list
15.
The Road
No. 13 on the Book Review’s list
16.
Lincoln in the Bardo
No. 18 on the Book Review’s list
17.
Atonement
No. 26 on the Book Review’s list
18.
Middlesex
No. 59 on the Book Review’s list
19.
Americanah
No. 27 on the Book Review’s list
20.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
No. 16 on the Book Review’s list
21.
Homegoing
22.
Hamnet
23.
The Warmth of Other Suns
No. 2 on the Book Review’s list
24.
Bel Canto
No. 98 on the Book Review’s list
25.
Gilead
No. 10 on the Book Review’s list
26.
The Corrections
No. 5 on the Book Review’s list
27.
Normal People
28.
Cutting for Stone
29.
Say Nothing
No. 19 on the Book Review’s list
30.
A Visit From the Goon Squad
No. 39 on the Book Review’s list
31.
Circe
32.
Cloud Cuckoo Land
33.
The Book Thief
34.
Cloud Atlas
No. 28 on the Book Review’s list
35.
The Covenant of Water
36.
The Year of Magical Thinking
No. 12 on the Book Review’s list
37.
The Nickel Boys
38.
The Great Believers
No. 64 on the Book Review’s list
39.
Olive Kitteridge
No. 74 on the Book Review’s list
40.
The Kite Runner
41.
Life After Life
No. 51 on the Book Review’s list
42.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
No. 11 on the Book Review’s list
43.
Between the World and Me
No. 36 on the Book Review’s list
44.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
45.
There There
46.
The Song of Achilles
47.
Lessons in Chemistry
48.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
49.
Gone Girl
50.
James
51.
Caste
52.
The Nightingale
53.
Trust
No. 50 on the Book Review’s list
54.
11/22/63
55.
Braiding Sweetgrass
56.
The Hunger Games
57.
Small Things Like These
No. 41 on the Book Review’s list
58.
White Teeth
No. 31 on the Book Review’s list
59.
Where the Crawdads Sing
60.
The Dutch House
61.
North Woods
62.
The Sympathizer
No. 90 on the Book Review’s list
63.
The Fifth Season
No. 44 on the Book Review’s list
64.
2666
Roberto Bolaño; translated by Natasha Wimmer
No. 6 on the Book Review’s list
65.
Evicted
No. 21 on the Book Review’s list
66.
Just Kids
67.
Piranesi
68.
The Devil in the White City
69.
Killers of the Flower Moon
70.
Know My Name
71.
Sing, Unburied, Sing
No. 30 on the Book Review’s list
72.
Crying in H Mart
73.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
74.
Klara and the Sun
75.
The Lincoln Highway
76.
Just Mercy
77.
Sapiens
78.
Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami; translated by Philip Gabriel
79.
1Q84
Haruki Murakami; translated by Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel
80.
Deacon King Kong
81.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
82.
Tom Lake
83.
Let the Great World Spin
84.
Tenth of December
No. 54 on the Book Review’s list
85.
When Breath Becomes Air
86.
Life of Pi
87.
Girl, Woman, Other
88.
The Plot Against America
No. 65 on the Book Review’s list
89.
The Glass Castle
90.
In the Dream House
91.
Project Hail Mary
92.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Olga Tokarczuk; translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
93.
Remarkably Bright Creatures
94.
The Bee Sting
95.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
96.
The Vanishing Half
97.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
98.
Shuggie Bain
99.
Empire of Pain
100.
A Man Called Ove
Fredrik Backman; translated by Henning Koch
Produced by Aliza Aufrichtig and Josh Katz.READ 1001 COMMENTS