NYT best book of the 21st century
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Anonymous
| I was really disappointed that Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell wasn't on the list despite being on those of multiple authors. That book is amazing. |
Anonymous
A Gentleman in Moscow" is a fun read, but I find the writing pretentious and the story unrealistic. I don't think it deserves a place in the top 100. |
Anonymous
I also loved the book. The only one on the list I’ve read is Wolf Hall, which I loved. I have an issue with fiction reading in which it can really send me into a deep depression so I have to avoid any that are overly depressing, which I feel like a lot of these are. If any have suggestions for which of these might work for me, please let me know. Would Circe work? Two things I really liked not on this list: City of thieves Nonfiction Immortal Irishman |
Anonymous
| Ugh, I hardly ever DNF books and My Brilliant Friend was one that I put down prematurely and donated even though I had already purchased the rest of the series in anticipation. I just could not get interested in it. Maybe it's time to try again. |
Anonymous
Yes, try again. Agree with you that the first book was difficult to get through. But I followed my friend's advice and it gets so much better. Reach material, incredible story, and the last book is the best. |
Anonymous
Circe is a page-turner. It's not depressing, but it does have some sad moments. |
Anonymous
Agree, they were biased toward new released booked, and many of those I felt were hard to trudge through. |
Anonymous
| Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart should have bee on this list. Phenomenal book. |
Anonymous
It took me three times of starting/stopping and re-starting, but the third time it stuck and I ended up enjoying it immensely. Something about the first 50 pages was hard to get through to find a rhythm. Try again! |
Anonymous
Murakami’s best work is pre-2000. |
Anonymous
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The NYT list was posted by a good samaritan on Reddit:
1 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante; translated by Ann Goldstein 2012 2 The Warmth of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson 2010 3 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 4 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 5 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 6 2666 Roberto Bolaño; translated by Natasha Wimmer 2008 7 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016 8 Austerlitz W.G. Sebald; translated by Anthea Bell 2001 9 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro 2005 10 Gilead Marilynne Robinson 2004 11 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 12 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 13 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 14 Outline Rachel Cusk 2015 15 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 16 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay 17 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 18 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 19 Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe 2019 20 Erasure Percival Everett 2001 21 Evicted Matthew Desmond 2016 22 Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo 2012 23 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Alice Munro 2001 24 The Overstory Richard Powers 2018 25 Random Family Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 2003 26 Atonement Ian McEwan 2002 27 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 28 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 29 The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt 2000 30 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 31 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000 32 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 33 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 34 Citizen Claudia Rankine 2014 35 Fun Home Alison Bechdel 2006 36 Between the World and Me Ta 37 The Years Annie Ernaux; translated by Alison L. Strayer 2018 38 The Savage Detectives Roberto Bolaño; translated by Natasha Wimmer 2007 39 A Visit From the Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 40 H Is for Hawk Helen Macdonald 2015 41 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 2021 42 A Brief History of Seven Killings 43 Postwar Tony Judt 2005 44 The Fifth Season N.K. Jemisin 2015 45 The Argonauts Maggie Nelson 2015 46 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 47 A Mercy Toni Morrison 2008 48 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2003 49 The Vegetarian Han Kang; translated by Deborah Smith 2016 50 Trust Hernan Diaz 2022 51 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 52 Train Dreams Denis Johnson 2011 53 Runaway Alice Munro 2004 54 Tenth of December George Saunders 2013 55 The Looming Tower Lawrence Wright 2006 56 The Flamethrowers Rachel Kushner 2013 57 Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich 2001 58 Stay True Hua Hsu 2022 59 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 60 Heavy Kiese Laymon 2018 61 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 62 10:04 Ben Lerner 2014 63 Veronica Mary Gaitskill 2005 64 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 65 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 66 We the Animals Justin Torres 2011 67 Far From the Tree Andrew Solomon 2012 68 The Friend Sigrid Nunez 2018 69 The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander 2010 70 All Aunt Hagar’s Children Edward P. Jones 2006 71 The Copenhagen Trilogy Tove Ditlevsen; translated by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman 2021 72 Secondhand Time Svetlana Alexievich; translated by Bela Shayevich 2016 73 The Passage of Power Robert Caro 2012 74 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 75 Exit West Mohsin Hamid 2017 76 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 77 An American Marriage Tayari Jones 2018 78 Septology Jon Fosse; translated by Damion Searls 2022 79 A Manual for Cleaning Women 80 The Story of the Lost Child Elena Ferrante; translated by Ann Goldstein 2015 81 Pulphead John Jeremiah Sullivan 2011 82 Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor; translated by Sophie Hughes 2020 83 When We Cease to Understand the World Benjamín Labatut; translated by Adrian Nathan West 2021 84 The Emperor of All Maladies Siddhartha Mukherjee 2010 85 Pastoralia George Saunders 2000 86 Frederick Douglass David W. Blight 2018 87 Detransition, Baby Torrey Peters 2021 88 The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis 89 The Return Hisham Matar 2016 90 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 91 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 92 The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante; translated by Ann Goldstein 2005 93 Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel 2014 94 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 95 Bring Up the Bodies Hilary Mantel 2012 96 Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments 97 Men We Reaped Jesmyn Ward 2013 98 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 99 How to Be Both Ali Smith 2014 100 Tree of Smoke Denis Johnson 2007 |
Anonymous
There were only about a dozen out of 100 on the list published since 2019… |
Anonymous
| Overall I think that it’s a pretty good list, but no “All the Light We Cannot See”?! Also shocked “The Dutch House” didn’t make it. Surprised by #1 and #2 as well, I enjoyed both (especially the Warmth of Other Sons) but wouldn’t have put them in the top 5. I probably would have selected Wolf Hall or the Underground Railroad as #1. |
Anonymous
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I spent a lot of time on my walk yesterday thinking what #1 might be. I didn’t think it would be My Brilliant Friend but I did LOVE the Neapolitan trilogy. I wondered where The Known World would be but didn’t think #4. Need to try Wolf Hall again I suppose but I’ve tried multiple times and it never grabs me. Pachinko could’ve been top 10 for me.
Overall it’s a good list! I’ve read 35 total but added a bunch to be TBR list. |
Anonymous
35 is a lot! I’ve read 17. What did you add to your TBR list? I read Wolfe Hall and the Neapolitan series (there are 4 of them and I hope you read the fourth one as it’s the best in the series, in my opinion.) But I think the Wolfe Hall trilogy is superior to the Brilliant Friend series. |