Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

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 wrote:I like your list, OP.

I was disappointed in how many of the NYT's picks were from the last 5 years. Some of them were good, but they will not endure and certainly don't represent the "century." "Detransition Baby"? Come on. Same with "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow." It was a fine book, just not that will be relevant in a few years.

There were only about a dozen out of 100 on the list published since 2019…

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 wrote:Where's Murakami and Yoshimoto, and other non-American writers?

I only attempted Lincoln in the Bardo and tossed it very quickly aside. Totally unreadable.

Murakami’s best work is pre-2000.

Anonymous wrote: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.

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!

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart should have bee on this list. Phenomenal book.

Anonymous wrote:I like your list, OP.

I was disappointed in how many of the NYT's picks were from the last 5 years. Some of them were good, but they will not endure and certainly don't represent the "century." "Detransition Baby"? Come on. Same with "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow." It was a fine book, just not that will be relevant in a few years.

Agree, they were biased toward new released booked, and many of those I felt were hard to trudge through.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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

Circe is a page-turner. It's not depressing, but it does have some sad moments.

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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 wrote: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.

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 wrote:The omission of All the Light You Cannot See and Gentleman in Moscow proves that it's not a good list.

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.

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.