As voted on by me.
On Jul. 12, The New York Times published “The 100 Best Books Of the 21st Century.” This list was constructed by polling “hundreds of literary luminaries,” including novelists, poets, publishers and librarians, and asking them to name their top ten books. Books were then randomly paired, and respondents were asked to select their preferred one. This was a seemingly flawless way to decide the most superior books, yet The New York Times failed to account for the most important population’s opinions: their readers.
After much criticism ranging from the lack of author diversity to even some authors voting for their own books (Stephen King!), on Jul. 18, The New York Times published “Readers Pick Their 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.” This new list was made by asking readers to submit up to 10 titles of their choice, and though this definitely ramped up my agreeability with the list, I still found myself feeling let down by the lack of range the books went in every direction (age level, ethnicity, genre).
Thus, I’ve decided to create my own list, and although this list is still extremely Westernized, I tried to include books of every genre and for every age. While researching, I have also come to realize how many problematic authors there are but for the sake of simplicity, this list will only take into account the book, itself. These books were ordered with three points in mind: How much I enjoyed reading the book, how influential it was to society, and how crucial I think the book is for people to read (the importance of the messages the said book reveals).
100. It Ends With Us
99. Keeper of the Lost Cities
98. The Fault in Our Stars
97. Klara and the Sun
96. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
95. Piranesi
94. The Maze Runner
93. Shuggie Bain
92. The Tale of Despereaux
91. The Ocean at the End of the Lane
90. The Mysterious Benedict Society
89. Twilight
88. The Book Thief
87. Dark Matter
86. The Silent Patient
85. Remarkably Bright Creatures
84. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
83. My Year of Rest and Relaxation
82. The Women
81. My Dark Vanessa
80. Bunny
79. A Thousand Splendid Suns
78. Red Queen
77. Wonder
76. The Nightingale
75. A Court of Thorns and Roses
74. Cleopatra and Frankenstein
73. The Three-Body Problem
72. I’m Glad My Mom Died
71. Where the Crawdads Sing
70. The Emperor of All Maladies
69. Conversations with Friends
68. Salt to the Sea
67. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
66. Lessons in Chemistry
65. James
64. Daisy Jones and the Six
63. American Dirt
62. The Night Circus
61. Yellowface
60. The Underground Railroad
59. The Kite Runner
58. The Road
57. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
56. Room
55. Bring Up the Bodies
54. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
53. The Namesake
52. A Gentleman in Moscow
51. Sapiens
50. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
49. The Lincoln Highway
48. Hamnet
47. Circe
46. The Lovely Bones
45. The Help
44. The Glass Castle
43. The Goldfinch
42. Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
41. The Poppy War
40. Because of Winn Dixie
39. Wolf Hall
38. Everything I know About Love
37. Homegoing
36. Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
35. Pachinko
34. All the Light We Cannot See
33. I Who Have Never Known Men
32. Never Let Me Go
31. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
30. Call Me By Your Name
29. The Martian
28. When Breath Becomes Air
27. Intermezzo
26. Babel
25. The Vanishing Half
24. Educated
23. Demon Copperhead
22. Red Rising
21. The House in the Cerulean Sea
20. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
19. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
18. Atonement
17. Divergent
16. Gone Girl
15. Crying in H Mart
14. A Man Called Ove
13. Anxious People
12. The Year of Magical Thinking
11. Everything I Never Told You
10. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
9. Hello Beautiful
8. The Lightning Thief
7. Normal People
6. In the Dream House
5. The Song of Achilles
4. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
2. Hunger Games
1. Know My Name
