In 2022, I wrote a post about Which 21st Century Books Will Become Classics. This quickly became one of my most popular posts, so clearly this is a topic of interest.
Recently, The New York Times published a list of The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, voted by 503 writers, critics and other book lovers.
Obviously, lists like that are just a bit of fun, but let’s have a look.
1. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Whilst the complex friendship between two girls growing up in Naples in the 50s does have some merit, it didn’t stand out. I can’t believe this is number one on the list!
9. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
I wholeheartedly agree with this choice. The novel has an unusual premise, which I won’t reveal and deals with themes such as identity, loss, love and what could have been.
13. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Another one, I won’t dispute. The heartfelt relationship between father and son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world made a huge impression on me.
26. Atonement by Ian McEwan
Atonement strongly appealed to my intellectual curiosity, but I didn’t connect emotionally. However, due to the clever structure and the metaphysical aspects, I do approve.
41. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
This Irish novella is loved by so many readers, but to me it wasn’t particularly memorable.
46. The Goldfinch by Donna Tart
In the Goldfinch, we follow 13-year-old Theo Decker who survives a museum bombing that kills his mother. I enjoyed parts of it, but mostly found it overly long.
50. Trust by Hernan Diaz
The metafictional structure, the setting in New York’s financial world in the 1920s, the playful manipulation of perspective – Trust should have been perfect for me, but massively disappointed.
61. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Demon Copperhead is a retelling of David Copperfield and interestingly my opinion is remarkably similar to my verdict on most Dickens novels: Great storytelling, but way too long.
71. The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen
It’s a stretch to say I’ve read The Copenhagen Trilogy. In Denmark, the memoirs of Ditlevsen are published in three separate volumes and I read the first in school. On a list dominated by the English-speaking world, I enjoyed seeing a Danish author included.
83. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut
This is one of the few books, I’ve written a rant review about. Whilst acknowledging the author’s skills for storytelling, my scientific brain just found too much, which didn’t sit right.
93. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
I actually thought Station Eleven was a decent post-apocalyptic read. Would I include it on a best-of-the-century list? Probably not.
Of the 11 books I’ve read, I approve of Atonement, The Road and Never Let Me Go. Incidentally, these are also included in my post about 21st century books, which will become classics. The rest? Not so sure.
Of the books I haven’t read, a few could potentially tempt me.
19. Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
With Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe demonstrated, he can write nonfiction as gripping as any novel. His book Say Nothing about the Troubles sounds equally interesting.
37. The Years by Annie Ernaux
I haven’t read anything by Annie Ernaux, but she is an author, I am curious about. Should I start with The Years? Let me know, if any suggestions.
44. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
This one is already on my TBR. Going forward, I would like to read more fantasy, and The Fifth Season seems to be recommended by everyone.
74. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Normally, short stories aren’t my thing, but Olive Kitteridge sounds like a protagonist, I would enjoy reading about.
98. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
I am keen to explore more of Patchett’s back catalogue and Bel Canto could be next in line. First I need to recover from my disappointment of Tom Lake, though.
Clearly, I am not a big reader of contemporary fiction with only 11 read from the list. Also, my taste doesn’t seem to fit with this particular selection. What do you think?
If you want to join the discussion, you can see the full list here. It is interactive and you can mark the read and want to read books as you scroll through it.
Really enjoyed this! I’ve read 4 of these, Wolf Hall, Small Things Like These, Exit West and Station Eleven. the only one I’d recommend is Station Eleven which I loved!
Aha, so you weren’t a big fan of Small Things Like These either – I thought I was the only one! 😆
I’ve read two out of these, Atonement and The Vegetarian which I really did not expect to make it on the list.
I thought only a handful of people enjoyed that book.
Never Let Me Go has been on my list. Everyone keeps talking about what a great book it is and I honestly can’t wait to read it.
Yes, it was interesting to see The Vegetarian on the list. Did you enjoy it? If you haven’t read Never Let Me Go yet, you are in for a treat. Lucky you!
Oh yes. I really enjoyed reading The Vegetarian by Han Kang.
It’s a very unique reading experience.
I have to read it at some point. Human Acts was also quite unique, I found. Thanks for reminding me.
I have just been inspecting that NYT list, and have to admit I haven’t even heard of quite a few of these authors. I’m not scoring points – it is just chance that I have read 20 of these, and like you, struggle to see why some of them gained a place. I was unable to finish Kavalier and Clay, or Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas (so they’re not on my list), and I know I’m in a minority here, but I hated Never Let Me Go. I’ve read both the Hilary Mantel’s that made it, and they are quite rightly there I think. As, I think is Demon Copperhead, and White Teeth. And Lincoln in the Bardo; Austerlitz, The Underground Road; The Road; The Vegetarian; The Goldfinch; Pachinko; Atonement; Life after Life. But Ferrante’s books? An American Marriage? H is for Hawk? Small Things Like These? Line of Beauty? Bel Canto? All good reads, but Best in Class? Not so sure. Actually, if I had to make a Top Few, Cormac McCarthy, Hilary Mantel and George Saunders would be right up there. I wonder what a list would look like if constructed by the followers of Six Degrees of Separation? An interesting post – thanks.
20 books – not bad at all! I guess the list illustrates, we all have different taste. Still, I love looking at lists like this, you never know what you’ll find. Besides from different taste, there are probably some biases in the voting as well. Recency bias may have given an extra boost to books like Small Things Like These and Demon Copperhead. To be honest, I think you need a bit of distance to make a “best of” list for a certain period.
Haha, we also seem to disagree about few books including The Goldfinch, Demon Copperhead and Never Let Me Go. Interesting, that you hated the latter, do you remember what you didn’t like about it?
I think it would be a splendid idea to let Six Degrees of Separation participants make a list – maybe we should suggest that to Kate. Thanks for you input, alway interesting to hear!
Oh, I must have read Never Let me Go shortly after it had come out, so I really don’t remember. Maybe I should read it again after all these years as I seem to be out on a limb? We could try suggesting the idea to Kate, but she never responds to my comments!
I think it would be great idea for Six Degrees!
😉
I read 21, want to read 5 more.
Well done for reading 20, I hope you enjoyed them!
I wonder how different the list would be if the participants were from a wider group.
NYT published a reader’s list as well, from which I had read a lot more books.
‘General’ readers might have less expectations on them to read ‘worthy’ books… I suspect I would have read more from this list, too.
It begs the question though, what is a good book? How should you weigh literary merit vs. personal enjoyment? Should judging of good books be a democratic process or decided by the literary elite? Anyway, maybe I will muse more about that in a later post. 🙂
I’d like to try N.K. Jemisin’s trilogy too, and finally see why there was so much praise for it back in the day!
I have high hopes for that one!
Hi. I wrote about the NYT 100 Best list as well in my post this week. They have a Readers’ list as well. I just went thru the list and I’ve read 22 from the NYT list you mention. Like you, I liked The Road, Atonement, Never Let Me Go. I also liked The Goldfinch, Demon Copperhead, Small things Like These, and Station Eleven. The Year of Magical Thinking is pretty tragic and powerful. I’m not into fantasy … so Jemisin will have to wait. But I’m very much interested in the Copenhagen trilogy. I’ve added some more from the list to my TBR.
I had a look at the NYT reader’s list as well. Unsurprisingly, I had read a lot more from that list. It made me think about what is a good book? I guess there is no good answer to that question, but it made me think and I may write about it in another post. Anyway, it is always good fun to look at lists like that.