The New York Times recently published its list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. The list was created using suggestions made by hundreds of novelists, nonfiction writers, academics, book editors, journalists, critics, publishers, poets, translators, booksellers, librarians and other literary luminaries.
“We let them each define ‘best’ in their own way. For some, this simply meant ‘favorite.’ For others, it meant books that would endure for generations,” the newspaper’s editors noted.
Not surprisingly, most of the list contains literary tomes. Since I’m more of a genre reader, I wasn’t too surprised to discover that I have only read five of the featured books (though I plan to check out 13 more). However, I’ve read more than 1,300 books since the year 2000, and many were quite brilliant. So, here’s my Top 10 list of the best fiction and nonfiction books of the 21st century:
Fiction
1. “The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker
2. “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
3. “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern
4. “11/22/63” by Stephen King
5. “Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop” by Huang Bo-Reum
6. “Dead Things” by Stephen Blackmoore
7. “Dead Harvest” by Chris F. Holm
8. “Shadow Deal” by Michael La Ronn
9. “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
10. “The Memory of Running” by Ron McLarty
Nonfiction
1. “The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland” by Jim DeFede
2. “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” by Salman Rushdie
3. “The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America” by Erik Larson
4. “The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century” by Kirk W. Johnson
5. “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion
6. “Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives” by Jim Sheeler
7. “Neither Snow nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service” by Devin Leonard
8. “One Summer: America, 1927” by Bill Bryson
9. “Life’s That Way” by Jim Beaver
10. “In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss” by Amy Bloom
Feel free to share your favorites in the comments. I’d love to hear about them. You may also submit your list to the NYT here. My suggested list featured the top 5 books in each category above.
2 Comments
Steven
I didn’t realize that there was a book related to the musical Come From Away, but I suppose I should have guessed.
Jade Walker
Yep, and it’s written by South Florida reporter.