NY Times 100 best books of the 21st C

Don’t you love checking off your reading against various best of lists. The New York Times has published its list of the best 100 books of the 21st Century so far, having consulted 503 novelists, poets, critics etc. Amazingly it’s not behind their paywall. Anyway, I had to check…

These are the ones I’ve ‘read’ (16, mostly excellent, plus 2 DNFs), with links to my reviews. Others I read pre-blog. The order is in reverse – my favourite of the lot – the first in my list – came in at no 93.

And in my TBR… all these. Which one would you recommend I read?

  • How to be Both – Ali Smith
  • Bel Canto – Ann Patchett
  • On Beauty – Zadie Smith
  • The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis
  • George Saunders – Pastoralia
  • Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver
  • Trust – Hernan Diaz
  • A brief History of Seven Killings – Marlon James
  • A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan
  • White Teeth – Zadie Smith
  • The Last Samurai – Helen DeWitt
  • Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
  • Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Atonement – Ian McEwan
  • The Overstory – Richard Powers
  • The Sellout – Paul Beatty
  • The Corrections – Jonathan Franzen

Irritatingly, there were three each by Ferrante and Saunders plus a couple each of Zadie Smith, Jesmyn Ward, Denis Johnson, Mantel, Munro, Philip Roth – which meant there was no room for: Paul Auster, Amor Towles, Francis Spufford, Susanna Clarke and many more that I’d add in!

You can’t get cross at a snapshot view, but I do wish they’d limited each author to the single highest scoring entry, making room for more variation in authors. Surprisingly for an American list there were 10 books in translation in it, and although best books – nf had a poor showing.

16 thoughts on “NY Times 100 best books of the 21st C

  1. janakay says:

    I’ve been following the list in a mild kind of way; as you say, it’s always interesting to look at these things, to check off what you’ve read (for me, it’s about the same number as you) and to get ideas. I, too, was annoyed that multiple books by the same writer were included; particularly as I pretty lukewarm on George Saunders & Philip Roth. I liked several books on your TBR list very much, so I’d vote for Cloud Atlas, Atonement and Bel Canto!

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      Thank you for your recommendations – three books I’ve been meaning to read forever! I have seen the films of the first two though. The multiples by an author are irritating, especially if they’re in series – 2 Ferrantes from the Neapolitan Quartete, 2 Cromwells from Mantel.

  2. Lory says:

    Though I’m rubbish at reading contemporary fiction, I have read and can recommend Demon Copperhead and Americanah. I also recommend H Is for Hawk, which you don’t have on either of your lists. It would have been nice if they’d chosen just one book for author — they could have mentioned others by the same author in the description, while giving more authors a chance. And the list was behind a paywall for me, but I found I can get around that by using Pocket.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      Exactly on the multiples! Americanah seems to be universally loved – thanks for the recommendation.

  3. litlove says:

    Ah hurray! When I tried to look at this it did disappear behind a paywall! I’m very curious to see how many I have read, though I’m expecting a low figure. Totally agree with the one book per author thing, and shame about the lack of nonfiction. On your TBR, I’d vote for Ali Smith and Americanah. I have Station Eleven, Life After Life and Never Let Me Go on my shelves and have done for years. It’s because they all have a speculative element and I tend to love the realistically observational stuff. But I should branch out a bit!

      • AnnaBookBel says:

        Sometimes it is behind the paywall, others not – I originally just put NY Times 100 best books into google and it took me into the list. I love speculative elements in a novel – we’re slightly opposites there. 😀

  4. A Life in Books says:

    Had I not read your post before I jumped in I’d have expected Paul Auster to pop up at some stage. Including multiple books by the same author does seem to be a shame. I scored a pleasing 43 but quite a few were read for work years ago and not all enjoyed

  5. Lizzy Siddal says:

    Read 21, 2 DNF, interested in reading another 10. As for those in your TBR, I recommend you to make a beeline for Atonement, Bel Canto and Cloud Atlas.

  6. Amanda says:

    The NYT has a (free) book review podcast that is wonderful. They have an entire episode on this list and discuss the fact that there are repeat authors, etc… I highly recommend listening!

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