The Greatest Books Since 1990


How is this list generated?


This list is generated from 130 "best of" book lists from a variety of great sources. An algorithm is used to create a master list based on how many lists a particular book appears on. Some lists count more than others. I generally trust "best of all time" lists voted by authors and experts over user-generated lists. On the lists that are actually ranked, the book that is 1st counts a lot more than the book that's 100th. If you're interested in the details about how the rankings are generated and which lists are the most important(in my eyes) please check out the list details page.

If you have any comments, suggestions, or corrections please feel free to e-mail me.


  1. 651 . English Passengers by Matthew Kneale

  2. 652 . The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

    The Time Traveler's Wife, published in 2003, is the debut novel of American author Audrey Niffenegger. It is a love story about a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time travel unpredic...

  3. 653 . Savages: A Novel by Don Winslow

    Running a lucrative marijuana operation in Laguna Beach, environmentalist Ben and mercenary Chon confront an adversary in the Mexican Baja cartel who kidnaps their playmate and confidante Ophelia, ...

    - Google
  4. 654 . The Terror by Dan Simmons

    The Terror is the name of a 2007 novel by American author Dan Simmons. The novel is a fictionalized account of Franklin's lost expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror under Captain Sir John Frankli...

  5. 655 . Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

    Poor Things is a novel by Scottish writer Alasdair Gray, published in 1992. It won the Whitbread Novel Award in 1992 and the Guardian Fiction Prize for 1992.

  6. 656 . Felicia's Journey by William Trevor

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  7. 657 . Hopeful Monsters by Nicholas Mosley

  8. 658 . The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde by Audre Lorde

    Audre Geraldine Lorde (February 18, 1934 - November 17, 1992) was a Caribbean-American writer, poet and activist.

  9. 659 . Quarantine by Jim Crace

    Quarantine is a novel by Jim Crace. It was the winner of the 1997 Whitbread Novel Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction the same year.

  10. 660 . Building Stories by Chris Ware

    Presents an illustrated tale, told in various books and folded sheets, about the residents in a three-story Chicago apartment building, including a lonely single woman, a couple who are growing to ...

    - Google
  11. 661 . Carter Beats The Devil by Glen David Gold

    Carter Beats The Devil is a historical mystery thriller novel by Glen David Gold

  12. 662 . Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington

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  13. 663 . The Blazing World by Siri Hustvedt

    Named one of the New York Times Book Review’s 100 Notable Books of the Year ** Publishers Weekly’s Best Fiction Books of 2014 ** NPR Best Books of 2014 ** Kirkus Reviews Best Literary Fiction Books...

    - Google
  14. 664 . The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam

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  15. 665 . Twelve Bar Blues by Patrick Neate

    Twelve Bar Blues is a 2001 novel by Patrick Neate, and the winner of that year's Whitbread novel award.

  16. 666 . Blood Oranges by John Hawkes

  17. 667 . Leading the Cheers by Justin Cartwright

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  18. 668 . The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

    The Tenderness of Wolves is a novel by Stef Penney, which was first published in 2006. It won the 2006 Costa Prize for 'Book of the Year'.

  19. 669 . Every Man for Himself by Beryl Bainbridge

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  20. 670 . Dangerous Laughter by Steven Millhauser

    Thirteen darkly comic stories, Dangerous Laughter is a mesmerizing journey that stretches the boundaries of the ordinary world.

    - Google
  21. 671 . The Spirit Level by Seamus Heaney

    The Spirit Level (1996) is a collection of poems written by Irish Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney. Featuring such poems as "Two Lorries", it won the Whitbread Prize for Literature.

  22. 672 . Time's Arrow by Martin Amis

    Time's Arrow: or The Nature of the Offence (1991) is a novel by Martin Amis. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize (1991).

  23. 673 . Plainsong by Kent Haruf

    Plainsong is a bestselling novel by Kent Haruf. Set in the fictional town of Holt, Colorado, it tells the interlocking stories of some of the inhabitants.

  24. 674 . Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman

    An imaginary re-creation of Einstein's discovery of the nature of time, this novel takes us through the young patent clerk's many dreams depicting compelling conceptions of time.

    - Google
  25. 675 . On the Bus with Rosa Parks by Rita Dove

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  26. 676 . The Ice Storm: A Novel by Rick Moody

    The year is 1973. As a freak winter storm bears down on an exclusive, affluent suburb in Connecticut, cark skid out of control, men and women swap partners, and their children experiment with sex, ...

    - Google
  27. 677 . Spies by Michael Frayn

  28. 678 . Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

    Jonathan Safran Foer follows his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated, with an unexpectedly hilarious and affecting story about New York City in the period following September 11 Ext...

    - Google
  29. 679 . The Epicure's Lament by Kate Christensen

    Hugo Whittier–failed poet and former kept man–is a wily misanthrope with a taste for whiskey, women, and his own cooking. Afflicted with a rare disease that will be fatal unless he quits smoking, H...

    - Google
  30. 680 . The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

    The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a 2007 novel by American author Michael Chabon. The novel is a detective story set in an alternative history version of the present day, based on the premise that d...

  31. 681 . I Loved You More by Tom Spanbauer

    Tom Spanbauer’s first novel in seven years is a love story triangle akin to The Marriage Plot and Freedom, only with a gay main character who charms gays and straights alike. I Loved You More is a ...

    - Google
  32. 682 . The Cunning Man by Robertson Davies

    The Cunning Man, published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994, is the last novel written by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. The Cunning Man is the memoir of the life of a doctor, Dr. Jonathan...

  33. 683 . Pure by Andrew Miller

    Jean-Baptiste Baratte, an engineer of modest origin, arrives in the city in 1785, charged by the King’s minister with emptying the overflowing cemetery of Les Innocents, a ancient site whose stench...

    - Google