Australia’s Radio National top 100 books of the 21st century

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

ABC Radio national, 100 Books

ABC RN launched this as an annual, Hottest-100-style books poll: Australians voted for their 21st-century favourites (fiction and nonfiction), and RN counted them down over a weekend special. The inaugural winner was Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe, with Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief at #2; ABC’s summary also breaks down voting patterns by gender, age, and state

This list was originally published in 2025 and was added to this site 9 months ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
7212 Boy Swallows Universe Trent Dalton 2018 Australian English
1085 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 Australian English
2230 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles 2016 American English
1413 All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr 2014 American English
7787 Lessons In Chemistry Bonnie Garmus 2022 American English
6311 Burial Rites Hannah Kent 2013 Australian English
8095 The Dictionary Of Lost Words Pip Williams 2020 Australian English
2108 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 American English
1765 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
397 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
2345 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 2021 Irish English
5156 Where The Crawdads Sing Delia Owens 2018 American English
6277 The Narrow Road To The Deep North Richard Flanagan 2013 Australian English
12214 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman 2017 British English
6482 Year Of Wonders Geraldine Brooks 2001 Australian English
17160 Still Life Sarah Winman 2021 British English
7886 Wifedom Anna Funder 2023 Unknown English
8212 Dark Emu Bruce Pascoe 2014 Australian English
290 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
3065 The Secret River Kate Grenville 2005 Australian English
248 Atonement Ian McEwan 2001 British English
892 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
2830 Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 American English
7194 Jasper Jones Craig Silvey 2009 Australian English
17160 Honeybee Craig Silvey 2020 Australian English
1388 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 2008 American English
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
8490 The Dry Jane Harper 2016 Australian English
10895 Lola In The Mirror Trent Dalton 2023 Australian English
5353 Stasiland Anna Funder 2002 Australian English
741 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
1211 Normal People Sally Rooney 2018 Irish English
1206 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 American English
266 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro 2005 British English
1354 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 American English
14232 The Thursday Murder Club Richard Osman 2020 British English
5491 The Slap Christos Tsiolkas 2008 Australian English
3854 Breath Tim Winton 2008 Australian English
2589 Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 2020 Irish English
10301 Dirt Music Tim Winton 2001 Australian English
7757 Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart 2020 Scottish English
2535 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
17160 All That I Am Anna Funder 2011 Australian English
9152 Limberlost Robbie Arnott 2022 Australian English
1675 The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger 2003 American English
14985 Horse Geraldine Brooks 2022 Australian English
1842 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling 2000 British English
1142 Life of Pi Yann Martel 2001 Canadian English
2059 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini 2007 Afghan English
1693 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
6817 Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid 2017 American English
2190 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
7214 Prophet Song Paul Lynch 2023 Irish English
13214 The Rosie Project Graeme Simsion 2013 Australian English
3532 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
4855 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith 1998 Scottish English
1252 Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari 2011 Israeli Hebrew
2807 James Percival Everett 2024 American English
1812 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon 2003 British English
1330 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
3508 Joe Cinque's Consolation Helen Garner 2004 Australian English
5680 The Covenant Of Water Abraham Verghese 2023 American English
3874 We Need To Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver 2003 American English
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
7213 Question 7 Richard Flanagan 2023 Unknown English
6697 The Tattooist Of Auschwitz Heather Morris 2018 Australian English
2652 Circe Madeline Miller 2018 American English
2416 Educated Tara Westover 2018 American English
7837 The Midnight Library Matt Haig 2020 British English
1381 Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014 Canadian English
3172 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
17160 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer 2008 English
14985 The Happiest Man On Earth Eddie Jaku 2020 Unknown English
1110 The Overstory Richard Powers 2018 American English
17160 The Happiest Refugee Anh Do 2010 Australian English
14232 Where Is The Green Sheep? Mem Fox 2004 Australian English
1435 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 British English
7592 The Women Kristin Hannah 2024 American English
2368 Brooklyn Colm Toibin 2009 Irish English
8973 A Short History Of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson 2003 American English
8697 Too Much Lip Melissa Lucashenko 2018 Australian English
3123 Carpentaria Alexis Wright 2006 Australian English
17160 The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart Holly Ringland 2018 Australian English
4939 Stone Yard Devotional Charlotte Wood 2023 Australian English
9972 Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens Shankari Chandran 2022 Unknown English
427 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
11013 Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros 2023 American English
14985 This House of Grief Helen Garner 2014 Australian English
14232 People Of The Book Geraldine Brooks 2008 Australian English
14232 This Is Going To Hurt Adam Kay 2017 British English
17160 The Bookbinder Of Jericho Pip Williams 2023 Australian English
791 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
6983 Project Hail Mary Andy Weir 2021 American English
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
3847 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
5391 Tom Lake Ann Patchett 2023 American English
1154 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
6099 The Heart's Invisible Furies John Boyne 2017 Irish English
418 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 American English
5486 Big Little Lies Liane Moriarty 2014 Australian English