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

This is one of the 743 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 8 months ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
7196 Boy Swallows Universe Trent Dalton 2018 Australian English
1081 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 Australian English
2266 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles 2016 American English
1431 All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr 2014 American English
7770 Lessons In Chemistry Bonnie Garmus 2022 American English
6299 Burial Rites Hannah Kent 2013 Australian English
9146 The Dictionary Of Lost Words Pip Williams 2020 Australian English
2132 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 American English
1789 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
402 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
2337 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 2021 Irish English
5146 Where The Crawdads Sing Delia Owens 2018 American English
6265 The Narrow Road To The Deep North Richard Flanagan 2013 Australian English
12186 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Gail Honeyman 2017 British English
6470 Year Of Wonders Geraldine Brooks 2001 Australian English
17008 Still Life Sarah Winman 2021 British English
7870 Wifedom Anna Funder 2023 Unknown English
8196 Dark Emu Bruce Pascoe 2014 Australian English
291 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
3058 The Secret River Kate Grenville 2005 Australian English
248 Atonement Ian McEwan 2001 British English
891 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
2823 Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 American English
7178 Jasper Jones Craig Silvey 2009 Australian English
17008 Honeybee Craig Silvey 2020 Australian English
1387 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 2008 American English
407 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
8471 The Dry Jane Harper 2016 Australian English
10864 Lola In The Mirror Trent Dalton 2023 Australian English
5343 Stasiland Anna Funder 2002 Australian English
740 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
1209 Normal People Sally Rooney 2018 Irish English
1204 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 American English
267 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro 2005 British English
1350 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 American English
14165 The Thursday Murder Club Richard Osman 2020 British English
5481 The Slap Christos Tsiolkas 2008 Australian English
3849 Breath Tim Winton 2008 Australian English
2586 Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 2020 Irish English
10275 Dirt Music Tim Winton 2001 Australian English
7740 Shuggie Bain Douglas Stuart 2020 Scottish English
2530 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
17008 All That I Am Anna Funder 2011 Australian English
9131 Limberlost Robbie Arnott 2022 Australian English
1674 The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger 2003 American English
14901 Horse Geraldine Brooks 2022 Australian English
1841 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling 2000 British English
1141 Life of Pi Yann Martel 2001 Canadian English
2053 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini 2007 Afghan English
1691 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
6806 Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid 2017 American English
2178 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
7198 Prophet Song Paul Lynch 2023 Irish English
13181 The Rosie Project Graeme Simsion 2013 Australian English
3529 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
4846 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith 1998 Scottish English
1252 Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari 2011 Israeli Hebrew
2801 James Percival Everett 2024 American English
1811 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon 2003 British English
1327 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
3505 Joe Cinque's Consolation Helen Garner 2004 Australian English
5670 The Covenant Of Water Abraham Verghese 2023 American English
3869 We Need To Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver 2003 American English
946 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
7197 Question 7 Richard Flanagan 2023 Unknown English
6683 The Tattooist Of Auschwitz Heather Morris 2018 Australian English
2646 Circe Madeline Miller 2018 American English
2408 Educated Tara Westover 2018 American English
7821 The Midnight Library Matt Haig 2020 British English
1380 Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014 Canadian English
3166 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
17008 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer 2008 English
14901 The Happiest Man On Earth Eddie Jaku 2020 Unknown English
1108 The Overstory Richard Powers 2018 American English
17008 The Happiest Refugee Anh Do 2010 Australian English
14165 Where Is The Green Sheep? Mem Fox 2004 Australian English
1435 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 British English
7576 The Women Kristin Hannah 2024 American English
2359 Brooklyn Colm Toibin 2009 Irish English
8956 A Short History Of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson 2003 American English
8679 Too Much Lip Melissa Lucashenko 2018 Australian English
3117 Carpentaria Alexis Wright 2006 Australian English
17008 The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart Holly Ringland 2018 Australian English
4930 Stone Yard Devotional Charlotte Wood 2023 Australian English
9951 Chai Time At Cinnamon Gardens Shankari Chandran 2022 Unknown English
432 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
10981 Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros 2023 American English
14901 This House of Grief Helen Garner 2014 Australian English
14165 People Of The Book Geraldine Brooks 2008 Australian English
14165 This Is Going To Hurt Adam Kay 2017 British English
17008 The Bookbinder Of Jericho Pip Williams 2023 Australian English
790 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
6972 Project Hail Mary Andy Weir 2021 American English
1019 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
3935 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
5380 Tom Lake Ann Patchett 2023 American English
1153 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
6088 The Heart's Invisible Furies John Boyne 2017 Irish English
415 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 American English
5476 Big Little Lies Liane Moriarty 2014 Australian English