25 Books to Read Before you Die: 21st Century

This is one of the 743 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Powell's Books, 25 Books

It’s hard for us to believe that it’s been 17 years since we first toasted the new millennium. In January 2001, a gallon of gas cost $1.46. Facebook was three years from launching. 9/11 hadn’t happened. Huge political and cultural shifts were only months away… and some of the best books we’ve ever read were waiting in the wings. This year, for our fifth annual 25 Books to Read Before You Die list, we’ve selected novels, poetry, short stories, and nonfiction that speak to central concerns of 21st-century life: among them, race, heredity, identity, war, and the vanishing wild. From double agents to Hurricane Katrina to intergalactic travel, these 25 vastly different books create a stunning portrait of the dislocation, perseverance, and hope at the heart of life in 21st-century America.

This list was originally published in 2018 and was added to this site almost 7 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
7067 The Blazing World Siri Hustvedt 2014 American English
14901 The Book of Strange New Things Michel Faber 2014 British English
432 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
17007 Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching Mychal Denzel Smith 2016 American English
6524 The Empathy Exams Leslie Jamison 2014 American English
5590 The Lost City of Z David Grann 2009 American English
1860 Citizen Claudia Rankine 2014 American English
4130 The Faraway Nearby Rebecca Solnit 2013 American English
3585 Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson 2014 American English
5022 Honored Guest Joy Williams 2004 American English
17007 I Loved You More Tom Spanbauer 2014 American English
17007 The Invented Part Rodrigo Fresán 2014 Argentinian Spanish
2171 Far From the Tree Andrew Solomon 2012 American English
1621 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke 2004 British English
1019 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
3124 Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood 2003 Canadian English
8439 March John Lewis 2013 American English
8956 A Short History Of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson 2003 American English
921 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
1367 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 American English
17007 War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning Chris Hedges 2002 American English
402 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
4742 The Omnivore's Dilemma Michael Pollan 2006 American English
4758 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
11984 The Echo Maker Richard Powers 2006 American English