The 40 Best Novels of the 2010s

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

About this list

Paste Magazine, 40 Books

Novels have inherent power. From building new worlds to reanimating history, they have the ability to enthrall and challenge us. But their most powerful trait is that they offer an escape while still encouraging readers to think critically, weaving entertainment and reflection into one experience.
As the decade comes to a close, we want to celebrate the novels that impacted us during the last 10 years. This list includes 40 novels published in English between 2010 and September 2019, and we’ve limited it to one book per author. The Paste staff tends to read fantasy and literary fiction, so you’ll notice the majority of the titles below fit those labels. And this list is obviously subjective; it’s by no means representative of the only “good” novels published during the last 10 years. This is simply a collection of the books we wept over, laughed with and were inspired by during a tumultuous decade.

We loved these books, and we believe you will, too.

This list was originally published in 2020 and was added to this site over 6 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
769 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016 American English
2646 Circe Madeline Miller 2018 American English
2498 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi 2016 Ghanaian English
2800 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
1019 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
5108 Swamplandia! Karen Russell 2011 American English
1115 The Fifth Season N. K. Jemisin 2015 American English
10910 The Leavers Lisa Ko 2017 American English
1380 Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014 Canadian English
1648 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
5437 The Way of Kings Brandon Sanderson 2010 American English
8929 Wolf in White Van John Darnielle 2014 American English
3564 Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng 2017 American English
8840 The Water Dancer Ta-Nehisi Coates 2019 American English
740 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
3184 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern 2011 American English
2287 Family Life Akhil Sharma 2014 Indian English
8331 Swing Time Zadie Smith 2016 British English
8578 The Wise Man's Fear Patrick Rothfuss 2011 American English
1435 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 British English
11134 The Destroyers Christopher Bollen 2017 American English
9125 Boy, Snow, Bird Helen Oyeyemi 2014 British English
5003 The Lesser Bohemians Eimear McBride 2016 Irish English
11466 Red at the Bone Jacqueline Woodson 2019 American English
921 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen 2015 American English
9331 Eileen Ottessa Moshfegh 2015 American English
3921 The Poppy War R. F. Kuang 2018 Chinese English
441 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
11309 The Incendiaries R. O. Kwon 2018 American English
11485 Bowlaway Elizabeth McCracken 2019 American English
10009 An Absolutely Remarkable Thing Hank Green 2018 American English
9816 The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley Hannah Tinti 2017 American English
4287 What Belongs to You Garth Greenwell 2016 American English
4925 Who Fears Death Nnedi Okorafor 2010 Nigerian English
10791 An Untamed State Roxane Gay 2014 American English
2737 The Martian Andy Weir 2011 American English
2216 Exit West Mohsin Hamid 2017 Pakistani English
7969 The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman 2013 British English
3908 Sudden Death Alvaro Enrigue 2013 Mexican Spanish
3174 Flight Behavior Barbara Kingsolver 2012 American English