100 Best 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

Book Enthusiast Substack, 100 Books

The Book Enthusiast Substack created this list as a response to the 2024 NY Times "Best Books of the 21st Century" List. In total 1,327 people submitted ballots, which translated to 13,216 individual votes for 2,320 books.

This list was originally published in 2024 and was added to this site almost 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
2829 Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 American English
791 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
6817 Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo Taylor Jenkins Reid 2017 American English
2704 The Nightingale Kristin Hannah 2015 American English
2502 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi 2016 Ghanaian English
2143 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 American English
2414 Educated Tara Westover 2018 American English
6194 Know My Name Chanel Miller 2019 American English
1212 Normal People Sally Rooney 2018 Irish English
1790 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
1431 All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr 2014 American English
1389 The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins 2008 American English
1207 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 American English
6984 Project Hail Mary Andy Weir 2021 American English
1381 Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014 Canadian English
1983 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 American English
5390 Tom Lake Ann Patchett 2023 American English
7785 Lessons In Chemistry Bonnie Garmus 2022 American English
3614 The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett 2020 American English
8067 Remarkably Bright Creatures Shelby Van Pelt 2022 American English
740 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
2652 Circe Madeline Miller 2018 American English
8240 Beach Read Emily Henry 2020 American English
6098 The Heart's Invisible Furies John Boyne 2017 Irish English
3600 Daisy Jones & The Six Taylor Jenkins Reid 2019 American English
1085 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 Australian English
7898 The Great Alone Kristin Hannah 2018 American English
7902 The House in the Cerulean Sea Tj Klune 2020 American English
894 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
11017 Fourth Wing Rebecca Yarros 2023 American English
6375 Beartown Fredrik Backman 2016 Swedish Swedish
3188 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern 2011 American English
14116 The Idea Of You Robinne Lee 2017 American English
7836 The Midnight Library Matt Haig 2020 British English
5636 Book Lovers Emily Henry 2021 American English
443 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
7838 The Invisible Life Of Addie La Rue V. E. Schwab 2020 American English
2231 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J. K. Rowling 2007 British English
7592 The Women Kristin Hannah 2024 American English
12397 Black Cake Charmaine Wilkerson 2022 American English
1332 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller 2011 American English
2274 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles 2016 American English
1843 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling 2000 British English
267 Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro 2005 British English
7100 The Dutch House Ann Patchett 2019 American English
5155 Where The Crawdads Sing Delia Owens 2018 American English
3616 11 22 63 Stephen King 2011 American English
2393 The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls 2005 American English
2534 A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman 2012 Swedish Swedish
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
11232 Becoming Michelle Obama 2018 American English
3590 Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson 2014 American English
418 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 American English
2189 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
7143 Hello Beautiful Ann Napolitano 2023 American English
6664 Crying In H Mart Michelle Zauner 2021 American English
3051 Red, White & Royal Blue Casey McQuiston 2019 American English
3233 When Breath Becomes Air Paul Kalanithi 2016 American English
7650 Cloud Cuckoo Land Anthony Doerr 2021 American English
11199 Rules Of Civility Amor Towles 2011 American English
2806 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
2590 Hamnet Maggie O'Farrell 2020 Irish English
3280 The Hate U Give Angie Thomas 2017 American English
2711 The Help Kathryn Stockett 2009 American English
1678 The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger 2003 American English
14527 Every Summer After Carley Fortune 2022 Canadian English
4589 The Nickel Boys Colson Whitehead 2019 American English
4306 A Court Of Thorns And Roses Sarah J. Maas 2015 American English
7585 Verity Colleen Hoover 2018 American English
14440 Writers & Lovers Lily King 2020 American English
6837 Yellowface R. F. Kuang 2023 American English
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
770 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016 American English
7080 A Court Of Mist And Fury Sarah J. Maas 2016 American English
2636 An American Marriage Tayari Jones 2018 American English
4603 Babel R. F. Kuang 2022 American English
5100 Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese 2009 American English
372 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
13597 Anxious People Fredrik Backman 2019 Swedish Swedish
11360 The Interestings Meg Wolitzer 2013 American English
14214 This Is How It Always Is Laurie Frankel 2017 American English
248 Atonement Ian McEwan 2001 British English
3569 Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng 2017 American English
7588 Commonwealth Ann Patchett 2016 American English
10189 I’m Glad My Mom Died Jennette McCurdy 2022 American English
3942 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
13983 This Time Tomorrow Emma Straub 2023 American English
4371 Crazy Rich Asians Kevin Kwan 2013 American English
1755 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling 2005 British English
1995 Say Nothing Patrick Radden Keefe 2018 American English
1543 The Devil In The White City Erik Larson 2003 American English
1130 The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri 2003 American English
8630 We All Want Impossible Things Catherine Newman 2022 American English
7174 Wild Cheryl Strayed 2012 American English
14444 28 Summers Elin Hilderbrand 2020 American English
3947 In The Dream House Carmen Maria Machado 2019 American English
2058 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini 2007 Afghan English
12049 American Wife Curtis Sittenfeld 2008 American English
12506 Sea Of Tranquility Emily St John Mandel 2022 Canadian English
3487 The Fault in Our Stars John Green 2012 American English