The New Classics - 100 Best Reads from 1983 to 2008

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

About this list

Entertainment Weekly, 100 Books

Entertainment Weekly's list of the 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008.

This list was originally published in 2008 and was added to this site over 12 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
290 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
1842 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling 2000 British English
49 Beloved Toni Morrison 1987 American English
4139 The Liars' Club Mary Karr 1995 American English
380 American Pastoral Philip Roth 1997 American English
4291 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
1104 Maus Art Spiegelman 1980 American English
1285 Selected Stories of Alice Munro Alice Munro 1996 Canadian English
1877 Cold Mountain Charles Frazier 1997 American English
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
2424 Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer 1997 American English
994 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
808 Watchmen Alan Moore 1986 American, British English
10883 Black Water Joyce Carol Oates 1992 American English
1783 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
132 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood 1985 Canadian English
166 Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez 1985 Colombian Spanish
784 Rabbit at Rest John Updike 1990 American English
2468 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
641 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding 1996 British English
1265 On Writing Stephen King 2000 American English
396 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
5737 The Ghost Road Pat Barker 1995 British English
623 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry 1985 American English
738 The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan 1989 American English
893 Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 American, Canadian English
718 Possession A. S. Byatt 1990 British English
14985 Naked David Sedaris 1997 American English
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
6477 Case Histories Kate Atkinson 2004 British English
648 The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien 1990 American English
6248 Parting the Waters Taylor Branch 1988 American English
370 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
1693 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
723 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
1643 Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt 1996 American English
670 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 French French
1039 Birds of America Lorrie Moore 1998 American English
1775 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri 1999 American English
399 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman 1995 British English
1634 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros 1984 American English
3058 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
14985 Borrowed Time Paul Monette 1988 American English
11082 Praying for Sheetrock Melissa Fay Greene 1991 American English
14985 Eva Luna Isabel Allende 1987 Chilean Spanish
1348 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
7876 World's Fair E. L. Doctorow 1985 American English
878 The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver 1998 American English
13941 Clockers Richard Price 1992 American English
237 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 American English
3507 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
2694 Waiting to Exhale Terry McMillan 1992 American English
314 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon 2000 American English
2341 Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth Chris Ware 2000 American English
2394 The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls 2005 American English
14985 The Night Manager John le Carré 1993 British English
310 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
13760 Drop City T. Coraghessan Boyle 2003 American English
17152 Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat 1995 Haitian English
1204 Nickel And Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich 2001 American English
750 Money Martin Amis 1984 British English
4521 Last Train to Memphis Peter Guralnick 1994 American English
2505 Pastoralia George Saunders 2000 American English
411 Underworld Don DeLillo 1997 American English
1799 The Giver Lois Lowry 1993 American English
1565 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
892 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
1060 Fun Home Alison Bechdel 2006 American English
279 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
427 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
13560 The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman 1997 American English
1812 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon 2003 British English
524 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving 1989 American English
3015 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
1331 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
11214 A Sight for Sore Eyes Ruth Rendell 1999 British English
204 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro 1989 British English
5143 Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert 2006 American English
3171 The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell 2000 American English
2417 Bright Lights, Big City Jay McInerney 1984 American English
2315 Backlash Susan Faludi 1991 American English
248 Atonement Ian McEwan 2001 British English
1697 The Stone Diaries Carol Shields 1993 Canadian English
5231 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 American English
475 Gilead Marilynne Robinson 2004 American English
1873 And the Band Played On Randy Shilts 1987 American English
7698 The Ruins Scott Smith 2006 American English
890 High Fidelity Nick Hornby 1995 British English
2702 Close Range Annie Proulx 1999 American English
17152 Comfort Me with Apples Ruth Reichl 2001 American English
1433 Random Family Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 2003 American English
1491 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1000 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
5573 Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser 2001 American English
17152 Kaaterskill Falls Allegra Goodman 1998 American English
1074 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown 2003 American English
968 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
17152 The Predators' Ball Connie Bruck 1988 American English
14985 Practical Magic Alice Hoffman 1995 American English
17152 America John Stewart 2004 American English