The New Classics - 100 Best Reads from 1983 to 2008

This is one of the 743 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
291 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
1841 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling 2000 British English
49 Beloved Toni Morrison 1987 American English
4133 The Liars' Club Mary Karr 1995 American English
378 American Pastoral Philip Roth 1997 American English
4285 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
1102 Maus Art Spiegelman 1980 American English
1285 Selected Stories of Alice Munro Alice Munro 1996 Canadian English
1876 Cold Mountain Charles Frazier 1997 American English
473 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami 1994 Japanese Japanese
2418 Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer 1997 American English
993 Blindness José Saramago 1995 Portuguese Portuguese
808 Watchmen Alan Moore 1986 American, British English
10854 Black Water Joyce Carol Oates 1992 American English
1780 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers 2000 American English
132 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood 1985 Canadian English
168 Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez 1985 Colombian Spanish
783 Rabbit at Rest John Updike 1990 American English
2463 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
638 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding 1996 British English
1265 On Writing Stephen King 2000 American English
395 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
5726 The Ghost Road Pat Barker 1995 British English
631 Lonesome Dove Larry McMurtry 1985 American English
737 The Joy Luck Club Amy Tan 1989 American English
892 Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 American, Canadian English
731 Possession A. S. Byatt 1990 British English
14901 Naked David Sedaris 1997 American English
946 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
6465 Case Histories Kate Atkinson 2004 British English
653 The Things They Carried Tim O'Brien 1990 American English
8709 Parting the Waters Taylor Branch 1988 American English
369 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
1691 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
722 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
1641 Angela's Ashes Frank McCourt 1996 American English
668 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 French French
1036 Birds of America Lorrie Moore 1998 American English
1771 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri 1999 American English
397 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman 1995 British English
1632 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros 1984 American English
3051 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
14901 Borrowed Time Paul Monette 1988 American English
11052 Praying for Sheetrock Melissa Fay Greene 1991 American English
14901 Eva Luna Isabel Allende 1987 Chilean Spanish
1345 Sandman Neil Gaiman 1989 British English
7860 World's Fair E. L. Doctorow 1985 American English
888 The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver 1998 American English
13890 Clockers Richard Price 1992 American English
237 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 American English
3504 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
2690 Waiting to Exhale Terry McMillan 1992 American English
314 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon 2000 American English
2334 Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth Chris Ware 2000 American English
2387 The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls 2005 American English
14901 The Night Manager John le Carré 1993 British English
309 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
17008 Drop City T. Coraghessan Boyle 2003 American English
17008 Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat 1995 Haitian English
1202 Nickel And Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich 2001 American English
749 Money Martin Amis 1984 British English
4515 Last Train to Memphis Peter Guralnick 1994 American English
2500 Pastoralia George Saunders 2000 American English
410 Underworld Don DeLillo 1997 American English
1798 The Giver Lois Lowry 1993 American English
1563 A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again David Foster Wallace 1997 American English
891 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
1058 Fun Home Alison Bechdel 2006 American English
278 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
432 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
13514 The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman 1997 American English
1811 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon 2003 British English
530 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving 1989 American English
3007 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
1328 Cathedral Raymond Carver 1983 American English
11184 A Sight for Sore Eyes Ruth Rendell 1999 British English
204 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro 1989 British English
5134 Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert 2006 American English
3165 The Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell 2000 American English
2411 Bright Lights, Big City Jay McInerney 1984 American English
2308 Backlash Susan Faludi 1991 American English
248 Atonement Ian McEwan 2001 British English
1695 The Stone Diaries Carol Shields 1993 Canadian English
5222 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 American English
475 Gilead Marilynne Robinson 2004 American English
1872 And the Band Played On Randy Shilts 1987 American English
7683 The Ruins Scott Smith 2006 American English
889 High Fidelity Nick Hornby 1995 British English
2698 Close Range Annie Proulx 1999 American English
17008 Comfort Me with Apples Ruth Reichl 2001 American English
1433 Random Family Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 2003 American English
1490 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
999 A Thousand Acres Jane Smiley 1991 American English
5565 Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser 2001 American English
17008 Kaaterskill Falls Allegra Goodman 1998 American English
1071 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown 2003 American English
1111 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
17008 The Predators' Ball Connie Bruck 1988 American English
14901 Practical Magic Alice Hoffman 1995 American English
17008 America John Stewart 2004 American English