Top 100 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

This House of Books, 100 Books

This list aims to address perceived shortcomings in the New York Times' selection of the best 100 books published so far this century by offering an alternative list curated by the staff and board members of This House of Books. The selection criteria emphasize diversity, inclusivity, and enjoyment, contrasting with what they view as the NYT's focus on literary fiction and recurrent authors. The methodology involves polling the staff and board, and the list prioritizes books available through their distributor, reflecting the biases of the English-language publishing world. Notably, the selection process is transparent about personal connections and limitations, ensuring no titles from member-owners are included to avoid nepotism.

This list was originally published in 2024 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
8230 Solito Javier Zamora 2022 Unknown English
14985 The Adventures Of Amina Al Sirafi S. A. Chakraborty 2023 American English
14232 The Only Good Indians Stephen Graham Jones 2020 American English
9319 Bright Dead Things Ada Limón 2015 American English
17152 How To Be A Good Savage And Other Poems Mikeas Sánchez Unknown Spanish
17152 Becoming Little Shell Chris La Tray 2023 Unknown English
7054 Chain Gang All Stars Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah 2023 American English
2069 The Round House Louise Erdrich 2012 American English
6991 The Employees Olga Ravn 2018 Danish Danish
2327 The Three-Body Problem Cixin Liu 2006 Chinese Chinese
17152 An American Sunrise Joy Harjo 2019 American English
9581 Night Sky With Exit Wounds Ocean Vuong 2016 American English
14985 They Called Us Enemy George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott 2019 American English
17152 Down From The Mountain Bryce Andrews 2019 American English
17152 The Soul Of An Octopus Sy Montgomery 2015 American English
17152 The Heartbeat Of Wounded Knee David Treuer 2019 American English
17152 You Better Be Lightning Andrea Gibson 2021 American English
1765 A Little Life Hanya Yanagihara 2015 American English
1381 Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014 Canadian English
14985 Eve Cat Bohannon 2023 Unknown English
14075 The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde 2001 British English
9073 Euphoria Lily King 2014 American English
2192 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
8458 March John Lewis 2013 American English
17152 Stranger Faces Namwali Serpell 2020 Unknown English
3541 Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado 2017 American English
2503 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi 2016 Ghanaian English
7706 Poverty, By America Matthew Desmond 2023 American English
1142 Life of Pi Yann Martel 2001 Canadian English
3847 Quiet Susan Cain 2012 English
17152 The Flicker Of Old Dreams Susan Henderson 2018 American English
13941 Saga Vol. 1 Brian K. Vaughan 2012 American English
14985 Payback Margaret Atwood 2008 Canadian English
670 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 French French
17152 Come West And See Maxim Loskutoff 2018 American English
2058 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini 2007 Afghan English
17152 Bitterroot Susan Devan Harness 2018 Unknown English
14985 Hood Feminism Mikki Kendall 2020 American English
4366 Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain 2000 American English
443 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
7205 Hounded Kevin Hearne 2011 American English
17152 Finding The Mother Tree Suzanne Simard 2021 Canadian English
7903 The House in the Cerulean Sea Tj Klune 2020 American English
10225 Matrix Lauren Groff 2021 American English
17152 Alexandra Petri's Us History Alexandra Petri 2023 American English
17152 The Lost Journals Of Sacajewea Debra Magpie Earling 2023 Unknown English
14985 The Devil Takes You Home Gabino Iglesias 2022 American English
17152 The Big Sort Bill Bishop 2008 American English
3589 Just Mercy Bryan Stevenson 2014 American English
2415 Educated Tara Westover 2018 American English
14985 A Psalm For The Wild Built Becky Chambers 2021 American English
10451 The Tangled Tree David Quammen 2018 American English
7566 There's Always This Year Hanif Abdurraqib 2024 American English
7881 Safe Area Joe Sacco 2000 American English
17152 Cycles Amy J. Hammer 2021 Unknown English
14985 The Four Winds Kristin Hannah 2021 American English
17152 Another Attempt At Rescue M. L. Smoker 2005 Unknown English
1129 The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri 2003 American English
370 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
290 The Road Cormac McCarthy 2006 American English
14985 Before The Coffee Gets Cold Toshikazu Kawaguchi 2015 Japanese Japanese
1117 The Fifth Season N. K. Jemisin 2015 American English
9274 Grief Is the Thing with Feathers Max Porter 2015 English
17152 A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest Charlie J. Stephens Unknown English
9541 Binti Nnedi Okorafor 2015 Nigerian English
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
17152 True West Betsy Gaines Quammen 2020 Unknown English
11193 Fox And I Catherine Raven 2021 Unknown English
1206 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 American English
17152 Masquerade O.O. Sangoyomi 2024 Unknown English
1983 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 American English
5581 This Is How You Lose The Time War Amal El Mohtar, Max Gladstone 2019 Multiple English
1368 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 American English
7650 Cloud Cuckoo Land Anthony Doerr 2021 American English
4604 Babel R. F. Kuang 2022 American English
947 Bel Canto Ann Patchett 2001 American English
14232 She Who Became The Sun Shelley Parker-Chan 2021 Australian English
17152 The Things We Cannot Say Kelly Rimmer 2019 Australian English
17152 Gender Queer Maia Kobabe 2019 American English
14232 The Starless Sea Erin Morgenstern 2019 American English
14985 The Hero Of Ages Brandon Sanderson 2008 American English
17152 Gathering Moss Robin Wall Kimmerer 2003 American English
7923 Uprooted Naomi Novik 2015 American English
17152 The Witch's Heart Genevieve Gornichec 2021 American English
14985 Winter's Orbit Everina Maxwell 2021 British English
14985 The Water Outlaws S. L. Huang 2023 Unknown English
7837 The Midnight Library Matt Haig 2020 British English
909 The Warmth Of Other Suns Isabel Wilkerson 2010 American English
1211 Normal People Sally Rooney 2018 Irish English
9042 Against The Loveless World Susan Abulhawa 2020 Palestinian English
5100 Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese 2009 American English
1354 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout 2008 American English
1101 Outline Rachel Cusk 2014 British English
14232 The Boys In The Boat Daniel James Brown 2013 American English
17152 The Children Act Ian McEwan 2014 English
6149 In The Distance Hernan Díaz 2017 American English
6410 Bluets Maggie Nelson 2009 American English
17152 Freethinkers Susan Jacoby 2004 American English
1252 Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari 2011 Israeli Hebrew
17152 Crazy Brave Joy Harjo 2012 American English