The Greatest 21st Century Books of All Time

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
4460 The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Aimee Bender 2010 American English
5641 Enlightenment Now Steven Pinker 2018 American English
6254 Midwinter Break Bernard MacLaverty 2017 Irish English
6256 A Novel About My Wife Emily Perkins 2008 New Zealand English
6351 The Shallows Nicolas Carr 2010 American English
6443 Eaarth Bill McKibben 2010 American English
6576 Crashed Adam Tooze 2018 British English
7636 Angels' Blood Nalini Singh 2009 New Zealander English
7751 The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Shoshana Zuboff 2019 American English
7899 Capital John Lanchester 2012 British English
8020 The Rise And Fall Of American Growth Robert J. Gordon 2016 American English
8209 China Shakes The World James Kynge 2006 British English
8230 China Susan Shirk 2007 Unknown English
8275 Love And Summer William Trevor 2009 Irish English
8386 Our Souls At Night Kent Haruf 2015 American English
8565 Ghost Wars Steve Coll 2004 American English
8591 Sonnenschein Daša Drndić 2007 Croatian Croatian
8620 Age Of Fracture Daniel T. Rodgers 2011 American English
8723 The Uninhabitable Earth David Wallace-Wells 2019 American English
8787 Dinosaurs On Other Planets Danielle McLaughlin 2014 Irish English
8815 Man Gone Down Michael Thomas 2007 American English
8845 Seeing Red Lina Meruane 2012 Chilean Spanish
8991 The Deal Of The Century Steve Coll 1986 American English
9137 The Consequences Niña Weijers 2014 Dutch Dutch
9191 The Water Will Come Jeff Goodell 2017 American English
9219 On Tyranny Timothy Snyder 2017 American English
9509 Political Order And Political Decay Francis Fukuyama 2014 American English
9601 The Interpreter From Java Alfred Birney 2016 Dutch Dutch
9607 The 9/11 Commission Report 9/11 Commission 2004 American English
9653 The People's Republic Of Amnesia Louisa Lim 2014 Unknown English
9900 디디의 우산 황정은 2019 Korean Korean
10002 Where Tigers Are At Home Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès 2008 French French
10063 In The Café Of Lost Youth Patrick Modiano 2007 French French
10093 The Secret History Of Costaguana Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2007 Colombian Spanish
10124 White City Kevin Power 2021 Irish English
10129 Shadow Ticket Thomas Pynchon 2025 American English
10450 Intimacies Katie Kitamura 2021 American English
10533 Ai Superpowers Kai-Fu Lee 2018 Chinese English
10566 The Third Revolution Elizabeth C. Economy 2018 Unknown English
10588 Fresh, Green Life Sebastian Castillo 2025 Unknown English
10607 China's New Red Guards Jude Blanchette 2019 Unknown English
10782 Burnt Sugar Avni Doshi 2020 Indian English
10842 Who Controls The Internet? Tim Wu, Jack Goldsmith 2006 American English
10903 Inside My Mother Ali Cobby Eckermann 2015 Australian English
10975 They Know Not What They Do Jussi Valtonen 2014 Finnish Finnish
10987 A Brief History Of Neoliberalism David Harvey 2005 British English
11332 The Blair Years Alastair Campbell 2007 British English
11390 Poor Caleb Femi 2020 British English
11611 The Next Christendom Philip Jenkins 2002 American English
11642 Silence Is A Sense Layla AlAmmar 2021 Unknown English
12142 Gertrude Stein Francesca Wade 2025 British English
12156 Dead And Alive Zadie Smith 2025 British English
12323 Your Name Here Helen DeWitt, Ilya Gridneff 2025 American English
12407 The Scrapbook Heather Clark 2025 Unknown English
12754 Maidenhair Mikhail Shishkin 2005 Russian Russian
12802 Gilded Rage Jacob Silverman 2025 American English
12944 The Silver Book Olivia Laing 2025 British English
13191 Authority Andrea Long Chu 2025 American English
13147 Get In Gabriel Pogrund, Patrick Maguire 2025 British English
13158 Lode Gillian Allnutt 2025 English English
13599 Live Fast Brigitte Giraud 2022 French French
13599 Houris Kamel Daoud 2024 French French
13885 Googled Ken Auletta 2009 American English
14984 Astrophysics For People In A Hurry Neil deGrasse Tyson 2017 American English
14984 Can't Stop Won't Stop Jeff Chang 2005 American English
15661 Oculus Sally Wen Mao 2019 American English
17120 Human Chain Seamus Heaney 2010 Irish English
17120 White Rage Carol Anderson 2016 American English
17120 The Trouble With Physics Lee Smolin 2006 American English
17120 After The Coalition Kwasi Kwarteng 2011 British English
17120 Revolt On The Right Robert Ford, Matthew Goodwin 2014 British English
17120 Corbyn Richard Seymour 2016 British English
17120 The Limits Nell Freudenberger 2024 American English
17120 The Revolt Of The Public And The Crisis Of Authority In The New Millennium Martin Gurri 2014 Unknown English
17120 Faces Of Moderation Aurelian Craiutu 2016 Unknown English
17120 Resisting Borders And Technologies Of Violence Mizue Aizeki, Matt Mahmoudi, Coline Schupfer 2024 Unknown English
17120 Medzerový Plod Veronika Šikulová 2014 Slovak Slovak
17120 Loop Brenda Lozano 2014 Mexican Spanish
17120 Saltatempo Stefano Benni 2001 Italian Italian
17120 The Gospel According To The New World Maryse Condé, Richard Philcox 2021 French French
17120 Whoops! John Lanchester 2009 British English
17120 The Best Possible Experience Nishanth Injam 2023 Unknown English
17120 Flesh In The Age Of Reason Roy Porter 2003 British English
17120 Eve Out Of Her Ruins Ananda Devi 2006 Mauritian French
17120 Fish Soup Margarita García Robayo 2018 Colombian Spanish
17120 Fox Dubravka Ugrešić 2017 Croatian Croatian
17120 The Little Girl On The Ice Floe Adélaïde Bon 2018 French French
17120 The Remainder Alia Trabucco Zerán 2015 Chilean Spanish
17120 Translation As Transhumance Mireille Gansel 2017 French French
17120 Queer City Peter Ackroyd 2017 British English
17120 Verdigris Michele Mari 2007 Unknown Italian
17120 Osebol Marit Kapla 2019 Swedish Swedish
17120 Look Alive Out There Sloane Crosley 2018 American English
17120 El Nervio óptico Maria Gainza 2014 Argentinian Spanish
17120 Mind And Cosmos Thomas Nagel 2012 American English
17120 Computer Programming For Beginners Nathan Clark Unknown English
17120 The Great Experiment Yascha Mounk 2022 American English
17120 America, The Farewell Tour Chris Hedges 2018 American English
17120 Melvill Rodrigo Fresán 2022 Argentine Spanish
17120 I Must Be Living Twice Eileen Myles 2015 American English
17120 All That Man Is Szalay, David 2016 British English