The Greatest Magical Realism Books Since 2000

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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
314 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Michael Chabon 2000 American English
396 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
418 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 American English
427 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
607 House of Leaves Mark Z. Danielewski 2000 American English
1022 Lincoln in the Bardo George Saunders 2017 American English
1110 The Overstory Richard Powers 2018 American English
1142 Life of Pi Yann Martel 2001 Canadian English
1194 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1201 Kafka On The Shore Haruki Murakami 2002 Japanese Japanese
1261 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood 2000 Canadian English
1435 Life After Life Kate Atkinson 2013 British English
1456 Flights Olga Tokarczuk 2007 Polish Polish
1585 Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke 2004 British English
1648 Wizard of the Crow Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o 2006 Kenyan English
1650 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
1675 The Time Traveler's Wife Audrey Niffenegger 2003 American English
1693 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 2002 American English
1723 1Q84 Haruki Murakami 2009 Japanese Japanese
1809 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon 2001 Spanish Spanish
2192 American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001 British English
2227 Exit West Mohsin Hamid 2017 Pakistani English
2229 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles 2016 American English
2311 Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu 2015 Romanian Romanian
2335 How to be both Ali Smith 2014 British English
2354 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Dai Sijie 2000 Chinese French
2527 On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous Ocean Vuong 2019 American English
2706 Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli 2019 Mexican English
2805 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
2843 10:04 Ben Lerner 2014 American English
2857 A Mercy Toni Morrison 2008 American English
2887 Everything Is Illuminated Jonathan Safran Foer 2002 American English
3049 Fever Dream Samanta Schweblin 2014 Argentinian Spanish
3062 The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem 2003 American English
3070 Caramelo Sandra Cisneros 2002 American English
3123 Carpentaria Alexis Wright 2006 Australian English
3180 Flight Behavior Barbara Kingsolver 2012 American English
3190 The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern 2011 American English
3453 Magic for Beginners Kelly Link 2005 American English
3488 Akata Witch Nnedi Okorafor 2011 American English
3532 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
3541 Her Body and Other Parties Carmen Maria Machado 2017 American English
3615 11 22 63 Stephen King 2011 American English
3848 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
3886 Lunar Park Bret Easton Ellis 2005 American English
3914 Sudden Death Alvaro Enrigue 2013 Mexican Spanish
4143 Aristotle And Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe Benjamin Alire Sáenz 2012 American English
4162 The Good Lord Bird James McBride 2013 American English
4458 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 2008 British English
4459 The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Aimee Bender 2010 American English
4505 North Woods Daniel Mason 2023 American English
4533 Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer 2014 American English
4539 Rules Of Summer Shaun Tan 2013 Australian English
4577 Time Shelter Georgi Gospodinov 2020 Bulgarian Bulgarian
4603 Babel R. F. Kuang 2022 American English
4617 Deacon King Kong James McBride 2020 American English
4637 The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse Louise Erdrich 2001 American English
4654 Coraline Neil Gaiman 2002 British English
4661 The Swan Book Alexis Wright 2013 Australian English
4685 The Tiger's Wife Téa Obreht 2011 Serbian English
4844 The Last Quarter Of The Moon Chi Zijian 2005 Chinese English
4885 The Crimson Petal And The White Michel Faber 2002 British English
4933 Who Fears Death Nnedi Okorafor 2010 Nigerian English
4977 Klara And The Sun Kazuo Ishiguro 2021 British English
5006 Against the Day Thomas Pynchon 2006 American English
5013 Slave To Sensation Nalini Singh 2006 New Zealand English
5116 Swamplandia! Karen Russell 2011 American English
5119 Baudolino Umberto Eco 2000 Italian Italian
5153 Cursed Bunny Bora Chung 2021 Korean Korean
5300 The Museum Of Innocence Orhan Pamuk 2008 Turkish Turkish
5313 A General Theory Of Oblivion José Eduardo Agualusa 2012 Angolan Portuguese
5462 The Animals In That Country Laura Jean McKay 2020 Australian English
5572 Stranger Things Happen Kelly Link 2001 American English
5581 This Is How You Lose The Time War Amal El Mohtar, Max Gladstone 2019 Multiple English
5596 The Sound Of Things Falling Juan Gabriel Vásquez 2011 Colombian Spanish
5618 Our Share of Night Mariana Enríquez 2019 Argentinian Spanish
5811 John Dies At The End David Wong 2007 American English
5994 The Sacred Book Of The Werewolf Victor Pelevin 2004 Russian Russian
6090 All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders 2016 American English
6187 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman Haruki Murakami 2006 Japanese Japanese
6244 A Discovery Of Witches Deborah Harkness 2011 American English
6296 Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children Ransom Riggs 2011 American English
6417 The Bonesetter's Daughter Amy Tan 2001 American English
6462 Air Geoff Ryman 2005 British English
6522 City of the Beasts Isabel Allende 2002 Chilean Spanish
6533 A Stranger In Olondria Sofia Samatar 2013 American English
6582 Freshwater Akwaeke Emezi 2018 Nigerian English
6676 Three Apples Fell From The Sky Narine Abgaryan 2015 Armenian Russian
6710 The Old Drift Namwali Serpell 2019 Zambian English
6799 We Others Steven Millhauser 2011 American English
6836 We are All Completely Beside Ourselves Karen Joy Fowler 2013 American English
6897 The Winter Sea Susanna Kearsley 2008 Canadian English
6906 Washington Black Esi Edugyan 2018 Canadian English
6916 The Paper Menagerie And Other Stories Ken Liu 2016 American English
7050 The Changeling Victor LaValle 2017 American English
7103 Get In Trouble Kelly Link 2015 American English
7119 The Optic Nerve Maria Gainza 2015 Argentinian Spanish
7130 Beauty Is A Wound Eka Kurniawan 2002 Indonesian Indonesian
7129 Knife Salman Rushdie 2024 British English
7149 Magic In The Wind Christine Feehan 2003 American English
7188 Pet Akwaeke Emezi 2019 American English
7626 Whale Cheon Myeong-kwan 2004 Korean Korean
7643 The Hungry Tide Amitav Ghosh 2004 Indian English
7649 Cloud Cuckoo Land Anthony Doerr 2021 American English
7665 Victory City Salman Rushdie 2023 British English
7671 The Raven Boys Maggie Stiefvater 2012 American English
7684 Among Others Jo Walton 2011 British English
7702 Beatlebone Kevin Barry 2015 Irish English
7753 Mr. Fox Helen Oyeyemi 2011 British English
7760 Black Leopard, Red Wolf Marlon James 2019 Jamaican English
7811 The Elegance of the Hedgehog Muriel Barbery 2006 French French
7836 The Midnight Library Matt Haig 2020 British English
7838 The Invisible Life Of Addie La Rue V. E. Schwab 2020 American English
7845 Kingdom Cons Yuri Herrera 2008 Mexican Spanish
7849 The Birth House Ami McKay 2006 Canadian English
7882 Mexican Gothic Silvia Moreno-Garcia 2020 Mexican English
7894 The Bone Clocks David Mitchell 2014 British English
7902 The House in the Cerulean Sea Tj Klune 2020 American English
7914 The Devil and Miss Prym Paulo Coelho 2000 Brazilian Portuguese
7922 Uprooted Naomi Novik 2015 American English