The Greatest Social & Cultural Fiction 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
221 White Teeth Zadie Smith 2000 British English
232 2666 Roberto Bolaño 2004 Chilean Spanish
237 The Corrections Jonathan Franzen 2001 American English
396 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz 2007 Dominican English
397 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel 2009 British English
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
418 Middlesex Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 American English
420 The Human Stain Philip Roth 2000 American English
421 A Visit From The Goon Squad Jennifer Egan 2010 American English
427 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 2004 British English
443 Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 2013 Nigerian English
574 The Known World Edward P. Jones 2003 American English
723 The Line of Beauty Alan Hollinghurst 2004 British English
747 Blonde Joyce Carol Oates 2000 American English
770 The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016 American English
837 The Sellout Paul Beatty 2015 American English
892 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 2003 Afghan English
918 The Plot Against America Philip Roth 2004 American English
1074 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown 2003 American English
1085 The Book Thief Markus Zusak 2005 Australian English
1101 Outline Rachel Cusk 2014 British English
1110 The Overstory Richard Powers 2018 American English
1129 The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri 2003 American English
1194 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1206 Pachinko Min Jin Lee 2017 American English
1368 Salvage the Bones Jesmyn Ward 2011 American English
1369 Veronica Mary Gaitskill 2005 American English
1381 Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014 Canadian English
1390 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1448 Suite Française Irène Némirovsky 2004 French French
1538 Snow Orhan Pamuk 2002 Turkish Turkish
1650 Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn Ward 2017 American English
1700 The Hunger Angel Herta Müller 2009 German German
1704 Celestial Harmonies Peter Esterhazy 2000 Hungarian Hungarian
1751 NW Zadie Smith 2012 British English
1958 Let the Great World Spin Colum McCann 2009 Irish English
1983 The Great Believers Rebecca Makkai 2018 American English
2001 The Flamethrowers Rachel Kushner 2013 American English
2002 Freedom Jonathan Franzen 2010 American English
2058 A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini 2007 Afghan English
2069 The Round House Louise Erdrich 2012 American English
2107 Demon Copperhead Barbara Kingsolver 2022 American English
2165 The Buddha in the Attic Julie Otsuka 2011 American English
2170 Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman 2001 British English
2227 Exit West Mohsin Hamid 2017 Pakistani English
2229 A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles 2016 American English
2242 Milkman Anna Burns 2018 Irish English
2244 The Gathering Anne Enright 2007 Irish English
2317 To The End Of The Land David Grossman 2008 Israeli Hebrew
2336 There There Tommy Orange 2018 American English
2343 Small Things Like These Claire Keegan 2021 Irish English
2353 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Dai Sijie 2000 Chinese French
2408 That They May Face the Rising Sun John McGahern 2002 Irish English
2424 Platform Michel Houellebecq 2001 French French
2445 The Map And The Territory Michel Houellebecq 2010 French French
2467 On Beauty Zadie Smith 2005 British English
2485 Small Island Andrea Levy 2004 British English
2487 Measuring the World Daniel Kehlmann 2005 German German
2496 Mortals Norman Rush 2003 American English
2502 Homegoing Yaa Gyasi 2016 Ghanaian English
2646 Hurricane Season Fernanda Melchor 2017 Mexican Spanish
2649 The House of Scorta Laurent Gaudé 2004 French French
2650 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Sherman Alexie 2007 American English
2680 El Día Del Watusi Francisco Casavella 2002 Spanish Spanish
2705 Lost Children Archive Valeria Luiselli 2019 Mexican English
2708 The Help Kathryn Stockett 2009 American English
2735 Severance Ling Ma 2018 American English
2804 Fates and Furies Lauren Groff 2015 American English
2805 James Percival Everett 2024 American English
2826 A Manual For Cleaning Women Lucia Berlin 2015 American English
2828 Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow Gabrielle Zevin 2022 American English
2847 What Is the What Dave Eggers 2006 American English
2856 A Mercy Toni Morrison 2008 American English
2866 The Story Of The Lost Child Elena Ferrante 2014 Italian Italian
2882 Septology Jon Fosse 2019 Norwegian Norwegian
2901 Cremation Rafael Chirbes 2007 Spanish Spanish
2903 What I Loved Siri Hustvedt 2003 American English
2907 Love Life Zeruya Shalev 2000 Israeli Hebrew
2911 Tu Patricia Grace 2004 New Zealand English
2957 The Inheritance of Loss Kiran Desai 2006 Indian English
2966 The Sea John Banville 2005 Irish English
2972 The White Tiger Aravind Adiga 2008 Indian English
3061 The Fortress of Solitude Jonathan Lethem 2003 American English
3064 The Secret River Kate Grenville 2005 Australian English
3069 Caramelo Sandra Cisneros 2002 American English
3097 Open City Teju Cole 2011 American English
3103 Super Sad True Love Story Gary Shteyngart 2010 American English
3123 Carpentaria Alexis Wright 2006 Australian English
3136 Mother's Milk Edward St Aubyn 2005 British English
3172 The Bee Sting Paul Murray 2023 Irish English
3174 Oblivion David Foster Wallace 2004 American English
3179 The Quick And The Dead Joy Williams 2000 American English
3180 Flight Behavior Barbara Kingsolver 2012 American English
3183 Minor Detail Adania Shibli 2017 Palestinian Arabic
3265 The Days Of Abandonment Elena Ferrante 2002 Italian Italian
3281 The Hate U Give Angie Thomas 2017 American English
3286 Three Strong Women Marie NDiaye 2009 French French
3318 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
3401 Brothers Yu Hua 2005 Chinese Chinese
3443 Transit Rachel Cusk 2016 British English
3467 Kudos Rachel Cusk 2018 British English
3469 Solar Bones Mike McCormack 2016 Irish English
3477 American Born Chinese Gene Luen Yang 2006 American English
3500 Family Matters Rohinton Mistry 2002 Canadian English
3506 The Most Secret Memory Of Men Mohamed Mbougar Sarr 2021 Senegalese French
3531 An Unnecessary Woman Rabih Alameddine 2013 Lebanese English
3532 Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo 2019 British English
3535 Netherland Joseph O'Neill 2008 Irish English
3564 The Eighth Life Nino Haratishvili 2014 Georgian German
3599 Daisy Jones & The Six Taylor Jenkins Reid 2019 American English
3601 Human Acts Han Kang 2014 Korean Korean
3609 Winter's Bone Daniel Woodrell 2006 American English
3613 The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett 2020 American English
3627 Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata 2016 Japanese Japanese
3816 City of Bohane Kevin Barry 2011 Irish English
3838 De Niro's Game Rawi Hage 2006 Canadian English
3889 There But For The Ali Smith 2011 British English
3922 Wonder R. J. Palacio 2012 American English
4054 Leaving the Atocha Station Ben Lerner 2011 American English
4113 Brick Lane Monica Ali 2003 British English