The Artist Recommends: Trending Best of the Century Book Lists

/ July 25, 2024


(Head to the end of the post to see my picks.)

Sure, there’s a bunch of political stuff going on, but the book news in the past week or two has also been blowing up, unpredictably so. It all began with a little list that the New York Times put out. They put book lists out all the time and why they chose this moment for a retrospective of best books of the 2000s (so far, obviously), I’m not quite sure. But if you are a reader, it’s likely this one crossed your lips and your feeds in the past several days.

Image from The New York Times, which they seem to be plastering everywhere, so I thought…

I’m not going to reproduce the lists here for you (because that wouldn’t be right), but we’re going to interact with them a little bit. I’m gonna give you my two cents. And I’m going to stay away from the titles I don’t even recognize. Perhaps those are the ones that you should be paying attention to, though. Go find the original list, the one made using the opinions of authors, and perhaps poke around into the lesser-known of those titles. That could be really interesting. Okay, so maybe I’ll do that soon for you.

After the list was published everyone had something to say about it, and the NYTimes quickly canvassed their readers and came up with a complimentary Readers’ Choice version of the list. We’ll be exploring that one here, too. Both of them. (At this point, The Times has opened both these lists to the public. Who knows what they’ll do in the future.)

Note: the more recent stuff is for sure overrepresented. Which happens. But just a warning: there is stuff from the early 2000s that got forgotten about and many titles from the last year or two (that probably won’t stand the test of time for the next version of this list in 25 years) are rated right at the top.

Let’s start by breaking it down. Here are the titles that I have actually read and agree with:

These books are on the BIG LISTS and I read them and I agree that they are something special.

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • On Beauty, Zadie Smith (Sorry, haven’t reviewed yet. I am a Zadie Smith fan, though nothing so far tops White Teeth, I don’t think.)
  • A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin (Short stories on a best-ofs list? Hurrah.)
  • Olive Kittridge, Elizabeth Strout (Um… Would I put it here? Mayyyybe. I did love it.)
  • The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai (Again not sure it’s all the way up there, but a great book.)
  • Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (Read before I was doing reviews)
  • Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (Graphic novel. Again, hurrah. I’m sure there are others that deserved this spot, as well. I have not reviewed yet)
  • White Teeth, Zadie Smith
  • Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders (Emphatically agree.)
  • Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (Hmm. I mean, I liked it, for sure.)

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES READERS’ CHOICE

  • The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (I can see why. Memoir.)
  • Life of Pi, Yann Martel (One from the distant past that got pulled back up.)
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling (The representative to acknowledge Rowling’s contribution to literature. Pretty sure some people are howling about this not-high-art, but for pity’s sake! You can’t get more popular and you can’t get bigger fans. And the woman created a world and told a story that we still haven’t gotten over.)
  • Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens (I mean… There is some greatness in it. But is she an accomplice to murder or what?)
  • White Teeth, Zadie Smith
  • The Hunger Games, Suzanna Collins (This is a great and popular book, genre be darned!)
  • Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer (Surprised me a little, but this dense, hefty, nonfic book is superbly written.)
  • Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn (Again, as far as genre goes, this is a good representative of it.)
  • Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus (Um. I would probably swap this out for something else. But I enjoyed it, for sure.)
  • The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller (Yes. No. I dunno. I do like Miller’s work and it takes her forever. It’s just probably more popular than deserving.)
  • Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout
  • The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai
  • Circe, Madeline Miller (See above.)
  • Normal People, Sally Rooney (I am about to review this. I would not have put it here, but I do think it’s a good book. People love their Sally Rooney.)
  • Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell (Yes! Yes! And yes!)
  • Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders
  • Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (Ummm… Maybe. I think he’s a bit overrated.)
  • All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr (Sure. There are some amazing things and some breathtaking writing in this doorstop of a book.)

Okay, so maybe I did like these books, but I do not agree that they are the best this quarter-century has to offer.

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • Stay True, Hua Hsu (A decent book, an interesting read, made a big fuss over even though it had major flaws.)
  • Trust, Hernan Diaz (More experimental than successful, I thought.)
  • The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt (Yeah, no. I don’t get what people insist on seeing in this book.)
  • The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead (I found this a disappointing read. Still appreciated it, but find it overrated.)

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES READERS CHOICE

Now I’m going to list all the books from the two lists that are already on my TBR: books that are on my radar and that I intend to read. I haven’t gotten around to so many of the great books of the recent past, it turns out.

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

I AM HOMED IN ON THESE ONES:

I might even own them already. I will be reading them… when I have the time.

  • Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel
  • The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen (Also so I can watch the show)
  • The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee
  • Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin (Can a person even avoid this book? It doesn’t look like it. Barnes and Noble has a copy right now with teal edging)
  • Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver (Went from publication to 100 in no time flat)
  • The Fifth Season, N. K. Jemisin (genre!)
  • Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (I believe this is not an easy read, which makes me hesitate)
  • Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward
  • The Overstory, Richard Powers
  • Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward
  • Erasure, Percival Everett (I mean, where were these plaudits before the movie? Maybe we just missed out on celebrating a great work till now?)
  • The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon
  • Pachinko, Min Jin Lee (Sooo big.)
  • The Road, Cormac McCarthy (Bleak? Did I hear bleak?)
  • The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
  • The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
  • Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
  • My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante (I’m sorry, but where did this one come from? But now that I see it, everybody frickin’ loves it)

I’D ALSO REALLY LOVE TO GET TO THESE SOONER THAN LATER:

  • Bel Canto, Ann Patchett (On the shelf)
  • The Human Stain, Philip Roth
  • The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante (So curious about Ferrante)
  • An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
  • Tenth of December, George Saunders (I lurve George Saunders)
  • A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan (Someone knows how to title a book)
  • Atonement, Ian McEwan
  • Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, Alice Munro
  • Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo
  • Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides (On the shelf)
  • The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
  • The Known World, Edward P. Jones
  • The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson

AND THESE I HAVE AT LEAST HEARD OF, INTEND TO READ:

  • Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel
  • Frederick Douglas, David W. Blight
  • Pastoralia, George Saunders
  • Exit West, Mohsin Hamid
  • The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander
  • Far from the Tree, Andrew Solomon
  • The Plot Against America, Philip Roth
  • Runaway, Alice Munro
  • A Mercy, Toni Morrison
  • The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson
  • Between the World and Me, Ta-Nahesi Coates
  • The Last Samurai, Helen Dewitt
  • Evicted, Matthew Desmond
  • Gilead, Marilynn Robinson
  • Austerlitz, W. G. Sebald
  • 2666, Roberto Bolano (So hard to pick this one up if you are superstitious)

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES READERS CHOICE

Notice that the list is longer, meaning I am more of a pedestrian than an author as a reader? Also, so many of these are new, which I don’t love for the list, but it explains why I haven’t read them yet.

Starting over,

I AM HOMED IN ON THESE ONES:

  • My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh (Which even my daugther’s read)
  • Tom Lake, Ann Patchett (I am inexplicably so drawn to this one)
  • Deacon King Kong, James McBride
  • Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner (Even if my daughter didn’t love it)
  • Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward
  • The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson (I really need to read some Erik Larson)
  • The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen
  • North Woods, Daniel Mason *** (Will be reading next month for a book club)
  • The Dutch House, Ann Patchett
  • James, Percival Everett (Kudos to Everett for two appearances here and also on the book-to-movie deal of the century)
  • The Bee Sting, Paul Murray
  • The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride (I mean, of course)
  • The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
  • The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (Yeah, I haven’t gotten to it yet)
  • The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
  • The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese
  • Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
  • Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr (Another long slogs, I hear)
  • A Visit from the Good Squad, Jennifer Egan
  • The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
  • Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
  • The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon
  • Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides (On the shelf)
  • Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
  • The Road, Corman McCarthy
  • Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel (Haven’t read any Mantel)
  • The Overstory, Richard Powers
  • Station Eleven, Hilary St. John Mandel
  • My Brilliant Friend, Elena Ferrante
  • Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
  • Educated, Tara Westover (My daughter keeps bugging me to read this one)
  • Pachinko, Min Jin Lee
  • Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver

I’D ALSO REALLY LOVE TO GET TO THESE SOONER THAN LATER:

  • A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Housseini
  • Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Olga Tokarczuk
  • The Plot Against America, Phillip Roth (Another author I need to get to)
  • Tenth of December, Geroge Saunders
  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot
  • Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami
  • The Fifth Season, N. K. Jemison
  • 11/22/63, Stephen King (Maybe he just needed a represent, but it’s kinda amazing this title is always on the  best-ofs)
  • The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah
  • Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson
  • Atonement, Ian McEwan
  • A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles
  • The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead (Hoping for more than Underground Railroad from this title)

AND THESE I HAVE AT LEAST HEARD OF, INTEND TO READ:

  • A Man Called Ove, Fredrick Bachman
  • Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stewart
  • The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett
  • 1Q84, Haruki Murakami
  • Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari
  • Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
  • Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann (Is it because of the movie?)
  • Piranesi, Susannah Clarke
  • Evicted, Matthew Desmond
  • 2666, Robert Bolano
  • Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan
  • On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong (I need to read some Vuong)
  • Life After Life, Kate Atkinson (Everywhere on these lists)
  • Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (Everywhere on these lists)

Okay, so then I went in search of the supposed Time list that they quickly came up with. I don’t know if it really exists or not, but I couldn’t find it. So, I looked to see if there were any other reactionary lists and found some stuff on Goodreads (which I later figured out could be posted by anyone. I don’t usually use those.) But there were moments on those lists that intrigued me because there were some books I had not heard of (or not super often) that maintained 4+-star ratings over thousands of reviews and I said, “Huh.” Let me list those.

GOODREADS BOOKS THAT SPARKED MY INTEREST:

  • Against the Day, Thomas Pynchon
  • The Housekeeper and the Professor, Yoko Ogawa
  • The Orphan Master’s Son, Adam Johnson
  • The Thing Around Your Neck, Chimamanda Ngosi Adichie
  • The Shadow of the Wind, Carols Ruiz Zafon
  • The Moor’s Account, Laila Lalami
  • The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey
  • Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
  • Our Souls at Night, Kent Haruf
  • A God in Ruins, Kate Atkinson
  • The Tsar of Love and Techno, Anthony Marra
  • The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan
  • Freedom, Jonathan Franzen
  • Call Me by Your Name, Andre Aciman
  • A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Anthony Marra
  • The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
  • The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, David Mitchell
  • This I Know, Eldonna Edwards
  • A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara
  • Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
  • Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Nighttime, Mark Haddon
  • The Story of a New Name, Elena Perrante
  • A Tale for the Time Being, Ruth Ozeki
  • Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel

And finally, this is my list. The list only started when I began reviewing and blogging in something like 2012, but I have read books from across all the centuries of writing. I can’t obviously speak to books I haven’t read yet and I am only one person with some specific proclivities. There are some very specific books and also a couple by people I know, but I am being honest about how much I admire them. (Note: there were a lot of books on my favorites list from the 90s, so they are obviously not here. But their inclusion would have like doubled the list, at least.)

Note to self: Do not publish a book in the eleventh hour of a century. It will not qualify for the new century’s lists. Also, do publish books near the end of decades because then people will remember them when they make their best-ofs-whatever-decade lists. Perhaps that holds true for the centuries, too. People still look up best books of the twentieth century, right? I do.

Also, where are Benevolent and The Night of One Hundred Thieves on these lists?! Haha. Just kidding. I’m not quite there yet.

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