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Vulture's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far)

Type: Preset list created by Nexpixel

Description: Best books of the 2000s as of 9/17/18

Members: 8 participating members (show all)

All members' listSort: Score | Title | Author | Date
1
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
by Svetlana Alexievich
1,858 members, 67 reviews
4.35 stars (4.35 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (1), hipdeep (1), steller0707 (2), ahef1963 (17), Nexpixel (56)

Score: 14.8

2
Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn
18,889 members, 1,439 reviews
3.86 stars (3.86 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (1), NinieB (3), ahef1963 (5), kara.shamy (14), Nexpixel (32)

Score: 13.46

3
Wolf Hall
by Hilary Mantel
12,101 members, 619 reviews
3.99 stars (3.99 stars)

Lists: NinieB (2), kara.shamy (2), hipdeep (2), Nexpixel (26)

Score: 11.86

4
The Goldfinch
by Donna Tartt
12,455 members, 724 reviews
3.95 stars (3.95 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (3), ManWithAnAgenda (6), ahef1963 (6), kara.shamy (15), Nexpixel (36)

Score: 11.82

5
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
by Michael Chabon
17,797 members, 389 reviews
4.21 stars (4.21 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (1), kara.shamy (3), hipdeep (3), Nexpixel (41)

Score: 11.66

6
Harry Potter (Books 1-7)
by J. K. Rowling
10,890 members, 169 reviews
4.64 stars (4.64 stars)

Lists: NinieB (1), ahef1963 (2), hipdeep (5), kara.shamy (11), Nexpixel (63)

Thumbs down: ManWithAnAgenda

Score: 11.66

7
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
20,545 members, 890 reviews
3.81 stars (3.81 stars)

Lists: ManWithAnAgenda (3), Nexpixel (3), steller0707 (4), ahef1963 (7)

Score: 11.37

8
Middlesex
by Jeffrey Eugenides
25,754 members, 607 reviews
4.11 stars (4.11 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (3), steller0707 (5), kara.shamy (9), Nexpixel (16)

Score: 10.02

9
The Fifth Season
by N. K. Jemisin
5,776 members, 294 reviews
4.21 stars (4.21 stars)

Lists: ManWithAnAgenda (1), steller0707 (10), ahef1963 (18), Nexpixel (89)

Score: 9.49

10
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Díaz
12,083 members, 458 reviews
3.85 stars (3.85 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (4), steller0707 (6), kara.shamy (13), Nexpixel (25)

Score: 9.28

11
Suite Française
by Irène Némirovsky
9,304 members, 331 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: ManWithAnAgenda (4), steller0707 (7), ahef1963 (14), Nexpixel (54)

Score: 8.83

12
Fingersmith
by Sarah Waters
7,322 members, 272 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (8), ahef1963 (11), kara.shamy (19), Nexpixel (47)

Score: 8.02

13
The White Tiger
by Aravind Adiga
8,949 members, 400 reviews
3.78 stars (3.78 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (9), ahef1963 (12), kara.shamy (20), Nexpixel (65)

Score: 7.76

14
My Brilliant Friend
by Elena Ferrante
5,730 members, 288 reviews
3.86 stars (3.86 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (5), Nexpixel (7), steller0707 (11)

Score: 7.33

15
Home
by Marilynne Robinson
3,364 members, 140 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (12), ahef1963 (15), kara.shamy (32), Nexpixel (67)

Score: 7.26

16
The Sellout
by Paul Beatty
2,716 members, 117 reviews
3.76 stars (3.76 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (6), Nexpixel (9), steller0707 (13)

Score: 6.97

17
Outline
by Rachel Cusk
1,481 members, 91 reviews
3.64 stars (3.64 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (7), Nexpixel (10), steller0707 (14)

Score: 6.78

18
The Corrections
by Jonathan Franzen
15,706 members, 329 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: ManWithAnAgenda (2), Nexpixel (2)

Score: 6.73

19
Citizen: An American Lyric
by Claudia Rankine
1,604 members, 60 reviews
4.22 stars (4.22 stars)

Lists: hipdeep (4), steller0707 (15), Nexpixel (39)

Score: 6.46

20
The Neapolitan Novels
by Elena Ferrante
102 members, 2 reviews
4.31 stars (4.31 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (5), steller0707 (16), kara.shamy (33)

Score: 6.34

21
The Amber Spyglass
by Philip Pullman
21,521 members, 371 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: ManWithAnAgenda (5), ahef1963 (16), Nexpixel (42)

Score: 6.25

22
The Year of Magical Thinking
by Joan Didion
9,353 members, 264 reviews
3.85 stars (3.85 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (12), ahef1963 (13), steller0707 (17)

Score: 6.23

23
True History of the Kelly Gang
by Peter Carey
3,938 members, 74 reviews
3.69 stars (3.69 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (10), kara.shamy (18), Nexpixel (43)

Score: 5.75

24
Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood
15,675 members, 505 reviews
3.95 stars (3.95 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (8), steller0707 (18), Nexpixel (79)

Score: 5.66

25
All My Puny Sorrows
by Miriam Toews
1,060 members, 59 reviews
4.07 stars (4.07 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (17), steller0707 (19), Nexpixel (38)

Score: 5.5

26
Sleeping It Off in Rapid City: Poems, New and Selected
by August Kleinzahler
91 members, 1 review
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: claire.rivers (1), Nexpixel (64)

Score: 5.41

27
The Argonauts
by Maggie Nelson
1,302 members, 62 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (4), Nexpixel (6)

Score: 5.38

28
The Sense of an Ending
by Julian Barnes
7,491 members, 508 reviews
3.8 stars (3.8 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (20), kara.shamy (21), Nexpixel (74)

Score: 5.12

29
The Sympathizer
by Viet Thanh Nguyen
3,046 members, 132 reviews
3.92 stars (3.92 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (21), kara.shamy (24), Nexpixel (87)

Score: 4.99

30
The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir
by Thi Bui
890 members, 56 reviews
4.24 stars (4.24 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (22), kara.shamy (28), Nexpixel (96)

Score: 4.86

31
Atonement
by Ian McEwan
24,587 members, 598 reviews
3.93 stars (3.93 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (9), Nexpixel (11)

Score: 4.51

32
The Flamethrowers
by Rachel Kushner
1,412 members, 80 reviews
3.39 stars (3.39 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (8), Nexpixel (14)

Score: 4.45

33
The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake
by Aimee Bender
3,137 members, 261 reviews
3.35 stars (3.35 stars)

Lists: ManWithAnAgenda (7), Nexpixel (28)

Score: 4.2

34
The Plot Against America
by Philip Roth
8,329 members, 202 reviews
3.73 stars (3.73 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (10), Nexpixel (20)

Score: 4.14

35
The Line of Beauty
by Alan Hollinghurst
4,316 members, 109 reviews
3.59 stars (3.59 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (12), Nexpixel (21)

Score: 4.02

36
The Last Samurai
by Helen DeWitt
1,681 members, 52 reviews
4.21 stars (4.21 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (1)

Score: 4

37
Erasure
by Percival Everett
618 members, 23 reviews
4.02 stars (4.02 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (15), steller0707 (23)

Score: 3.86

38
Dept. of Speculation
by Jenny Offill
1,726 members, 128 reviews
3.72 stars (3.72 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (16), Nexpixel (37)

Score: 3.62

39
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy
31,020 members, 1,347 reviews
4.06 stars (4.06 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (23), kara.shamy (34)

Score: 3.48

40
How to Be Both
by Ali Smith
1,364 members, 43 reviews
3.77 stars (3.77 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (22), Nexpixel (84)

Score: 3.17

41
A Brief History of Seven Killings
by Marlon James
2,376 members, 98 reviews
3.88 stars (3.88 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (23), Nexpixel (85)

Score: 3.14

42
Men We Reaped
by Jesmyn Ward
898 members, 44 reviews
4.26 stars (4.26 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (24), Nexpixel (82)

Score: 3.14

43
The Light of the World: A Memoir
by Elizabeth Alexander
445 members, 21 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (25), Nexpixel (88)

Score: 3.1

44
What Belongs to You
by Garth Greenwell
600 members, 25 reviews
3.74 stars (3.74 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (25), Nexpixel (90)

Score: 3.09

45
Eat the Document
by Dana Spiotta
528 members, 17 reviews
3.57 stars (3.57 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (35), Nexpixel (62)

Score: 3.07

46
Ghachar Ghochar
by Vivek Shanbhag
360 members, 17 reviews
3.79 stars (3.79 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (26), Nexpixel (93)

Score: 3.06

47
Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in 40 Questions
by Valeria Luiselli
522 members, 24 reviews
4.31 stars (4.31 stars)

Lists: steller0707 (26), Nexpixel (97)

Score: 3.05

48
All Grown Up
by Jami Attenberg
446 members, 23 reviews
3.62 stars (3.62 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (27), Nexpixel (95)

Score: 3.04

49
Red Clocks
by Leni Zumas
927 members, 56 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (29), Nexpixel (99)

Score: 2.99

50
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden: Stories
by Denis Johnson
487 members, 29 reviews
3.98 stars (3.98 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (30), Nexpixel (100)

Score: 2.97

51
Asymmetry
by Lisa Halliday
838 members, 42 reviews
3.53 stars (3.53 stars)

Lists: kara.shamy (31), Nexpixel (101)

Score: 2.96

52
How Should a Person Be?
by Sheila Heti
662 members, 34 reviews
3.08 stars (3.08 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (4)

Score: 2.83

53
2666
by Roberto Bolaño
5,911 members, 164 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (8)

Score: 2.38

54
Leaving the Atocha Station
by Ben Lerner
847 members, 45 reviews
3.62 stars (3.62 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (13)

Score: 2.11

55
Platform
by Michel Houellebecq
2,642 members, 47 reviews
3.65 stars (3.65 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (17)

Score: 1.97

56
Do Everything in the Dark: A Novel
by Gary Indiana
72 members, 2 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (18)

Score: 1.94

57
The Known World
by Edward P. Jones
6,413 members, 151 reviews
3.78 stars (3.78 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (19)

Score: 1.92

58
Veronica
by Mary Gaitskill
1,101 members, 26 reviews
3.34 stars (3.34 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (22)

Score: 1.85

59
Ooga-Booga: Poems
by Frederick Seidel
113 members, 3 reviews
3.84 stars (3.84 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (24)

Score: 1.81

60
The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
by Elif Batuman
990 members, 46 reviews
3.62 stars (3.62 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (27)

Score: 1.76

61
Mr. Fox
by Helen Oyeyemi
913 members, 40 reviews
3.65 stars (3.65 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (29)

Score: 1.72

62
Lives Other Than My Own
by Emmanuel Carrère
394 members, 20 reviews
3.89 stars (3.89 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (30)

Score: 1.71

63
Zone One
by Colson Whitehead
1,720 members, 122 reviews
3.33 stars (3.33 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (31)

Score: 1.7

64
NW
by Zadie Smith
2,149 members, 92 reviews
3.49 stars (3.49 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (33)

Score: 1.67

65
White Girls
by Hilton Als
336 members, 5 reviews
3.53 stars (3.53 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (34)

Score: 1.66

66
My Struggle: Book 2: A Man in Love
by Karl Ove Knausgård
1,098 members, 46 reviews
4.21 stars (4.21 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (35)

Score: 1.65

67
Black and Blur (consent not to be a single being)
by Fred Moten
87 members, 0 reviews
5 stars (5 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (40)

Score: 1.59

68
The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos
by Anne Carson
619 members, 7 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (44)

Score: 1.55

69
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
by Louise Erdrich
1,825 members, 60 reviews
4.1 stars (4.1 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (45)

Score: 1.54

70
Austerlitz
by W. G. Sebald
3,715 members, 86 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (46)

Score: 1.54

71
The Time of Our Singing
by Richard Powers
1,262 members, 32 reviews
4.24 stars (4.24 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (48)

Score: 1.52

72
The Book of Salt
by Monique Truong
1,145 members, 33 reviews
3.49 stars (3.49 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (49)

Score: 1.51

73
Mortals
by Norman Rush
353 members, 3 reviews
3.67 stars (3.67 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (50)

Score: 1.5

74
Home Land
by Sam Lipsyte
553 members, 19 reviews
3.66 stars (3.66 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (51)

Score: 1.5

75
Oblivion
by David Foster Wallace
2,312 members, 34 reviews
3.92 stars (3.92 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (52)

Score: 1.49

76
Honored Guest: Stories
by Joy Williams
218 members, 5 reviews
3.71 stars (3.71 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (53)

Score: 1.48

77
The Sluts
by Dennis Cooper
277 members, 9 reviews
3.7 stars (3.7 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (55)

Score: 1.47

78
Magic for Beginners
by Kelly Link
2,210 members, 96 reviews
3.93 stars (3.93 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (57)

Score: 1.46

79
The Afterlife
by Donald Antrim
172 members, 4 reviews
3.16 stars (3.16 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (58)

Score: 1.45

80
Winter's Bone
by Daniel Woodrell
2,178 members, 124 reviews
3.98 stars (3.98 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (59)

Score: 1.44

81
Wizard of the Crow
by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
809 members, 17 reviews
4.23 stars (4.23 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (60)

Score: 1.44

82
American Genius: A Comedy
by Lynne Tillman
120 members, 3 reviews
3.63 stars (3.63 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (61)

Score: 1.43

83
The Lazarus Project
by Aleksandar Hemon
1,152 members, 48 reviews
3.53 stars (3.53 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (66)

Score: 1.4

84
Fine Just the Way It Is
by Annie Proulx
686 members, 35 reviews
3.83 stars (3.83 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (68)

Score: 1.39

85
Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life
by J. M. Coetzee
1,021 members, 26 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (69)

Score: 1.39

86
Spreadeagle: A Novel
by Kevin Killian
12 members, 0 reviews
3 stars (3 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (71)

Score: 1.38

87
Seven Years
by Peter Stamm
233 members, 7 reviews
3.45 stars (3.45 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (73)

Score: 1.37

88
1Q84
by Haruki Murakami
7,750 members, 313 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (75)

Score: 1.36

89
The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination
by Sarah Schulman
200 members, 1 review
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (76)

Score: 1.36

90
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
by Ben Fountain
1,574 members, 121 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (77)

Score: 1.35

91
Capital
by John Lanchester
1,114 members, 62 reviews
3.85 stars (3.85 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (78)

Score: 1.35

92
Taipei
by Tao Lin
325 members, 18 reviews
2.89 stars (2.89 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (81)

Score: 1.33

93
Family Life
by Akhil Sharma
499 members, 25 reviews
3.4 stars (3.4 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (83)

Score: 1.33

94
Preparation for the Next Life
by Atticus Lish
396 members, 17 reviews
3.99 stars (3.99 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (86)

Score: 1.31

96
The Needle's Eye: Passing through Youth
by Fanny Howe
26 members, 0 reviews
2.75 stars (2.75 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (92)

Score: 1.29

97
The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas
6,688 members, 406 reviews
4.48 stars (4.48 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (94)

Score: 1.29

98
Priestdaddy: A Memoir
by Patricia Lockwood
731 members, 45 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: Nexpixel (98)

Score: 1.27

All members' listSort: Score | Title | Author | Date

About this list

Started by: Nexpixel (September 2018)

Type: Numbered

Related tags

21st century (1,929) American (1,728) American literature (1,864) contemporary fiction (1,506) dystopia (2,422) ebook (1,617) England (2,136) family (1,882) fantasy (5,783) fiction (41,242) historical fiction (4,606) Kindle (1,528) literature (3,123) memoir (1,896) mystery (1,495) non-fiction (1,633) novel (6,668) own (1,588) post-apocalyptic (1,582) Pulitzer Prize (1,558) read (4,485) science fiction (4,360) to-read (24,307) unread (1,858) WWII (2,703)