Litsy

Reading the 21st Century: Books of the Decade, 2000-2009 | Stan Persky

In response to the NY Times' 100 Best Books of the 21st Century @Billypar and @vivastory posted their personal #Top25of21st. I‘ll be joining in with my selection. Novels only, no books I read this year.
I think my selection is a bit less America-centered than The NY Times one, my point of criticism on the list. Titles below!

BarbaraBB 1 never let me go - Kazuo Ishiguro
2 the handmaid‘s tale - Margaret Atwood
3 the dark room - Rachel Seiffert
4 seven types of ambiguity - Elliot Perlman
5 quiet chaos - Sandro Veronesi
6 if nobody speaks of remarkable things - Jon McGregor
7 The Fahrenheit twins - Michel Faber
8 the hours - Michael Cunningham 3mo

BarbaraBB 9 here I am - Jonathan Safran Foer
10 an equal music - Vikram Seth
11 honeybees and distant thunder - Riku Onda
12 The garden of evening mists - Tan Twan Eng
13 history of the rain - Niall Williams
14 the luminaries - Eleanor Catton
15 my name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout
16 home fire - Kamila Shamsie 3mo

BarbaraBB 17 Americanah - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
18 disappearing earth - Julia Philips
19 migrations - Charlotte McConaghy
20 fresh water for flowers - Valerie Perrin
21 our fathers - Rebecca Wait
22 everything inside - Edwidge Danticat
23 drive your plow over the bones of the dead - Olga Tokarczuk
24 all the rivers - Dorit Rabinyan 3mo

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vivastory So many good selections! A LOT that I still want to read. I'm planning on picking up some Vikram Seth in an upcoming book shopping trip. Will keep any eye out for Equal Music. 3mo

BarbaraBB @vivastory You inspired me to make my selection. An Equal Music has its own (classical) playlist, it‘s a unique experience to read the book while listening to it 3mo

Deblovestoread Screenshot taken. As always, some would be the same (Home Fire, Fresh Water and Migrations to name a few), some are on my TBR and some are new to me. I love a good list! 💜 (edited) 3mo

Aimeesue Excellent list! I looooved Migrations and Drive Your Plow … and now I have a lot to add to my TBR! 💜 3mo

sarahbarnes So many great ones on here. ♥️ And some I haven‘t read and now want to! 3mo

BarbaraBB @Deblovestoread We always share a lot of favorites! 3mo

BarbaraBB @Aimeesue Those two are among my all time favorites 🤍 3mo

BarbaraBB @sarahbarnes Some of them no doubt inspired by you! 3mo

vivastory @BarbaraBB I will def check out the playlist when I read it! Thanks for telling me 🎵 3mo

sarahbarnes ♥️♥️♥️ 3mo

Billypar Fantastic list! Ditto to @Aimeesue on both Drive Your Plow and the expansion of my TBR. I could not be more excited for Never Let Me Go - I have it on my shelf and am just waiting to reward myself after my next book slump. A different Danticat, Krik Krak, was the very first story collection I ever read - she's so good. I wanted to squeeze Luminaries onto my list somehow - very memorable. 3mo

Texreader Awesome!! 3mo

ChaoticMissAdventures So many great choices!! Are you sticking with 24 or doing a full 100?? You are inspiring me, some would be the same I love Fresh Flowers, Drive Your Plow and Never Let Me Go. 3mo

BarbaraBB @ChaoticMissAdventures I chose 24 because I could fit them in a graphic 😉. I hope you‘ll share yours, I‘m sure it‘ll add some books to my TBR! 3mo

BarbaraBB @Billypar Never Let Me Go was my first dystopian book ever and it made a big impression! I‘ll look up that Danticat collection, I love het stories. Thanks! 3mo

TrishB Some great ones in there 👍🏻 3mo

Librarybelle I loved Drive Your Plow…such a different book but so good! 3mo

Liz_M ❤ 💛 💙 💜

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things

3mo

BarbaraBB @Librarybelle Yes! Unlike any other! 3mo

BarbaraBB @Liz_M So glad you love that one too!!! ❤️ 3mo

BkClubCare Yikes! I‘ve only read 6. I am struggling with Drive Your Plow right now - just too many distractions, I hope 3mo

Suet624 So many of yours are mine. 💕💕💕 I took a photo to grab the few of yours I‘ve missed. 3mo

BarbaraBB @Suet624 Yes! We must have a lot in common - as always! 💚 3mo

Reggie All the Rivers!!!! 😭😭😭 3mo

BarbaraBB @Reggie That was such an ugly sad read 😭😭 3mo

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Billypar

Listverse. Com's Ultimate Book of Bizarre Lists: Fascinating Facts and Shocking Trivia on Movies, Music, Crime, Celebrities, History, and More | Jamie Frater

#top25of21st
I have feeling someone has already started a thread about this and I missed it, but with the NY Times recent list of 100 best books of this century, it seems like a good opportunity to try and figure out my own. So if anyone wants to join in, I'd love to see what your favorites are. I chose 25 instead of 100 and just novels since I have a hard time comparing nonfiction or story collections, but feel free to make your own rules!

Billypar Reddit thread with the NYT list (#s 3, 23, and 25 are on it): https://www.reddit.com/r/literature/comments/1e1h8cc/lets_talk_about_nyts_best_b... 3mo

LiteraryinPA Thanks for sharing your personal list! 3mo

Ruthiella I don‘t know if I could whittle it down? 😂 Ishiguro would be on it for sure, but I‘d pick “Never Let Me Go” and for Mitchell, “Cloud Atlas”. 3mo

See All 25 Comments

Suet624 There are so many that I like on this list but numbers 18 through 21 are my absolute favorites, especially Marra‘s book. I guess I would add Fresh Water for Flowers. 🙂 3mo

TheBookHippie Gah … okay I‘ll work on it!! I agree with your 14&25 3mo

TheBookHippie Oh 13 too! 3mo

BkClubCare Wow - I have 3 of these on my Aug bookspin bingo card 3mo

plemmdog I loved #10 and #19! 3mo

Billypar @Ruthiella Never Let Me Go is on my to be read shelf, so hopefully I'll get to that soon. I pulled about 35 initial candidates from my shelves, but whatever number you set, it always leads to tough choices. 3mo

Billypar @Suet624 I need to bump FWFF up on my TBR based on everything I've heard. And I'd like to read more from Marra based on how powerful Constellation was. 3mo

Billypar @TheBookHippie Chabon's Kavalier & Clay is on the NYT list and is also great, but I feel like Yiddish Policeman's Union gets overlooked among his novels. I still need to read the newest releases from Obreht and Ward. 3mo

Billypar @BkClubCare If it works out that you get Drive Your Plow... I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. One of the most unique murder mysteries I've read, and it's got some great dark humor. 3mo

Billypar @plemmdog The voices of the narrators in both of those novels are so distinctive, I can almost conjure them in my head now. I never wanted to put either one down while I was reading. 3mo

TheBookHippie @Billypar I agree!! 3mo

BkClubCare @Billypar - Looking forward to it; starting it next 🤩 3mo

BarbaraBB Great list. Did you choose them from The NY Times list? 3mo

Billypar @BarbaraBB No, I was just finding favorites from my shelf. There are three from NYT's - A Brief History 7 Killings, Bel Canto, and Sing, Unburied, Sing. It's got lots of good ones, but I've only read a little more than 1/3. 3mo

Reggie I love that you have Bunny and Fever Dream in there. 🖤🖤🖤 3mo

Billypar @Reggie If weirdness was like paint, I think my entire list has a thin coat, but those are two where it collected and pooled 😆🖤 3mo

vivastory Fantastic list! 👏 🤘 3mo

Christine This is a really great list!! 3mo

sarahbarnes So many great ones on here - and a few that are high up on my TBR. 3mo

Billypar @sarahbarnes I feel like nothing on my TBR gets read unless I see the book recommended multiple times, so I like how these lists help with prioritizing. 3mo

merelybookish Fabulous picks! I think Bunny would make mine as well. I think often my 'best' books become the ones I don't forgot. And I have not forgotten Bunny! 3mo

Billypar @merelybookish Yeah, that's a good standard to use. I'm pretty sure Bunny won't ever stop hopping around my brain! 3mo

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