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The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, According to NYT Readers

Here are the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, according to readers of The New York Times. The list varies in genre, and even includes YA.

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Last week, the New York Times completed their list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. The list came as a result of the input of a host of authors, poets, critics, and other book enthusiasts — including our very own Jeff O’Neal and Rebecca Schinsky.

One interesting component of the list is its interactive features. As you read over each book, you can check a box that says “I’ve read it,” or “I want to read it.” And, since readers are nothing if not opinionated, the New York Times also gave space for comments.

They shared what their readers had to say about the list (one Sarah Allan from Cincinnati, for example, was left “speechless” by the exclusion of Lauren Groff on the original list. Speechless!), and they’ve even created a way for readers to submit their own choices for the 100 best books of the 21st century.

They’ve since compiled that list and released it, and while there is, of course, some overlap between the initial round up they released and the readers’ list, they’ve allowed for the newer list to be sorted to exclude duplicates. Looking at this latest round up, there does seem to be a bit of recency bias, but there are also more YA books included compared to the first list, which only had one (Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi). There still aren’t any books categorized for readers younger than that, though.

Below is a sampling of the100 best books of the 21st century according to readers, sans the books that made the first, book professional-chosen list:

6. Educated by Tara Westover

Book cover of The Nickel Boys

21. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

27. Normal People by Sally Rooney

31. Circe by Madeline Miller

35. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

37. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

45. There There by Tommy Orange

51. Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

55. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

56. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

For the full list, visit the New York Times.

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