The Best 100 Books of the 21st Century according to me, a sunny book nook

everyone's seen the NYT list, but I just posted my video with my personal selection (more important.) this is my list in article form for people who can't spend 2+ hours watching youtube

my list heavily features 2010s & 2020s titles, with a real focus on genre fiction works of sci-fi/fantasy, as well as short story collections. because that is what I read and enjoy. and of course, heavily featuring women, lesbian, and queer authors and stories.

also: fuck the New York Times AKA the New York Crimes (zionist coverage of the genocide in Palestine) + the books being featured not actually reflecting the culture of this century. + them platforming/featuring/highlighting actual rapists et al.

watch my top 100 books of the 21st century video (if you want) for my explanations of why I selected these titles and what they’re about.

bolded titles were featured on the New York Times list.

1. The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin

2. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel

3. Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer

4. My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh

5. The Secret Life of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw

6. No One Belongs Here More Than You, Miranda July

7. Educated, Tara Westover

8. Exhalation, Ted Chiang

9. Pachinko, Min Jin Lee

10. The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Emily M. Danforth

11. Normal People, Sally Rooney

12. Women Talking, Miriam Toews

13. Valencia, Michelle Tea

14. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates

15. Milk Fed, Melissa Broder

16. Pet, Awaeke Emezi

17. The Mothers, Brit Bennett

18. Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang

19. Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid

20. Luster, Raven Leilani

21. Eileen, Ottessa Moshfegh

22. Conversations With Friends, Sally Rooney

23. Tampa, Alissa Nutting

24. The Argonauts, Maggie Nelson

25. Salt Fish Girl, Larissa Lai

26. Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino

27. Mistborn: The Final Empire, Brandon Sanderson

28. Shmutz, Felicia Berliner

29. Caliban and the Witch, Sylvia Federici

30. Nevada, Imogen Bonnie

31. White is For Witching, Helen Oyeyemi

32. Fearing the Black Body, Sabrina Strings

33. The Hard Crowd, Rachel Kushner

34. Minor Detail, Adania Shibli

35. Vita Nostra, Marina Dyachenko & Sergey Dyachenko & Julia Meitov Hersey (Translator)

36. Delicate Edible Birds, Lauren Groff

37. Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Emily Austin

38. Kill For Love, Laura Picklesimer

39. Ruby Holler, Sharon Creech

40. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz

41. Abarat, Clive Barker

42. Boy Parts, Eliza Clark

43. Pew, Catherine Lacey

44. The English Understand Wool, Helen DeWitt

45. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, Christopher Moore

46. Annihilation, Jeff Vandermeer

47. The New Me, Halle Butler

48. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng

49. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan

50. Girl, Woman, Other, Bernadine Evaristo

51. There There, Tommy Orange

52. The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery

53. Confessions, Kanae Minato

54. Ghost Wall, Sarah Moss

55. The Seas, Samantha Hunt

56. The Will To Change, bell hooks — accidentally repeated this book, replace this one with Are Prisons Obsolete?, Angela Davis

57. Call Me By Your Name, André Aciman

58. Assembly, Natasha Brown

59. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

60. The Pisces, Melissa Broder

61. Erasure, Percival Everett

62. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan

63. Piranesi, Susanna Clarke

64. Homie, Danez Smith

65. Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Angela Davis

66. Citizen, Cynthia Rankine

67. Detransition Baby, Torrey Peters

68. The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein

69. Lent, Jo Walton

70. Big Swiss, Jen Beagin

71. Liarmouth, John Waters

72. Happy Hour, Marlowe Granados

73. The Twilight Zone, Nona Fernandez

74. Skin Folk, Nalo Hopkinson

75. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Mark Fisher

76. Nothing To See Here, Kevin Wilson

77. Severance, Ling Ma

78. Vampires in the Lemon Grove, Karen Russell

79. Itzá, Rios De la Luz

80. Just By Looking At Him, Ryan O’Connell

81. In The Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado

82. Vigilance, Robert Jackson Bennett

83. Negroland, Margo Jefferson

84. Spoiled Brats, Simon Rich

85. The First Bad Man, Miranda July

86. Mona, Pola Oloixarac

87. White Cat, Black Dog, Kelly Link

88. Made for Love, Alissa Nutting

89. The Paper Menagerie, Ken Liu

90. The Will to Change, bell hooks

91. Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire

92. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead

93. Even Greater Mistakes, Charlie Jane Anders

94. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, Elle Cosimano

95. Homegoing, Yea Gyasi

96. The Late Americans, Brandon Taylor

97. Tender Is the Flesh, Agustina Bazterrica

98. The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker

99. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot

100. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong