The New York Times' 100 Best Books of the 21st Century is a ranked list of the 100 best novels published in the English language since January 1, 2000.
The list was compiled by a team of critics and editors at The New York Times and, with the input of 503 writers and academics, assessed the books based on their impact, originality, and lasting influence. The selection includes novels, memoirs, history books, and other nonfiction works from various genres, representing well-known and emerging authors. [1]
The following are a few of the individuals who contributed to the list.
Authors (fiction)
Authors (non-fiction)
Journalists and critics
Other professions
The highest-ranked book on the list was the Elena Ferrante novel My Brilliant Friend published in 2012. Authors Ferrante, Jesmyn Ward, and George Saunders each had three books on the list, the most of any author. The following authors were listed twice: Roberto Bolaño, Edward P. Jones, Denis Johnson, Alice Munro, Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith and Philip Roth. [2]
No. | Title | Author | Publisher | Date | Genre | Length | ISBN | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | My Brilliant Friend | Elena Ferrante | Europa Editions | 2011 | Fiction | 336 pp | 9781609450786 | |
The first book in Ferrante's Neapolitan Novels series, exploring the lives of two friends growing up in post-war Naples. | ||||||||
2 | The Warmth of Other Suns | Isabel Wilkerson | Random House | 2010 | History | 640 pp | 9780679444329 | |
A detailed historical account of the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to the urban North. | ||||||||
3 | Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel | Fourth Estate | 2009 | Historical fiction | 653 pp | 9780007230204 | |
A fictional portrayal of Thomas Cromwell's rise to power in the court of Henry VIII. | ||||||||
4 | The Known World | Edward P. Jones | Amistad Press | 2003 | Fiction | 432 pp | 9780060557546 | |
A novel about a Black enslaver in antebellum Virginia. | ||||||||
5 | The Corrections | Jonathan Franzen | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2001 | Fiction | 568 pp | 9780374100124 | |
A family saga that delves into the complexities of contemporary American life. | ||||||||
6 | 2666 | Roberto Bolaño | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2004 | Fiction | 912 pp | 9780374100148 | |
An epic novel exploring the unsolved murders in a Mexican border town. | ||||||||
7 | The Underground Railroad | Colson Whitehead | Doubleday | 2016 | Fiction | 320 pp | 9780385542364 | |
A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel reimagining the Underground Railroad as an actual railway system. | ||||||||
8 | Austerlitz | W. G. Sebald | Hamish Hamilton | 2001 | Fiction | 416 pp | 9780241141250 | |
A meditation on memory and identity through the story of a man piecing together his forgotten past. | ||||||||
9 | Never Let Me Go | Kazuo Ishiguro | Faber & Faber | 2005 | Dystopian fiction | 288 pp | 9780571224135 | |
A haunting novel about clones raised to donate organs, exploring what it means to be human. | ||||||||
10 | Gilead | Marilynne Robinson | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2004 | Fiction | 256 pp | 9780374153892 | |
A moving portrayal of a dying preacher reflecting on his life in a small Iowa town. | ||||||||
11 | The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao | Junot Díaz | Riverhead Books | 2007 | Fiction | 340 pp | 9781594483295 | |
A multi-generational story about a Dominican family and the "fukú" curse that haunts them. | ||||||||
12 | The Year of Magical Thinking | Joan Didion | Alfred A. Knopf | 2005 | Memoir | 227 pp | 9781400078431 | |
Didion's reflections on grief after the sudden death of her husband. | ||||||||
13 | The Road | Cormac McCarthy | Alfred A. Knopf | 2006 | Dystopian fiction | 287 pp | 9780307265432 | |
A post-apocalyptic novel following a father and son's harrowing journey for survival. | ||||||||
14 | Outline | Rachel Cusk | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2014 | Fiction | 249 pp | 9780374228347 | |
The first in the Outline trilogy, about a woman listening to others’ stories during a trip to Greece. | ||||||||
15 | Pachinko | Min Jin Lee | Grand Central Publishing | 2017 | Historical fiction | 496 pp | 9781455563937 | |
16 | The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay | Michael Chabon | Random House | 2000 | Fiction | 639 pp | 9780679450047 | |
The story of two Jewish cousins creating a superhero comic in the years leading up to World War II. | ||||||||
17 | The Sellout | Paul Beatty | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2015 | Satire | 304 pp | 9780374260507 | |
A biting satire about race and culture in modern America. | ||||||||
18 | Lincoln in the Bardo | George Saunders | Random House | 2017 | Historical fiction | 368 pp | 9780812995343 | |
A blend of history and fantasy about President Lincoln's grief after his son’s death. | ||||||||
19 | Say Nothing | Patrick Radden Keefe | Doubleday | 2019 | Non-fiction | 464 pp | 9780385521314 | |
A true-crime investigation into The Troubles in Northern Ireland. | ||||||||
20 | Erasure | Percival Everett | University Press of New England | 2001 | Satire | 263 pp | 9781584650614 | |
A satire on race and the publishing industry, told through the story of a frustrated African-American author. The bases for the Academy Award winning film American Fiction. | ||||||||
21 | Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City | Matthew Desmond | Crown Publishing Group | 2016 | Non-fiction | 418 pp | 9780553447439 | |
22 | Behind the Beautiful Forevers | Katherine Boo | Random House | 2012 | Non-fiction | 288 pp | 9781400067558 | |
A detailed look at people living in a slum in Mumbai, India. | ||||||||
23 | Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage | Alice Munro | McClelland & Stewart | 2001 | Short stories | 320 pp | 9780771065255 | |
A collection of short stories exploring themes of love, relationships, and human connections. | ||||||||
24 | The Overstory | Richard Powers | W. W. Norton & Company | 2018 | Fiction | 512 pp | 9780393635522 | |
A novel about nine strangers connected by their love of trees and the environment. | ||||||||
25 | Random Family | Adrian Nicole LeBlanc | Charles Scribner's Sons | 2003 | Non-fiction | 432 pp | 9780743254434 | |
A decade-long chronicle of a family living in the Bronx, New York, as they deal with drugs, crime, and poverty. | ||||||||
26 | Atonement | Ian McEwan | Jonathan Cape | 2001 | Fiction | 371 pp | 9780224061148 | |
A novel about guilt and redemption set during World War II, following the consequences of a false accusation. | ||||||||
27 | Americanah | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | Alfred A. Knopf | 2013 | Fiction | 477 pp | 9780307271082 | |
A love story that explores the experiences of a Nigerian woman who moves to America. | ||||||||
28 | Cloud Atlas | David Mitchell | Sceptre | 2004 | Fiction | 544 pp | 9780340822784 | |
A genre-bending novel with interconnected stories spanning different time periods and locations. | ||||||||
29 | The Last Samurai | Helen DeWitt | New Directions Publishing | 2000 | Fiction | 530 pp | 9780811215473 | |
A story of a child prodigy raised by a single mother, exploring genius and identity. | ||||||||
30 | Sing, Unburied, Sing | Jesmyn Ward | Scribner | 2017 | Fiction | 304 pp | 9781501126062 | |
A haunting novel that blends Southern Gothic and magical realism, following a family's journey across Mississippi. | ||||||||
31 | White Teeth | Zadie Smith | Hamish Hamilton | 2000 | Postcolonial Literature | 448 pp | 9780241139974 | |
A multi-generational novel about immigrants in London, exploring themes of identity, race, and family. | ||||||||
32 | The Line of Beauty | Alan Hollinghurst | Picador | 2004 | Fiction | 501 pp | 9780330483216 | |
33 | Salvage the Bones | Jesmyn Ward | Bloomsbury Publishing | 2011 | Fiction | 258 pp | 9781608196265 | |
A novel about a poor Mississippi family preparing for the impact of Hurricane Katrina. | ||||||||
34 | Citizen: An American Lyric | Claudia Rankine | Graywolf Press | 2014 | Poetry, Non-fiction | 160 pp | 9781555976903 | |
A blend of poetry, essay, and visual art that addresses racial issues in contemporary America. | ||||||||
35 | Fun Home | Alison Bechdel | Houghton Mifflin | 2006 | Graphic novel, Memoir | 232 pp | 9780618477944 | |
A graphic memoir about Bechdel's relationship with her father, touching on themes of family, identity, and sexuality. | ||||||||
36 | Between the World and Me | Ta-Nehisi Coates | Spiegel & Grau | 2015 | Non-fiction | 176 pp | 9780812993547 | |
A letter from Coates to his son, exploring the realities of being Black in America and the legacy of racism. | ||||||||
37 | The Years | Annie Ernaux | Seven Stories Press | 2008 | Memoir | 256 pp | 9781609807870 | |
A memoir that chronicles Ernaux's life through a series of snapshots and reflections on French society. | ||||||||
38 | The Savage Detectives | Roberto Bolaño | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2007 | Fiction | 577 pp | 9780374191481 | |
A novel following the lives of two poets in Mexico City and their search for a mysterious figure from the past. | ||||||||
39 | A Visit from the Goon Squad | Jennifer Egan | Alfred A. Knopf | 2010 | Fiction | 352 pp | 9780307592835 | |
A novel composed of interconnected stories, exploring the passage of time and the influence of technology on modern life. | ||||||||
40 | H is for Hawk | Helen Macdonald | Jonathan Cape | 2014 | Memoir | 300 pp | 9780224097000 | |
A memoir about grief, healing, and falconry, as Macdonald trains a goshawk after the death of her father. | ||||||||
41 | Small Things like These | Claire Keegan | Faber & Faber | 2021 | Fiction | 128 pp | 9780571368686 | |
42 | A Brief History of Seven Killings | Marlon James | Riverhead Books | 2014 | Fiction | 688 pp | 9781594486005 | |
A novel exploring the attempted assassination of Bob Marley and the entangled fates of several characters in Jamaica. | ||||||||
43 | Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 | Tony Judt | Penguin Press | 2005 | History, Non-fiction | 960 pp | 9781594200656 | |
A comprehensive history of Europe from the aftermath of World War II to the early 21st century. | ||||||||
44 | The Fifth Season | N. K. Jemisin | Orbit | 2015 | Science fiction, Fantasy | 512 pp | 9780316229296 | |
The first book in Jemisin's Hugo Award-winning Broken Earth trilogy, set in a world plagued by constant seismic upheaval. | ||||||||
45 | The Argonauts | Maggie Nelson | Graywolf Press | 2015 | Memoir | 160 pp | 9781555977078 | |
A memoir that blends personal narrative and theoretical reflections on love, family, and identity. | ||||||||
46 | The Goldfinch | Donna Tartt | Little, Brown and Company | 2013 | Fiction | 784 pp | 9780316055437 | |
A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a boy whose life is upended after surviving a bombing at an art museum. | ||||||||
47 | A Mercy | Toni Morrison | Alfred A. Knopf | 2008 | Fiction | 176 pp | 9780307264237 | |
A novel set in 17th-century America, exploring themes of slavery, freedom, and the complexities of human relationships. | ||||||||
48 | Persepolis | Marjane Satrapi | Pantheon Books | 2003 | Graphic novel, Memoir | 153 pp | 9780375714573 | |
A graphic memoir that recounts Satrapi's experiences growing up during and after the Iranian Revolution. | ||||||||
49 | The Vegetarian | Han Kang | Hogarth | 2007 | Fiction | 160 pp | 9781101906118 | |
A novel about a woman in South Korea who suddenly decides to stop eating meat, leading to drastic changes in her life. | ||||||||
50 | Trust | Hernan Diaz | Riverhead Books | 2022 | Fiction | 416 pp | 9780593420317 | |
A novel about wealth, power, and influence, told through multiple narratives that shift in perspective. | ||||||||
51 | Life After Life | Kate Atkinson | Reagan Arthur Books | 2013 | Fiction | 544 pp | 9780316176484 | |
A novel about a woman who is reborn in different versions of her life, set against the backdrop of World War II. | ||||||||
52 | Train Dreams | Denis Johnson | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2011 | Novella | 128 pp | 9780374281144 | |
A novella about an American laborer in the early 20th century, examining themes of isolation and progress. | ||||||||
53 | Runaway | Alice Munro | McClelland & Stewart | 2004 | Short stories | 352 pp | 9780771065064 | |
A collection of short stories that explore the emotional lives of women across various stages of life. | ||||||||
54 | Tenth of December: Stories | George Saunders | Random House | 2013 | Short stories | 251 pp | 9780812993806 | |
A collection of short stories that blend humor and tragedy, often delving into the human psyche. | ||||||||
55 | The Looming Tower | Lawrence Wright | Alfred A. Knopf | 2006 | Non-fiction | 480 pp | 9780375414862 | |
A Pulitzer Prize-winning history of Al-Qaeda and the events leading to the September 11 attacks. | ||||||||
56 | The Flamethrowers | Rachel Kushner | Scribner | 2013 | Fiction | 383 pp | 9781439142004 | |
A novel about a young artist navigating the worlds of New York City and Italy in the 1970s. | ||||||||
57 | Nickel and Dimed | Barbara Ehrenreich | Metropolitan Books | 2001 | Non-fiction | 240 pp | 9780805063899 | |
A non-fiction work that chronicles Ehrenreich's experiences living on minimum wage in various U.S. cities. | ||||||||
58 | Stay True | Hua Hsu | Doubleday | 2022 | Memoir | 208 pp | 9780385547772 | |
A memoir about friendship, identity, and grief, centered around Hsu's college years and the tragic loss of his friend. | ||||||||
59 | Middlesex | Jeffrey Eugenides | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2002 | Family saga | 529 pp | 9780374191917 | |
A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a hermaphrodite and their exploration of family history and identity. | ||||||||
60 | Heavy: An American Memoir | Kiese Laymon | Scribner | 2018 | Memoir | 256 pp | 9781501125652 | |
A memoir that reflects on race, weight, and family, offering a raw look at Black life in America. | ||||||||
61 | Demon Copperhead | Barbara Kingsolver | HarperCollins | 2022 | Fiction | 560 pp | 9780063251922 | |
62 | 10:04 | Ben Lerner | Faber & Faber | 2014 | Fiction | 256 pp | 9780865478107 | |
A novel that blends the personal and political, reflecting on time, art, and climate change. | ||||||||
63 | Veronica | Mary Gaitskill | Pantheon Books | 2005 | Fiction | 257 pp | 9780375421457 | |
A meditation on beauty, disease, and friendship, focusing on the AIDS epidemic and the fashion world. | ||||||||
64 | The Great Believers | Rebecca Makkai | Viking Press | 2018 | Fiction | 421 pp | 9780735223523 | |
A novel that explores the impact of the AIDS epidemic on a group of friends in Chicago. | ||||||||
65 | The Plot Against America | Philip Roth | Houghton Mifflin | 2004 | Fiction | 391 pp | 9780618509287 | |
An alternate history where Charles Lindbergh becomes President of the United States, ushering in fascism. | ||||||||
66 | We the Animals | Justin Torres | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 2011 | Fiction | 128 pp | 9780547576725 | |
A coming-of-age novel that follows three brothers as they navigate a turbulent family life. | ||||||||
67 | Far From the Tree | Andrew Solomon | Scribner | 2012 | Non-fiction | 976 pp | 9780743236720 | |
A comprehensive exploration of how families deal with children who are different, covering disabilities, sexual orientation, and more. | ||||||||
68 | The Friend | Sigrid Nunez | Riverhead Books | 2018 | Fiction | 224 pp | 9780735219441 | |
A novel about grief, love, and friendship, as a woman inherits her deceased friend's Great Dane. | ||||||||
69 | The New Jim Crow | Michelle Alexander | The New Press | 2010 | Non-fiction | 336 pp | 9781595586438 | |
A groundbreaking work that examines mass incarceration in the United States and its impact on Black Americans. | ||||||||
70 | All Aunt Hagar's Children | Edward P. Jones | Amistad | 2006 | Short stories | 400 pp | 9780060557560 | |
A collection of short stories set in Washington, D.C., focusing on the African-American experience. | ||||||||
71 | The Copenhagen Trilogy | Tove Ditlevsen | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2019 (English translation) | Memoir | 384 pp | 9780374602390 | |
A memoir in three parts, chronicling Ditlevsen's childhood, adolescence, and troubled adulthood. | ||||||||
72 | Secondhand Time | Svetlana Alexievich | Fitzcarraldo Editions | 2013 (English translation) | Non-fiction | 470 pp | 9781910695111 | |
A series of oral histories from people across the former Soviet Union, chronicling the collapse of the USSR. | ||||||||
73 | The Passage of Power | Robert A. Caro | Alfred A. Knopf | 2012 | Biography | 736 pp | 9780375713255 | |
The fourth volume in Caro's biography of Lyndon B. Johnson, focusing on his vice presidency and ascension to the presidency. | ||||||||
74 | Olive Kitteridge | Elizabeth Strout | Random House | 2008 | Fiction | 288 pp | 9781400062089 | |
A novel in stories that paints a portrait of a small town in Maine through the eyes of its residents, centered around Olive Kitteridge. | ||||||||
75 | Exit West | Mohsin Hamid | Riverhead Books | 2017 | Fiction | 240 pp | 9780735212176 | |
A magical realism novel about a couple escaping civil war through a series of mysterious doors that lead them to new countries. | ||||||||
76 | An American Marriage | Tayari Jones | Algonquin Books | 2018 | Fiction | 320 pp | 9781616208776 | |
A novel about a couple whose marriage is torn apart when the husband is wrongfully imprisoned. | ||||||||
77 | Septology | Jon Fosse | Fitzcarraldo Editions | 2019 (English translation) | Fiction | 832 pp | 9781913097011 | |
A meditative, seven-part novel that explores life, death, and the metaphysical through the reflections of an aging painter. | ||||||||
78 | Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow | Gabrielle Zevin | Knopf | 2022 | Fiction | 416 pp | 9780593321201 | |
A story about two friends and video game designers, exploring themes of creativity, collaboration, and love. | ||||||||
79 | A Manual for Cleaning Women | Lucia Berlin | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2015 | Short stories | 432 pp | 9780374270605 | |
A posthumous collection of short stories reflecting the gritty and beautiful details of working-class life. | ||||||||
80 | The Story of the Lost Child | Elena Ferrante | Europa Editions | 2014 | Fiction | 480 pp | 9781609452865 | |
The final installment in the Neapolitan Novels, following the lifelong friendship of two women in Naples. | ||||||||
81 | Pulphead | John Jeremiah Sullivan | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2011 | Non-fiction, Essays | 384 pp | 9780374532901 | |
A collection of essays on American culture, covering topics ranging from music to reality TV. | ||||||||
82 | Hurricane Season | Fernanda Melchor | New Directions Publishing | 2020 (English translation) | Fiction | 224 pp | 9780811228039 | |
A brutal and darkly atmospheric novel about a small Mexican town where a body is discovered, leading to violence and suspicion. | ||||||||
83 | When We Cease to Understand the World | Benjamín Labatut | New York Review Books | 2020 (English translation) | Fiction, Non-fiction | 192 pp | 9781681375663 | |
A hybrid of fact and fiction that delves into the lives of scientists whose discoveries brought both advancement and destruction. | ||||||||
84 | The Emperor of All Maladies | Siddhartha Mukherjee | Scribner | 2010 | Non-fiction | 608 pp | 9781439107959 | |
A Pulitzer Prize-winning "biography" of cancer, tracing the history and impact of the disease. | ||||||||
85 | Pastoralia | George Saunders | Riverhead Books | 2000 | Short stories | 208 pp | 9781573221610 | |
A collection of satirical stories examining modern American life and the absurdities of corporate culture. | ||||||||
86 | Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom | David W. Blight | Simon & Schuster | 2018 | Biography | 912 pp | 9781416590316 | |
A Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Frederick Douglass, tracing his rise from slavery to becoming a leader in the abolitionist movement. | ||||||||
87 | Detransition, Baby | Torrey Peters | One World | 2021 | Fiction | 368 pp | 9780593133378 | |
A novel about gender, identity, and unconventional family structures, following the lives of a transgender woman, her ex, and her ex’s lover. | ||||||||
88 | The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis | Lydia Davis | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2009 | Short stories | 752 pp | 9780374270605 | |
A comprehensive collection of short stories by Lydia Davis, known for her minimalist and precise prose. | ||||||||
89 | The Return | Hisham Matar | Random House | 2016 | Memoir | 256 pp | 9780812994827 | |
A memoir about Matar's search for his father, who disappeared in Libya under Gaddafi’s regime. | ||||||||
90 | The Sympathizer | Viet Thanh Nguyen | Grove Press | 2015 | Fiction | 384 pp | 9780802123459 | |
A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a double agent during the Vietnam War, exploring themes of identity and betrayal. | ||||||||
91 | The Human Stain | Philip Roth | Houghton Mifflin | 2000 | Fiction | 361 pp | 9780618059454 | |
A novel about a college professor whose hidden racial identity is revealed during a scandal. | ||||||||
92 | The Days of Abandonment | Elena Ferrante | Europa Editions | 2002 (English translation 2005) | Fiction | 192 pp | 9781933372006 | |
A novel about a woman’s psychological unraveling after her husband leaves her and their children. | ||||||||
93 | Station Eleven | Emily St. John Mandel | Alfred A. Knopf | 2014 | Dystopian fiction | 336 pp | 9780385353304 | |
A post-apocalyptic novel following a traveling theater troupe as they perform in the ruins of civilization. | ||||||||
94 | On Beauty | Zadie Smith | Penguin Press | 2005 | Fiction | 464 pp | 9781594200632 | |
A novel about a multicultural family in New England, exploring themes of race, politics, and art. | ||||||||
95 | Bring Up the Bodies | Hilary Mantel | Fourth Estate | 2012 | Historical fiction | 432 pp | 9780007315093 | |
The second book in Mantel's Thomas Cromwell trilogy, chronicling Cromwell’s role in the downfall of Anne Boleyn. | ||||||||
96 | Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments | Saidiya Hartman | W. W. Norton & Company | 2019 | Non-fiction | 432 pp | 9780393285673 | |
A study of early 20th-century African-American women and their radical attempts to redefine freedom and identity. | ||||||||
97 | Men We Reaped | Jesmyn Ward | Bloomsbury | 2013 | Memoir | 272 pp | 9781608195213 | |
A memoir about Ward’s experiences growing up in Mississippi and losing five men close to her in rapid succession. | ||||||||
98 | Bel Canto | Ann Patchett | HarperCollins | 2001 | Fiction | 352 pp | 9780060188733 | |
A novel about an unexpected hostage crisis at a lavish party in South America, exploring themes of love and music. | ||||||||
99 | How to Be Both | Ali Smith | Hamish Hamilton | 2014 | Fiction | 384 pp | 9780241145210 | |
A genre-defying novel that blends two stories—one set in the Renaissance and one in contemporary times—to explore art, love, and identity. | ||||||||
100 | Tree of Smoke | Denis Johnson | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2007 | Fiction | 624 pp | 9780374279127 | |
A sprawling novel about a CIA officer's experiences in the Vietnam War, delving into the chaos and moral ambiguity of the conflict. |
The list was criticized as biased towards English-language books, particularly those published by American authors. [3] Nigerian academic Ainehi Edoro criticized the lack of literature by African authors and the predominance of American literature on the list and called the list "an act of cultural erasure". [4] The list was also criticized for its lack of genres such as graphic fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and children's literature. [5] Indian publication Scroll.in wrote of the list "How much, and for how long, is America going to obsess over reading and dissecting itself? Why do reading lists emerging from the West claim authority on culture with such hyperbole?" [6]
The Human Stain is a novel by Philip Roth, published May 5, 2000. The book is set in Western Massachusetts in the late 1990s. Its narrator is 65-year-old author Nathan Zuckerman, who appears in several earlier Roth novels, including two books that form a loose trilogy with The Human Stain,American Pastoral (1997) and I Married a Communist (1998). Zuckerman acts largely as an observer as the complex story of the protagonist, Coleman Silk, a retired professor of classics, is slowly revealed.
American literature is literature written or produced in the United States and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature but also includes literature produced in languages other than English.
The Plot Against America is a novel by Philip Roth published in 2004. It is an alternative history in which Franklin D. Roosevelt is defeated in the presidential election of 1940 by Charles Lindbergh. The novel follows the fortunes of the Roth family during the Lindbergh presidency, as antisemitism becomes more acceptable in American life and Jewish-American families like the Roths are persecuted on various levels. The narrator and central character in the novel is the young Philip, and the novel follows his coming of age, as well as American politics.
Literary fiction, mainstream fiction, non-genre fiction, serious fiction, high literature, artistic literature, and sometimes just literature, are labels that, in the book trade, refer to market novels that do not fit neatly into an established genre or, otherwise, refer to novels that are character-driven rather than plot-driven, examine the human condition, use language in an experimental or poetic fashion, or are simply considered serious art.
The Known World is a historical novel by American author Edward P. Jones, published in 2003. Set in antebellum Virginia, the novel explores the complex and morally ambiguous world of slavery, focusing on the unusual phenomenon of black enslavers. The book received widespread critical acclaim for its innovative storytelling, richly drawn characters, and profound examination of power, race, and the human condition in the context of American slavery.
The Road is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed industrial civilization and nearly all life. The novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 2009, directed by John Hillcoat.
2666 is the last novel by Roberto Bolaño. It was released in 2004 as a posthumous novel, a year after Bolaño's death. It is over 1100 pages long in its original Spanish format. It is divided into five parts. An English-language translation by Natasha Wimmer was published in the United States in 2008 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux and in the United Kingdom in 2009 by Picador. It is a fragmentary novel.
Elena Ferrante is a pseudonymous Italian novelist. Ferrante's books, originally published in Italian, have been translated into many languages. Her four-book series of Neapolitan Novels are her most widely known works. Time magazine called Ferrante one of the 100 most influential people in 2016.
Zukiswa Wanner is a South African journalist, novelist and editor born in Zambia and now based in Kenya. Since 2006, when she published her first book, her novels have been shortlisted for awards including the South African Literary Awards (SALA) and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize. In 2015, she won the K Sello Duiker Memorial Literary Award for London Cape Town Joburg (2014). In 2014, Wanner was named on the Africa39 list of 39 Sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature.
Kwela Books is a South African publishing house founded in Cape Town in 1994 as a new imprint of NB Publishers.
The Goldfinch is a novel by the American author Donna Tartt. It won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, among other honors. Published in 2013, it was Tartt's first novel since The Little Friend in 2002.
Erasure is a 2001 novel by American writer Percival Everett. It was originally published by the University Press of New England. The novel reacts against the dominant strains of discussion related to the publication and criticism of African-American literature, and was later adapted by Cord Jefferson into a film titled American Fiction, starring Jeffrey Wright.
The Neapolitan Novels, also known as the Neapolitan Quartet, are a four-part series of fiction by the pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante, published originally by Edizioni e/o, translated into English by Ann Goldstein and published by Europa Editions. The English-language titles of the novels are My Brilliant Friend (2012), The Story of a New Name (2013), Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (2014), and The Story of the Lost Child (2015). In the original Italian edition, the whole series bears the title of the first novel L'amica geniale. The series has been characterized as a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story. In an interview in Harper's Magazine, Elena Ferrante has stated that she considers the four books to be "a single novel" published serially for reasons of length and duration. The series has sold over 10 million copies in 40 countries.
Brittle Paper is an online literary magazine styled as an "African literary blog" published weekly in the English language. Its focus is on "build(ing) a vibrant African literary scene." It was founded by Ainehi Edoro. Since its founding in 2010, Brittle Paper has published fiction, poetry, essays, creative nonfiction and photography from both established and upcoming African writers and artists in the continent and around the world. A member of The Guardian Books Network, it has been described as "the village square of African literature", as "Africa's leading literary journal", and as "one of Africa's most on the ball and talked-about literary publications". In 2014, the magazine was named a "Go-To Book Blog" by Publishers Weekly, who described it as "an essential source of news about new work by writers of color outside of the United States."
Ainehi Edoro is a Nigerian writer, critic and academic. She is the founder and publisher of the African literary blog Brittle Paper. She is currently an assistant professor of Global Black Literatures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her areas of research include 21st-century fiction, literature in digital/social media, The Global Anglophone Novel, African Literature, Contemporary British Fiction, Novel Theory, Political Philosophy, and Digital Humanities.
Notes on Grief is a 2021 memoir written by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Presented in 30 short sections, Notes on Grief was written following the death of her father James Nwoye Adichie in June 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is expanded from an essay first published in The New Yorker. As The New York Times notes: "What she narrates is not only father loss, but the ways Mr. Adichie endures in having made of her a writer."
Glory is the second novel of Zimbabwean author NoViolet Bulawayo. Published on 8 March 2022, Glory is a political satire inspired by George Orwell's novel Animal Farm. It was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, which was announced on 6 September 2022.
The Book of Goose is a 2022 novel written by Yiyun Li. The novel won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
My Brilliant Friend is a 2011 novel by Italian author Elena Ferrante. It is the first of four volumes in Ferrante's critically acclaimed Neapolitan Novels series. The novel, translated into English by Ann Goldstein in 2012, explores themes of female friendship, social class, and personal identity against the backdrop of post-war Naples.