50 of My Favourite Books
There have been a few posts circulating lately in response to the New York Times list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. Not everybody agreed—of course!—and there were accusations about literary snobbishness and such a huge response to the article that the New York Times then compiled a second list, based on the votes of its readers. Interestingly, only 39—less than half!—of the books chosen by readers were also on the list chosen by the NYT.
We all know there’s no definitive list of the best books of any century because we all have our own particular tastes, and that’s exactly how it should be. But it made me wonder—if I was ever going to pick my favourite books from this century, what would I choose? So I thought it would be fun to write them all down for my paid subscribers!
I limited myself to fifty—one hundred felt like a task too mammoth! And my ordering is also a little arbitrary—how can I really say which is better out of Wolf Hall or Demon Copperhead or The Blind Assassin? Generally speaking, they’re in a rough order, but I could easily be convinced to move a book up or down a few places on a different day of the week!
What I Noticed About My List
I noticed a few things about my list: the majority of authors are women, which didn’t surprise me as I already know I tend to read more books by women than men. I would have liked to see a greater percentage of culturally diverse authors on my list; I’ve been actively trying to read with an eye to diversity over the past few years, so I suppose the list reflects the fact that I unfortunately wasn’t thinking about this as much for probably the first decade of the century, which I’m ashamed to admit, but I’m always trying to do better.
There’s a mix of genres: unsurprisingly a fair bit of historical fiction, mixed with memoir, contemporary fiction, rom-coms, and, particularly when we get to the Top Ten, lots of long books. I love a book with lots of pages—there’s nothing better than feeling the vast, epic sweep of a novel surround you.
One author makes the list three times, and there are a couple of others who make the list twice. Book number 50 changed a couple of times—other alternatives I had in there at some point while I was drafting this list included The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman and The Years by Annie Ernaux.
Some of these books I read years ago and haven’t reread since, so my feelings about their “bestness” is based more on the way they’ve lingered with me, and the emotional impression I feel when I think of the story, however abstract the details might be in my mind. Books like The Great Fire fit into this category—I remember how much I adored it when I read it, I remember where I was when I read it and how bittersweet it was when I reached the end, but I can barely remember the names of the characters! But, to me, that’s what important—the lastingness or the lingeringness of a book, rather than a precise memory of dates and names.
Of course I can only list books I’ve read and I’ve read too few to make any kind of comprehensive survey, but I thought I’d put this down as a starting point for discussion.
What would be on your list, if you were to make one? Perhaps you can give me your top ten from this century and I can add some more titles to the long list of books I really must read one day!
My List
Without further ado, here’s my list! I’ve broken it up into groups of ten to make it a bit easier to digest!
Books 50-41
We Begin at the End by Chris Whittaker
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria Schwab
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert