With thousands of books being published every year, it can feel a little overwhelming to try and decide what to read next. To help you expand your reading horizons, we’ve drawn inspiration from the New York Times to create our own list of the top 100 books of the 21st century.
This list has been debated and curated by the passionate readers in the CAE team, and we hope it will help you choose your future literary adventures.
100. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
99. Limberlost by Robbie Arnott
98. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
97. Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession
96. Persepolis by Mariane Satrapi
95. Water by John Boyne
94. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
93. Know My Name by Chanel Miller
92. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
91. The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
90. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
89. The Day the Crayons Quit by Oliver Jeffers
88. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
87. The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger
86. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
85. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
84. The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey
83. Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh
82. The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak
81. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
80. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
79. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
78. Recursion by Blake Crouch
77. This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
76. The Switch by Beth O’Leary
75. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa
74. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
73. The Humans by Matt Haig
72. Anxious People by Frederik Backman
71. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
70. Wifedom by Anna Funder
69. The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
68. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
67. Krakatoa by Simon Winchester
66. Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven
65. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
64. Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
63. Babel by R. F. Kuang
62. Becoming by Michelle Obama
61. Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas by Adam Kay
60. Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin
59. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
58. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
57. Circe by Madeleine Miller
56. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
55. Beautiful World, Where Are You? By Sally Rooney
54. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
53. Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
52. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
51. The Martian by Andy Weir
50. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
49. Yellowface by R. F. Kuang
48. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
47. Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
46. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
45. Desert Dawn by Waris Dirie
44. The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
43. The Angry Women’s Choir by Meg Bignell
42. The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell
41. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
40. Educated by Tara Westover
39. Normal People by Sally Rooney
38. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
37. The Dry by Jane Harper
36. Mistaken Identity by Don and Susie van Ryn; Newell, Colleen and Whitney Cerak; and Mark Tabb
35. Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes
34. Desert Flower by Waris Dirie
33. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
32. One Day by David Nicholls
31. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
30. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
29. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
28. The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne
27. One Summer by Bill Bryson
26. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
25. Stasiland by Anna Funder
24. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
23. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
22. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
21. Joe Cinque’s Consolation by Helen Garner
20. The Broken Shore by Peter Temple
19. Honeybee by Craig Silvey
18. Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
17. The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang
16. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
15. Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe
14. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
13. The Tipping Point by Dinuka McKenzie
12. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
11. The Yield by Tara June Winch
10. Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton
9. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
8. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
7. A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman
6. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
5. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
4. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
3. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
We hope that this list, and other resources we are working hard to create, will keep you reading and discussing books with the other booklovers in your life.
Here are some additional lists to inspire you:
- NYT: Readers pick their 100 best books of the 21st century
- Readings: Our best of the New York Times’ best books
- Readings: Best Australian books of the 21st century
- The Guardian: 100 best books of the 21st century
- The Guardian: 100 best novels written in English
- Time Magazine: The 100 best fantasy books of all time
- The Conversation: Best Australian books of the 21st century
- The Conversation: Best NZ books of the 21st century