ŷ������

EDIT - I TOTALLY SCREWED UP AND DID TWO DECADES, SO DO ONE OR TWO!

I saw a couple "Best of the Decade" lists and found them underwhelming. ��I'm hoping that if I post mine here that others will also. ��Now that I've fallen in love with the classics, I'm finding so many current books lacking. ��I'd love to get ideas from other people's lists. ��

��I had to up this from top 10 to 12 because I tried and tried but couldn't narrow it down to 10 (I had more than double that rated 5 stars).�� In narrowing mine down, I eliminated the more obscure ones because as much as I loved them, they didn't have enough critical acclaim. ��

Top Twelve by publication year (because I can't rank them!)

Life of Pi 2001- This book helped lift me out of longstanding grief
The Shadow of the Wind 2001- ��I'm not really big on fantasy but this series is genre-bending. ��
�� Middlesex 2002 - This book treats a heartwrenching subject with humor and love
No Country for Old Men�� 2005��I love Cormac McCarthy and this is my favorite of his that I've read so far����
The Gift of Rain�� 2007��Absolutely gorgeous prose and beautiful Eastern philosophy
A Thousand Splendid Suns 2007 -Heartwrenching. ��As much as I loved The Kite Runner, this one is even better.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 2007��This blew me away. ��Fast-paced and violent but funny and oh so good.
Fall of Giants�� 2010�� �� History was brought to life with vivid details and great characters
All the Light We Cannot See ��2014��first world war II book I read that told the story of the war through the eyes of children on opposite sides. ��It broke my heart.
The Sympathizer�� 2015����Not your average spy story. ��It's so clever, funny and thought-provoking
A Gentleman in Moscow 2016���� Supurb writing and powerful story of how a child can change a person's life and how families are formed in unexpected ways
Circe 2018����- Gorgeous reimagining of the Greek Goddess

Hi Sue. Cool idea. Before I post mine, did you mean for your list to span two decades/the 21st century thus far?

My 10 is more slanted towards sci-fi than I had expected. In prioritized order:
The Martian
The Egg short story by Andy Weir. Read it here:
The Fault in Our Stars
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Old Man's War
The Hunger Games
Measuring the World
House of Leaves
The Kite Runner (must read A Thousand Splendid Suns someday)
Some Harry Potter book.

Using only books I have read, and I don't read many new books. These rated 4 or 5 stars. There are quite a few missing years, either no books read for that year or nothing higher than 3 stars.

2001-The Shadow of the Wind
2002- The Millionaires
2003-The Kite Runner
2004-Gilead
2005-The Book Thief
2006-The Road
2007-World Without End
2008-The Hunger Games
2009-Under the Dome
2010-Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
2011-11/22/63
2012-
2013-
2014-The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
2015-
2016-
2017-Beartown
2019-

Sue, I really like your list - the books I've read on your list are all very good and the ones I have not read are on my Wish List. For my own personal tastes I would add The Road in place of No Country for Old Men (from Bob's list above) and I would probably list The Kite Runner instead of A Thousand Splendid Suns.

I might add these from my own reading, all of which I would highly recommend:


The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins


Nexus by Ramez Naam


A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin


The Terror by Dan Simmons


Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell


The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis


Provinces of Night by William Gay


The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow


Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon


Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

Sue wrote: "I saw a couple "Best of the Decade" lists and found them underwhelming. ��I'm hoping that if I post mine here that others will also. ��Now that I've fallen in love with the classics, I'm finding so m..."

The gift of rain was really great. The writing was so beautiful..I wanted to learn the art of Zen after reading it.Had even started reading a book on it..but got distracted from that book.
But it was an experience worth reading.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Lord of the Rings
Persuasion and other Austens excluding Mansfield Park.
Les Misérables
The Grapes of Wrath
The Stranger or The Plague both were great.
Our Mutual Friend
The Wall
Middlemarch
The Name of the Rose
The Gift of Rain and The Remains of the Day.Hard to select one.
Housekeeping and
The Member of the Wedding.again hard to select one.
Animal Farm.just because its so relevant now.The last sentence keeps popping up every now and then.

Oh.
I misunderstood the list.
I thought Best of the decade from my read books.
Very very hard to narrow it down,I thought.
I don't read much contemporary books.

Sue wrote: "I saw a couple "Best of the Decade" lists and found them underwhelming. ��I'm hoping that if I post mine here that others will also. ��Now that I've fallen in love with the classics, I'm finding so m..."

I very rarely agree with "Best of...." lists so it was an interesting exercise to come up with my own list.

2001: White Teeth - Zadie Smith
2002: Journey to the Stone Country - Alex Miller
2003: Elizabeth Costello - J.M. Coetzee
2004: The Turning - Tim Winton
2005: Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2006: The Secret River - Kate Grenville
2007: Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2008:
2009:
2010: The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy
2011:
2012: Into That Forest - Louis Nowra
2013: Galatea - Madeline Miller
2014: The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell
2015: Amnesia - Peter Carey
2016: The Noise of Time - Julian Barnes
2017: The Power - Naomi Alderman
The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World - Catherine Nixey
2018: Circe - Madeline Miller
Fascism: A Warning - Madeleine K. Albright

Well, in any case, here's my 21st Century + 2000 list. I limited myself to non-series books and one book per author. I may pare this list down to ten or so later.

2000: Tomboy - Nina Bouraoui
The Slynx - Tatyana Tolstaya

2003: The Bullet Collection - Patricia Sarrafian Ward
Empress - Shan Sa
2004: Wizard of the Crow - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
2005: The Guest - Hwang Sok-yong
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
2006: Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Disobedience - Naomi Alderman
2008: Visitation - Jenny Erpenbeck
2009: Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann
2010: I Hotel - Karen Tei Yamashita
The Woman from Tantoura - Radwa Ashour
The Instructions - Adam Levin

2011: There but for the - Ali Smith
The Garden of Evening Mists - Tan Twan Eng
2013: A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki
2014: Human Acts - Han Kang

Good to see recognition for The World's Wife My favourite poetry book of the decade for sure. (I confess to not reading much poetry though).

I'm pretty sure that not many of mine will become classics. But I have no shame in what I like. This is my favourite book published each year (I don't read enough for this to be conclusive though)

2000 Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly Anthony Bourdain
2001 Resurrection Men Ian Rankin
2002 Amazing Grace: John Newton, Slavery and the World's Most Enduring Song Steve Turner
2003 The Coffin Trail Martin Edwards
(caveat - this book is awful it is just the only 2003 published book I have read and recorded on good reads - the historical stuff is just from memory and a lot of books have been forgotten)
2004 Tonight I Said GoodbyeMichael Koryta
2005 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Steven D. Levitt
2006 The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream Barack Obama
2007 Blackshirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism Stephen Dorril
2008 Outliers: The Story of Success
Malcolm Gladwell
2009 Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom Daniel T. Willingham
2010 Alex's Adventures in Numberland
Alex Bellos
2011 True Crime: The Kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard Perry Grievens
2012 Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking Susan Cain
2013 The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets Simon Singh
2014 All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr
2015 Grow All You Can Eat in 3 Square Feet
Chauney Dunford
2016 An Economic History of the World since 1400 Donald J. Harreld
2017 Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Kim Malone Scott
2018 Educated Tara Westover
2019 Me Elton John

Now I have got to the end of it I am prepared to admitt that it is a truly awful list. I need to read better books.

Edit just realised it says best fiction book. That kills my list off even more.

Aubrey wrote: "Hi Sue. Cool idea. Before I post mine, did you mean for your list to span two decades/the 21st century thus far?"

No I didn't Aubrey! OMG, I have to redo it. I totally screwed up. I don't know what I was thinking!!! Now keeping it at 10 will be easier.

J_BlueFlower wrote: "My 10 is more slanted towards sci-fi than I had expected. In prioritized order:
The Martian
The Egg short story by Andy Weir. Read it here: ..."

I don't normally go to Sci-Fi but have found that I love it in classics so it's just finding the right sci-fi. I'm glad to have some of your choices JBlue

Aubrey wrote: "Hi Sue. Cool idea. Before I post mine, did you mean for your list to span two decades/the 21st century thus far?"

Okay, I changed my mind. Do one or two decades since I screwed up! I can't believe I did that. URGH

Rob wrote: "Good to see recognition for The World's Wife My favourite poetry book of the decade for sure. (I confess to not reading much poetry though).

I'm pretty sure that not many of mine wi..."

I wanted to do another one with Fiction but I screwed up this one so I don't think I'll ever do another topic! ; ) I'm glad to have your fiction list also.

Aubrey wrote: "Well, in any case, here's my 21st Century + 2000 list. I limited myself to non-series books and one book per author. I may pare this list down to ten or so later.

2000: Tomboy - [au..."

Thanks for doing this Aubrey. Sorry about my screwup. I'm so glad you loved [book:The Garden of Evening Mists|12031532] I loved The Gift of Rain by him. He's such a talented writer. I haven't read or even heard of most of your other ones and look forward to having this list to come back to for inspiration

Bob wrote: "Using only books I have read, and I don't read many new books. These rated 4 or 5 stars. There are quite a few missing years, either no books read for that year or nothing higher than 3 stars.

200..."

I've read all your first five Bob and loved them. In your second 5 I've only read The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and loved that too. I think I have a pretty good chance of liking your other choices. I think we have pretty similar tastes.

RJ wrote: "Sue, I really like your list - the books I've read on your list are all very good and the ones I have not read are on my Wish List. For my own personal tastes I would add The Road in place of No Co..."

Great list RJ. I haven't read any but I saw the films of The Big Short, Cloud Atlas and Inherent Vice and loved them. I want to read the books, especially Inherent Vice. I'll be investigating your other choices too.

siriusedward wrote: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Lord of the Rings
Persuasion and other Austens excluding Mansfield Park.
Les Misérables
[book:The Grapes of..."

Well screw ups are welcome since I made the biggest one! I love your list. I'm so glad you loved Housekeeping and The Gift of Rain and The Name of the Rose. There are many on your list I want to get to.

Liesl wrote: "Sue wrote: "I saw a couple "Best of the Decade" lists and found them underwhelming. ��I'm hoping that if I post mine here that others will also. ��Now that I've fallen in love with the classics, I'm ..."

Half a Yellow Sun goes right on my list since both you and Aubrey have it on yours. Galatea goes on right away too since I love Madeline Miller. I can't wait to investigate the rest.

Only three I’d put in a best of decade list;

Perfidia- James Ellroy (2014)
The Hydrogen Sonata - Iain M Banks (2012)
Djibouti - Elmore Leonard (2010)

; and sad that two of these great writers were near the end of their careers. Djibouti was a welcome return for Leonard to writing in a modern era after a while of gangster era stories. This is a monumental career stretching back to the 1950s; quite astonishing. The only downside is how many bad films were made of his books because they picked up on the sleaze in his stories rather than the class; the modern heroism at their core; funny that my two favourites, Glitz and La Brava never had film versions made (or maybe I just choose to ignore their existence😜).

of my near 600 read books, only about 40 are from 2000 onwards,
of which I have 5-Starred these 6:
Milkman Burns, Anna 2018
The Field of the Cloth of Gold Mills, Magnus 2015
Ancillary Justice (Imperial Radch#1) Leckie, Ann 2013
The Gray House Petrosyan, Mariam 2009
Darkmans Barker, Nicola 2007
The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break Sherrill, Steven 2000

if backed into a corner to choose a No. 1
it'd be a toss-up between Ancillary Justice and Darkmans

also encouraging to see a few titles that I'll be reading soon (Old Man's War, The Big Short, White Teeth, The Slynx)

Sue wrote: "Thanks for doing this Aubrey. Sorry about my screwup. I'm so glad you loved The Garden of Evening Mists I loved The Gift of Rain by him. He's such a talented writer. I haven't read or even heard of most of your other ones and look forward to having this list to come back to for inspiration"

No worries, Sue. I'm personally putting together a 100 best 21st century works list due to how dismal mainstream output has been, and this was a good excuse to go back and do some reconfiguring.

In any case, I really liked 'Gift of Rain' as well, and can't wait for the author's next book. Adichie's also an author with whom I've had multiple successes with, so hopefully that work of hers goes well for you.

Darren wrote: "of my near 600 read books, only about 40 are from 2000 onwards,
of which I have 5-Starred these 6:
Milkman Burns, Anna 2018
The Field of the Cloth of Gold Mills, Ma..."

At least that made it easy for you to make a list Darren. I added the Gray House to my list since I've at least heard of it. I have to investigate your other ones.

I think we are supposed to list our ten best books from each decade?

2000-2009:

2001 Soldiers of Salamisby Javier Cercas
2001 Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
2000/2004 The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
2004 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
2004 Senselessness by Horacio Castellanos Moya
2004 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
2006 The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro
2006 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami
2006 The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell
2007 The Explosion of the Radiator Hose by Jean Rolin

2010-2019:

(I don't have any five-star books from this period. I do think these are worthwhile/interesting/a lot of fun though)

2011 The Pale King by David Foster Wallace
2012 The Martian by Andy Weir
2013 Tenth of December by George Saunders
2014 Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
2015 The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
2017 Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh

What a great idea! I am not completely sure about the publication years, and in many years I have multiple favorites. Here is my list for 2000 to 2009. I will post 2010 to 2019 tomorrow, or thereafter.

2000. Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
2001. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd
The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan
2002. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
Lamb, Christopher Moore
2003. The Kite Runner, Khalid Hosseni
2004. My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Piccoult
2005. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, Stein Larson
The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
2006. Sarah’s Key, Tatiana de Roseau
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan
My Life in France, Julia Child
Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
2007. Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Piccoult
2008. The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein
The Guersey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Anne Shaffer
Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Stout
2009. South of Broad, Pat Conroy

I just realized that this was supposed to be fiction. I included quite a few non-fiction titles.

Harry Potter Series Box Set exc cursed child.(poorly done ff )

The Gift of Rain

The Wall

Pompeii

Hey, Kiddo

Edited the list to only include the books from 2000 on that I really loved.

A lot of my favorites are nonfiction as well. I would be unable to make a list.

Sue wrote: "Aubrey wrote: "Hi Sue. Cool idea. Before I post mine, did you mean for your list to span two decades/the 21st century thus far?"

Okay, I changed my mind. Do one or two decades since I screwed up! ..."

Hi Sue, you didn't screw up at all IMO, since your idea resulted in such an interesting thread! The only downside being that my TBR-list keeps getting longer and longer...

Here are my picks, including two non-fiction books :

2002 : The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany
2003 : The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman
2005 : The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
2006 : Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2008 : The German Mujahid by Boualem Sansal
2010 :Swimming to Elba by Silvia Avallone
2013 : Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal
2014 : The Big Green Tent by Lyudmila Ulitskaya
2016 : Woman at Sea by Catherine Poulain and Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
2017 : This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

What a fun idea, Sue! I'll probably be back with more to fill out the period, but these were all five or almost five stars for me.

2000 - White Teeth by Zadie Smith
2001 - Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
2004 - Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
2011 - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
2013 - Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
2014 - The Big Green Tent by Lyudmila Ulitskaya
2016 - Augustown by Kei Miller
2017 - Less by Andrew Sean Greer

(Augustown makes me smile just thinking about it--that one might be my favorite of the bunch!)

Brina’s Fiction of the 21st Century List

2003 The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa
2003 Dancer by Colum McCann
2004 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
2005 The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
2007 The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
2013 Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
2015 The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
2016 Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
2016 A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
2017 Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
2017 Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien

Special mention:
Harry Potter Series Box Set published post 2000. This is its own category.

I do find contemporary underwhelming since I read classics and nonfiction. I’ve found if I like an author I’ll keep reading him/her rather than trying new ones if I’ve had success in the past. And with the limited successes I keep being drawn to more and more nonfiction. I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one with nonfiction on my list.

Brina wrote: "I do find contemporary underwhelming since I read classics and nonfiction. I’ve found if I like an author I’ll keep reading him/her rather than trying new ones if I’ve had success in the past. And ..."

You should do a list that includes non fiction then Brina. I'd be very interested in that.

PinkieBrown wrote: "Only three I’d put in a best of decade list;

Perfidia- James Ellroy (2014)
The Hydrogen Sonata - Iain M Banks (2012)
Djibouti - Elmore Leonard (2010)

; and sad that two of these great writers wer..."

I recognized movies from Elleroy (LA Confidential and Black Dahlia) but not the other two. I loved those two movies so I bet I would like Ellroy's books. If I like a book, I normally like the film and vice versa.

Bryan wrote: "I think we are supposed to list our ten best books from each decade?

2000-2009:

2001 Soldiers of Salamisby Javier Cercas
2001 Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
2000/2004 [book:T..."

Great lists Bryan. The Martian is on a couple lists and I've heard great things about that so I'm finally adding it to my list. I've had Persepolis on my shelf for a long time and put it on a challenge this year. You have such a diverse group of authors. I can't wait to look into them more. I added Soldiers of Salamis right away.

Terry wrote: "What a great idea! I am not completely sure about the publication years, and in many years I have multiple favorites. Here is my list for 2000 to 2009. I will post 2010 to 2019 tomorrow, or thereaf..."

Terry, you have so many books that I love in your list! I put Olive Kitteridge on a challenge so I should get to it this year. I'm so glad to see South of Broad on your list because I own it. I have to get to that one. I loved the film of Water for Elephants so much that I must read that too.

siriusedward wrote: "Harry Potter Series Box Set exc cursed child.(poorly done ff )

The Gift of Rain

The Wall

Pompeii

Hey, Kiddo

Edited the ..."

I'm so glad that you loved The Gift of Rain too Elena. I'm afraid to try Harry Potter because people love it with such passion and I have a feeling I won't so I avoid it. I'm especially interested in Pompeii. That's going on my TBR

��é��è�Ա� wrote: "Sue wrote: "Aubrey wrote: "Hi Sue. Cool idea. Before I post mine, did you mean for your list to span two decades/the 21st century thus far?"

Okay, I changed my mind. Do one or two decades since I ..."

Thanks Helene. I'm overwhelmed with the response! I thought maybe 2 or 3 people would respond. This is awesome because now I have a list to peruse when I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for. Hopefully others will find things here too.

Half a Yellow Sun is on here a few times so that is a must-read for me now. The Big Green Tent looks right up my alley and I can't wait to explore more.

Kathleen wrote: "What a fun idea, Sue! I'll probably be back with more to fill out the period, but these were all five or almost five stars for me.

2000 - White Teeth by Zadie Smith
2001 ..."

I'm adding Austown right away Kathleen. I don't know if I've read a Jamaican author yet. Austerlitz and The Big Green Tent are on multiple lists so they must be added as well.

Brina wrote: "Some of my favorites including nonfiction

2003 The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa
2004 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
2005 [bo..."

Well you did pretty well for not liking contemporary! Maybe these lists will help you to find some better ones also. I'm so glad you did this because I must read The Housekeeper and My Father's Paradise at a minimum. There are many others I plan to get to.

Tread for Best NON-Fiction books of the Decades (2000-2019) here:
/topic/show/...

I already did a best of the 2010s in another group, so may as well use that as a starting point here.
I have included some stuff that meant a lot to me but which I wouldn't necessarily recommend to many other people, as some others also seem to have listed books for fairly personal reasons. Also not sure that some of the books I read years ago I would still like as much now, but I remember them fondly.

The Sellout by Paul Beatty (2015)
Vernon Subutex, 1-2 by Virginie Despentes, tr. Frank Wynne (2015, English 2017-18)
Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila, tr. Roland Glasser (2014, English 2015)
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin, tr. Lisa Hayden (2012, English 2015)
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, tr. Ginny Tapley Takamori (2016, English 2018)
The Iraqi Christ by Hassan Blasim, tr Jonathan Wright (2013)
The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov,, tr Andrew Bromfield (2014)
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson, tr. Anne Born (2003, English 2006)
Darkmans by Nicola Barker (2007)
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
Artful by Ali Smith (2012)
Dorian by Will Self (2002)
Inglorious by Joanna Kavenna (2007)
Miruna, a Tale by Bogdan Suceavă, tr. Alistair Ian Blyth (2007, English 2014)
Minna Needs Rehearsal Space by Dorthe Nors, tr Misha Hoekstra (2013, English 2015)
The Last of the Vostyachs by Diego Marani, tr Judith Landry (2002, English 2012)
The Complete Phonogram by Kieron Gillen (comic/graphic novel, 2007 - 2016)
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gould (2001)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon (2000)

If we can include books first translated into English in the 21st century, but which were written before that (plus this will make the list a round 20):
Blinding Vol 1 by by Mircea Cărtărescu, tr Sean Cotter (1996, English 2015)

Darren wrote: "if backed into a corner to choose a No. 1
it'd be a toss-up between Ancillary Justice and Darkmans "

Nice to meet another fan of Darkmans!

I have lots of 3 or 4 star books for this period, but these are the only 5 star ones. Most are from the past 5 years which is probably because I’ve become better at picking books that I like, or maybe I’ve just become more generous with my ratings.

2000 Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
2003 The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
2014 Human Acts by Han Kang
2016 The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride
2017 Tin Man by Sarah Winman
2017 Winter by Ali Smith (could swap this for Autumn or Spring)
2018 Circe by Madeline Miller
2018 Milkman by Anna Burns
2018 The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

I’ve noticed these are all female authors. They also share a lot of the same themes- love, heartbreak, Greek drama and grim reality.

Antonomasia wrote: "I already did a best of the 2010s in another group, so may as well use that as a starting point here.
I have included some stuff that meant a lot to me but which I wouldn't necessarily recommend to..."

I haven't made my list yet, but The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay will be on it.

Sue, definitely read My Father’s Paradise. Sabar has a new book out at the end of the year so you should read this first.

There are some wonderful books listed above. Many more are still on my TBR list. Glad to see them mentioned here.

Here is my list.

2001 - Peace Like a River
2002 - Middlesex & Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
2003 - Hey Nostradamus! & Set This House in Order
2004 - Brother Fish
2005 - Whitethorn
2007 - The Gift of Rain (it's nice to see this one on a few lists above. I enjoyed it a lot) & The Last Chinese Chef
2009 - 1Q84 & Come, Thou Tortoise
2011 - Ready Player One
2012 - Wool: Silo, #1; Wool, #1-5 & The Martian
2014 - The Enchanted
2016 - Hag-Seed
2017 - The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (so much fun) & Lincoln in the Bardo

Brina wrote: "Sue, definitely read My Father’s Paradise. Sabar has a new book out at the end of the year so you should read this first."

It made me think of Henna House (even though it's fiction and in another place) Have you read that one Brina? It's not perfect so I gave it 4 stars, but it's a book I keep thinking about which makes me want to up it to 5

Pink wrote: "I have lots of 3 or 4 star books for this period, but these are the only 5 star ones. Most are from the past 5 years which is probably because I’ve become better at picking books that I like, or ma..."

We have some very similar tastes Pink. I think I'm a more liberal rater though. I loved the first two on your list and Circe. I think I'd like many of the others.