The New York Times published its list of the 100 best books of the 21st century in 2024, ranking works from 2000 onward based on input from literary figures. For the next step, read our overview of 15 Books Like A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.
Origins and Selection Process
The list draws from submissions by writers, critics, and editors who evaluated fiction and nonfiction released after January 1, 2000. It appears on the newspaper's interactive site and has been mirrored in library guides that reproduce the full ranking from 100 to 1.
Top Entries on the List
Position 100 belongs to Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson, a novel set during the Vietnam War that follows a spy-in-training and explores themes of deception and isolation. Position 99 is How to Be Both by Ali Smith, a work that experiments with narrative order and can be read in two sequences depending on the edition. Position 98 is Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, which centers on a hostage situation resolved through shared appreciation of opera. Position 97 is Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward, a memoir that recounts the deaths of five young men in rural Mississippi and examines systemic pressures on Black communities.
Further Notable Titles
Additional entries include Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments and Bring Up the Bodies. Library reproductions of the ranking continue through lower positions with books such as The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson. Our breakdown of the Best Colleen Hoover Book? Top Picks Ranked covers the related details.
Reader Responses and Alternative Rankings
Readers have created their own compilations that overlap with the newspaper list while elevating different titles. One popular reader-driven version places My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante at the top, followed by Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Another compilation highlights Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.
Comparison with Earlier Century Lists
Earlier rankings such as the Modern Library top 100 focused on 20th-century novels including Ulysses and The Great Gatsby. Those selections emphasized works published before 2000 and relied on votes from a board of authors and critics rather than a 21st-century cutoff.
Accessing the Full Ranking
The complete ordered list is available through the newspaper's interactive feature and through library sites that index the same titles with call numbers and publication details. Goodreads users maintain a parallel list that records votes for each entry.
Several of the selected books have received major awards, including the National Book Award for Tree of Smoke and the Baileys Women's Prize for How to Be Both. The list spans genres from memoir to historical fiction and reflects a broad range of voices and settings.
Sources
- 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - New York Times ... - Guides
- NYT 100 Best Books of the 21st Century - Reader's Pick
- Modern Library Top 100 - Penguin ...
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