# Any books from the past 5 years that might make the pantheon of literature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-books-from-the-past-5-years-that-might-make-the-pantheon-of-literature/401536 "2007-04-25T00:29:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-books-from-the-past-5-years-that-might-make-the-pantheon-of-literature/401536/1 "2007-04-25T00:29:37Z")
I’m looking for some reading material. _Good_ reading material. _Really_ good reading material. I’ve only read a few novels that have come out in the **past five years** , and I’m wondering what I might have missed. Can dopers recommend any **recent** books that might be of lasting worth and impact? I’m not a snob about genres; any genre will do, as long as we’re talking about a really well-crafted book. Whatta ya got? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-books-from-the-past-5-years-that-might-make-the-pantheon-of-literature/401536/2 "2007-04-25T01:50:34Z")
Guaranteed good reads (most of these were recommended by Dopers): **Black Swan Green** , a coming of age novel by David Mitchell **The English Passengers** by Matthew Kneale **The Road** by Cormac McCarthy (just because Oprah picked it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be read) **Flanders** by Patricia Anthony (published in 2000 but maybe you haven’t read it) **The March** by E. L. Doctorow ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-books-from-the-past-5-years-that-might-make-the-pantheon-of-literature/401536/3 "2007-04-25T02:14:11Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] **The March** by E. L. Doctorow [/QUOTE] Hey! I have that one on my shelf! Just haven’t gotten to it yet. Thanks for the incentive. It will be next on my list. I did read _The Road_ by Cormac McCarthy. It is very well-written, but Cormac McCarthy’s writing is so grim and pessimistic I have a hard time getting enthusiastic about it. I had to force myself to pick up _The Road_ after having read his _Child of God_. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-books-from-the-past-5-years-that-might-make-the-pantheon-of-literature/401536/4 "2007-04-25T02:22:11Z")
Incidantally, for those dropping in on the thread and looking for ideas, I just finished (and would recommend) **Thirteen Moons** by Charles Frazier. It’s a step down from **Cold Mountain** , but still a very fine read with a lot of interesting ideas. Frazier is a helluva wordsmith, and I like that he makes an effort to get minor details right in his historical novels. (This one is set around the Cherokee removal.) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-books-from-the-past-5-years-that-might-make-the-pantheon-of-literature/401536/5 "2007-04-25T04:55:32Z")
Where is everybody? I could use some recommendations too. Maybe “pantheon” is too restrictive. **The English Passengers** will probably never make it into the canon, but you won’t regret the time you spent with it. Another _really good_ recent book is **The Worst Hard Time** by Tim Egan. Non-fiction, Dust Bowl, not as depressing as The Road, but close. It won one of the big prizes in 2006. Very readable. ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-books-from-the-past-5-years-that-might-make-the-pantheon-of-literature/401536/6 "2007-04-25T05:18:50Z")
**The Kite Runner** by Khaled Hosseini, an incredible novel that takes you from Kabul to Fremont (California) and back again. Here’s a quote from a wiki article about both the author and **The Kite Runner.** > [@](#): > > The Kite Runner (ISBN 1-59448-000-1) is the story of a young boy, Amir, juggling to establish a closer rapport with his father and coping with memories of a haunting childhood event. The novel is set in Afghanistan, from the fall of the monarchy until the collapse of the Taliban regime, and in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its many themes include ethnic tensions between the Hazara and the Pashtun in Afghanistan, and the immigrant experiences of Amir and his father in the United States. The novel was the number three best seller for 2005 in the United States, according to Nielsen BookScan.[1] The Kite Runner has been adapted into a film of the same name with a release date in November, 2007. This one haunted me for a very long time. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-books-from-the-past-5-years-that-might-make-the-pantheon-of-literature/401536/7 "2007-04-25T07:05:52Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] **Black Swan Green** , a coming of age novel by David Mitchell [/QUOTE] Absolutely. “Black Swan Green” might be _the_ greatest coming of age novel I’ve ever read; it’s easily up there with _Catcher in the Rye_ and _Stop-Time_, and I’d go as far as to say that it surpasses both of them at moments. David Mitchell is definitely one of the greater writers currently working; his _Cloud Atlas_ was excellent as well. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-books-from-the-past-5-years-that-might-make-the-pantheon-of-literature/401536/8 "2007-04-25T12:43:13Z")
[QUOTE=straykat23] **The Kite Runner** by Khaled Hosseini, an incredible novel that takes you from Kabul to Fremont (California) and back again. [/QUOTE] I’ve seen my sister with that one. I’ll borrow it from her. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-books-from-the-past-5-years-that-might-make-the-pantheon-of-literature/401536/9 "2007-04-25T16:21:26Z")
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke is a very good read. So hard to predict what literature will last and live a long time - but this fun, engrossing fantasy set in the time of the Napoleonic wars and written in a style reminiscent of Dickens, just might.