# The Best Books Since 2000 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [June 8, 2024, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634 "2024-06-08T17:11:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/21 "2024-06-09T19:17:36Z")
I must have missed _The Road._ Read that recently. Didn’t like it. A lot of contemporary fiction just has a sameness to it that I find repetitive. And boy was _The Road_ repetitive. It had some things to recommend it but I don’t follow the hype. I ranted about it at length, but I’ll spare you. Was _Station Eleven_ on this list and I missed it? If not that’s a huge oversight. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2024, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/22 "2024-06-09T19:34:51Z")
I was on the lookout for that one too because I recently read it and hated it. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2024, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/23 "2024-06-09T23:01:32Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I happen to be reading Pachinko right now, but I’m having a hard time sticking with it. I read the whole thing, but multigenerational sagas can be really loooong. I almost didn’t read _The Gold Fnch_ because I hated _The Little Friend_ _so_ much, but I liked it pretty well. Not as well as _The Secret History_ which I _loved._ _Hamnet_ is another one I really liked. I read _H is for Hawk_ around the same time, but, damn, if I can remember it. Edit: _Warmth of Other Suns_ is a must-read. Powerful and beautifully poignant ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/24 "2024-06-10T01:41:40Z")
Of the books shown at the linked site, without having to click any further links, the ones I’ve read are - _11/22/63_ - very good - _Thinking, Fast and Slow_ - very good - _The Rest Is Noise_ - worth reading if you’re interested in its subject matter (classical music in the 20th century) - _Arthur & George_ - interesting (a fictionalized account of an incident from the life of Arthur Conan Doyle) - _Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince_ - probably needs no description, but yes, I read and enjoyed it. I do wonder why it’s on the list when so few other fantasy or children’s/YA books are - _Gilead_ - kind of disappointing; I was expecting to like this one more than I did. Based on the high regard so many other people hold this book in, I think the problem is not the book but me, or my mood or expectations or something when I read it. - _John Adams_ - pretty good, but it’s been a while since I read it - _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay_ - very good ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/25 "2024-06-10T02:58:49Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > I was on the lookout for that one too because I recently read it and hated it. I really liked _Station Eleven_, but the HBO mini series made some very strong changes particularly with characterization that made for better storytelling. After watching the series first, I was disappointed that one of the best characters and their arc were barely mentioned in the book. I didn’t particularly care for the book’s emphasis on Arthur and his rich and famous actor problems when the Jeevan character was so much more compelling in the TV series. But the book captured something powerful that the series didn’t, which was a longing for the past that was so intense it made me feel grateful for every bit of now. Especially in the context of our uncertain future, it is hard to shake the feeling of how fleeting is all is, and how nothing is promised. It’s how I imagine dying must feel. From my perspective, the book is about death. The TV series has powerful themes as well, but different ones. They are about different things. For anyone considering either, though, if you only do one _Station Eleven,_ do the TV series. It’s one of the weirdest, coolest things I have ever seen on film. The less you know about it beforehand, the better. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/26 "2024-06-10T03:06:28Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I must have missed _The Road._ Read that recently. Didn’t like it. > > A lot of contemporary fiction just has a sameness to it that I find repetitive. And boy was _The Road_ repetitive. It had some things to recommend it but I don’t follow the hype. I ranted about it at length, but I’ll spare you. I first heard of Cormac McCarthy from a college writing professor in like 1995. He gave us an excerpt from _Blood Meridian_–describing the desert’s hollow echoing like drums–as an example of excellent prose to analyze. I didn’t read anything by him until four or five years later, when I picked up Blood Meridian and a few others. He absolutely worked for me, an author I struggled with in great pleasure. But _The Road_ was different. I was visiting my girlfriend’s parents, and saw _The Road_ sitting around their house and picked it up, figuring I’d read a chapter or two before bed. I finished it at 3 am. It grabbed me and didn’t let go. I’m not sure why it had that effect on me–it’s rare that a book does that, but not unheard of. But it remains my favorite of McCarthy’s books, and probably my favorite post-apocalyptic novel of all time (with the possible exception of the Broken Earth trilogy). ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/27 "2024-06-10T03:17:52Z")
I can respect what it feels like to be so moved by a book. I had a lot of issues with it, and I don’t want to tear down something you love, but I think my fundamental problem with the book is that its central POV is nihilism and I’m an existentialist. Which also explains why I’m more drawn to _Station Eleven._ ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/28 "2024-06-10T03:55:34Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > but I think my fundamental problem with the book is that its central POV is nihilism This is fascinating, because that’s exactly the reason I don’t love the book or the movie of No Country for Old Men, but I found The Road to be different, especially with the “carrying the fire” thing he keeps saying to his son. But we all get struck differently by our reads… ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/29 "2024-06-10T05:00:32Z")
The part I found compelling, and which kept me reading, was the relationship between the man and his son, and how futile our efforts as parents often are at protecting our children. I can see how that’s a very compelling theme of the book. We do the best we can in our woefully inadequate way because we are all that they have, and we just have to hope it’s enough. That’s real. I just can’t help but think I would have been the wife in that specific situation - only using all three bullets. There was no compelling reason for them to want to be alive. I think the protagonist might have managed to figure out something in those weeks and weeks of walking, but nothing the novel offered was really sufficient for me to believe any of this was worthwhile. My minister friend read it after I did and liked it a lot. He said it reminded him of the part in Revelation where people want to die, but are unable to. My immediate thought was, “Been there. That’s called major depressive disorder,” and I guess I really didn’t feel like revisiting it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/30 "2024-06-10T11:17:06Z")
Here are my thoughts on the ones I’ve read from that list: _Lessons in Chemistry_ by Bonnie Garmus – Belongs. _In Love_ by Amy Bloom – Doesn’t belong, it was an audacious subject matter but the writing wasn’t exceptional enough for inclusion on this list. _Woke Racism_ by John McWhorter – Belongs, and I’m thrilled to see that a book so out of sync with prevailing political ideology made the list! _Hidden Valley Road_ by Robert Kolker - Belongs _Earthlings_ by Sayaka Murata – Any other book by Sayaka Murata would have belonged, but not this one. _The Memory Police_ by Yoko Ogawa – Doesn’t belong, not memorable enough _Educated_ by Tara Westover - Belongs _The Coddling of the American Mind_ by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt - Belongs _The Undoing Project_ by Michael Lewis – Belongs _What Happened_ by Hillary Rodham Clinton - Belongs _Dark Money_ by Jane Mayer - Belongs _Weapons of Math Destruction_ by Cathy O’Neil - Belongs _When Breath Becomes_ Air by Paul Kalanithi – Doesn’t belong. This book skeeved me out; the author was dying and spent his last moments working and writing a book rather than enjoying time with his friends and family. I know a lot of other people loved it, though. _Between the World and Me_ by Ta-Nehisi Coates - Belongs _The Interestings_ by Meg Wolitzer – Doesn’t belong, the book was unexceptional _The Signature of All Things_ by Elizabeth Gilbert - Belongs _Lost Girls_ by Robert Kolker – Belongs _Far from the Tree_ by Andrew Solomon - Belongs _Flight Behavior_ by Barbara Kingsolver - Belongs _The Starboard Sea_ by Amber Dermott - Belongs _Swamplandia!_ By Karen Russell – Nope. I’d approve of any of Russell’s short story collections being included here, but her full-length novel was pretty awful. _Thinking, Fast and Slow_ by Daniel Kahneman - Belongs _One Day_ by David Nicholls – Doesn’t belong, but to be fair, I have a tendency to not like romances. _American Wife_ by Curtis Sittenfeld – Almost, but not quite. This book started out strong, but at it went on, it got so boring that I abandoned it. If the middle and end were as strong as the beginning, I’d say it belonged on here. _The Drunkard’s Walk_ by Leonard Mlodinow - Belongs _Predictably Irrational_ by Dan Ariely - Belongs _The Omnivore’s Dilemma_ by Michael Pollan - Belongs _Black Swan Green_ by David Mitchell – Nope, this one was tedious _Eat Pray Love_ by Elizabeth Gilbert - Belongs _Prep_ by Curtis Sittenfeld - Belongs _Freakonomics_ by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - Belongs _The Glass Castle_ by Jeannette Walls - Belongs _The Curious Incident of the Dog_ _in the Night Time_ by Mark Haddon – Nope, overrated _The Effect of Living Backwards_ by Heidi Julavits – Belongs, and I am so thrilled to see this novel made the list! It was not particularly well-known or well-received, but I think it’s excellent. _Persepolis_ by Marjane Satrapi - Belongs _A Short History of Nearly Everything_ by Bill Bryson – Nope. I know a lot of people loved this book, but I found it boring enough that I quit about a hundred pages in. _Middlesex_ by Jeffrey Eugenides – Nope. Loved that the author tackled such a taboo subject matter, but I found the book long-winded and boring. _The Botany of Desire_ by Michael Pollan – Belongs And if I could choose just one book that didn’t make the list to add in, I’d choose _The Great Alone_ by Kristin Hannah. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/31 "2024-06-10T11:35:50Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > _Black Swan Green_ by David Mitchell – Nope, this one was tedious This is one of the few of his I haven’t gotten to, that’s disappointing. Did you like his others? > [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > _Predictably Irrational_ by Dan Ariely - Belongs This always felt simplistic to me, and I’m not surprised he probably manipulated data. But entertaining! ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/32 "2024-06-10T12:08:29Z")
McCarthy is one of my favorite writers. Absolutely brilliant, a true genius—but, man, he can be depressing. Life is relentlessly brutish and uncaring, and random in how it metes out either cruelty or comfort. Don’t read McCarthy as a pick-me-up. But my love of his work is not because I’m in agreement (or at least complete agreement) with his worldview, it’s because of how compelling his vision and his voice is. The man could write wonderful, powerful prose. It can overwhelm me. Anyway, if _The Road_ put someone off McCarthy, I’m not sure I’d recommend anything else he’s written. But I guess I can’t resist mentioning _Blood Meridian_ for anyone who hasn’t read him yet. Truly a masterpiece. But don’t read it if you need inspiration and motivation for a brighter future. McCarthy doesn’t rule out such a possibility, but he’d likely have told you not to count on it. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/33 "2024-06-10T12:13:42Z")
I’ve been recommended _Blood Meridian_ many times by my writer friends. Maybe once I get through this gauntlet at work, I’ll take a look. He does write beautiful prose. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/34 "2024-06-10T12:30:03Z")
I never read any other books by David Mitchell. I hadn’t heard that Ariely probably manipulated data. But yes, like you said, the reason I think this book belongs on the list is because of how entertaining it is. Many experts who write books don’t have a good understanding of how to make their content entertaining and accessible to a layperson, but Ariely does a great job at turning academic subjects into leisurely bedtime reading. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/35 "2024-06-14T04:51:14Z")
_A Visit from the Goon Squad_, 9/10. I decided to start reading books listed on the page, not with the intent of finishing, but with the intent of starting. This book took a little while to get up to speed for me, but once it did, it crashed into me and I was moved and delighted. But beyond that, also very clever. Bonus points for the spot-on parody of a David Foster Wallace essay in one chapter. I was just browsing the list, and came across a book I finished less than a week ago without even knowing it would be on a list: _An American Spy,_ Olen Steinhauer, 4/10. This is the third of his “Tourist” series, and it marks a dramatic transition from standard but entertaining spy fare to realpolitik and a bunch of shifting viewpoints I really did not enjoy it much, although I wanted to find out what happens to the main character, Milo Weaver. What is the price to find it on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/36 "2024-06-14T05:06:59Z")
That last sentence should have read “what a surprise”, but I was too late to edit it. And I keep finding books that I have already read, but missed on my first scan. _Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk_, 7/10. Read this one in book club when it first came out, and remembered quite enjoying it, though feeling like it may have dragged on a tiny bit. _The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, 1/10_. There are a lot of Peter Aykroyd books I have enjoyed, but this is absolutely not one of them. I read this immediately after reading the original Frankenstein, and I fucking hated it. _Cloud Atlas,_ 10/10. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/37 "2024-06-26T14:47:05Z")
_Pachinko_. Some parts were very moving, some of it was boring/too long. It’s an intense multigenerational story running from 1910 to 1989, of a Korean family that ends up in Japan trying to survive as permanent undesirables/expatriates. It felt important, but I didn’t love it. 6/10. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/38 "2024-07-12T11:22:33Z")
Another day. Another list of books, although these ones I have heard of, even read some of them. > **[The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/books/best-books-21st-century.html#book-20)** > > As voted on by 503 book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/39 "2024-07-12T11:35:05Z")
_Snow_, Orhan Pamuk (2002). Depressing, funny, similar to those Russian novels making fun of government and orthodoxy, but rural Islamic vs modernist Turkey instead. Recommended, but it could’ve been a little shorter. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2026, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634/40 "2026-03-16T22:16:51Z")
I just started reading “Station Eleven” last night. It’s quite a trip (no pun intended), that’s for sure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-books-since-2000/1002634.md?page=1)