My Deep Dive of The New York Times "The Best 100 Books of the 21st Century"
personal stories, recommendations, and my own ballot
The literature world was shook to its core this past week with the issuance of The New York Times (NYT) “The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century” list.
For those who managed to escape the clutches of this monstrous list of books, here is the gist: five hundred and three novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics, book lovers, and staff from the NYT Book Review combined forces to come up with this “list to end all lists.” One list to rule them all… *muahahaha evil laughter ensues.
While I enjoy a comprehensive list of “best”, “worst”, or “favorite” anything, I found the timing of this list to be a little premature. Last time I checked, a century is one hundred years, and we are only twenty four years in to the 21st century, but a catchy title sells, and this is what the NYT does best.
More fitting titles might have included:
100 Books, most of which no Millennial or younger has heard of
100 Best books as voted by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, critics, poets, and other book lovers
Side-note: I am a book lover and was not consulted for this list and obviously hugely offended by it *rude
100 Books with Cool, Succinct Reviews attached to add to your Summer reading list
100 Good Books that came out in the last 24 years
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Some Stars (iykyk)
The Journey Begins:
In all honesty, I only found out about this list because every Bookstagram account I follow was posting about how many of the one hundred books they have read…and being the sheep that I am, I followed the pack and started to tally how many on the list I have read and are on my own personal shelf.
However, NYT decided to be a little cute and reveal twenty books a day, as opposed to one big book list dump. They must obviously be very considerate at NYT, as to not overwhelm the masses with a hundred book list in a twenty four hour span. So kind of them, truly gracious.
The drop schedule was as follows:
Monday: 100-81
Tuesday: 80-61
Wednesday: 60-41
Thursday: 40-21
Friday: 20-1
Shall we go for it…
On Monday, I opened the list up. I have only read one book of twenty, so far…not bad, it’s just starting.
#87: Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters (2021)
In all honesty this a book… that is on my bookshelf. I most definitely read it for “the culture,” but it is not something that was “top of mind”. I do recall a messy love triangle with two trans people and one cis-gendered person, with a writing style that was what I would categorize as witty. Oh, and there is an overarching theme of “chosen family” which I am huge fan of the concept.
Monday came and went, and I just knew Tuesday, oh Tuesday was going to be the day I saw more books I have read on this list…nope. Only one more book…again.
#76: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022)
First off, I love the cover art for this book because it features “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai. This ethereal and authentic piece of art is by far my favorite, I even had a giant poster of this on my wall throughout college and my partner just built a Lego version of it that needs to be framed ASAP. While the book cover caught my eye, I was a little let down with the main character of the book who was a grade A narcissist and unlikable (boo!) Overall the concept is pretty cool: video games, romance, friendship, drama…but not one of my favorites of this century.
Wednesday arrives and I just know that today will be the day that more than one book appears. Alas, TWO! Woohoo!
#45: The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson (2015)
This may be a bold claim, but I would venture to say that this memoir is queer canon. It expertly covers the topics of queer identity, gender politics, and the definition and purpose of what a family is. Honestly, it has overlapping themes to Detransition, Baby. Upon first read, I did not 100% love this book but with age, some life experience, and a thorough re-read, I’ve grown a deeper appreciation for it.
#41: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (2021)
Claire Keegan, thank GOD you are on this list! I was getting worried if Claire would appear on this list, one of my all-time favorite authors, and this is her at her absolute best. This is one of those books that shifts something within you, that really forces you to put perspective on a whole lot of a whole lot of what is going on in your life. This snapshot of 1985 Ireland was eye-opening and wonderfully written, highly recommend this one.
Thursday is upon us, and voilà, two books again!
#36: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)
This book-length letter from the author to his son truly gutted me. It did a thorough job of explaining the plight of living in a “Black body” in the United States and the discourse and injustice associated around just existing. I definitely had to take a pause while reading this book because it made me very emotional, but it’s a fantastically written piece of art, highly recommend.
#26: Atonement by Ian McEwan (2002)
In all honesty, the book was great, but the movie was spectacular and heart-wrenching. All I can think about when Atonement comes to mind is Keira Knightley and tears streaming down my face. Watch trailer here.
Friday, the grand finale! At this point I was ready to be rid of this affliction. This glorious Top 20 delivered another two books I’ve read. Bringing the grand total to a whopping… eight.
#11: The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (2007)
I’m not going to sugarcoat this one. I did not like this book, at all. It was on my partner’s collection of books when we first met, and I read it because, heck why not…did not like. Genuinely shocked that this book is so high on this list, art is subjective I suppose.
#9. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
This book and the film adaptation are brilliant. Kazuo Ishiguro is an amazing author who manages to eloquently describe human emotions, relationships that evolve over time, and somehow weave in sci-fi and dystopian elements into his art. I distinctly remember watching the film adaptation at a movie theater in Isla Vista with two of my best friends and bawling my eyes out while hating on Keira Knightley’s character (second appearance on this list, who would of thought). After the film credits rolled, I discovered it was based on a book, so I ran to my computer and ordered the book right away. Cannot recommend both book and film enough. Spoiler alert, both are very sad.
The show must go on…
A part of me was sad that I had not read the #1 book on the list, but I know that much like Gloria Gaynor, I too will survive. This list revealed ninety-two titles I need to immediately add to my ever-growing Mt. Everest of books to be read. Also, I had realized that I visited the NYT page more times in the past week, than in the entirety of the 21st century. Yes, the irony is not lost on me…and some part of me feels like the day by day, slow-trickle reveals added to page views and I am indeed a sucker.
Final tally
8/100: read
5/100: on my to be read (TBR) list
not bad…
Final thoughts
Maybe the books I am reading are not critically acclaimed, or this particular list is AI-generated, and the ballot box fraudulent…who knows? Did they really amalgamate and tier the reads and ballots of 503 authors and book lovers? Are these ballots public? I need to know…
At the end of the day, I know that this list EXISTS and that is enough for me.
I hope you enjoyed my dissection of this list, with my little personal spin on it and for your review, here is my ballot (if asked).
my ballot for your review
I know that it is a bit presumptuous, because there are so many book that currently exist that I need to get to, or will exist in the future…but here are my Top 10, at this moment.
What books would you submit for this list? Drop a comment.
You are a READER! Love following your book journey up close and personal 😘