The 25 Best Books of the Last 25 Years (Including My Pick for the Best)
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- Опубліковано 23 лип 2023
- The recent passing of Cormac McCarthy reminded me of a New York Times article from 2006 about the best fiction books of the previous 25 years. That got me thinking: what would that list look like if it were created today? And what is the best book of the last 25 years? Expand for more information. 👇
Links 💻
The NY Times Article from 2006: www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/bo...
Further Viewing 🎥
My Video About the 2012 Pulitzer Fiasco: • Do Book Prizes Owe Us ...
My Deep Dive on Beloved: • Can America Reckon Wit...
My Deep Dive on The Grapes of Wrath (Featuring Whose Names Are Unknown): • Is The Grapes of Wrath...
Time Stamps ⏰
Books Not Included: 04:35
The 25 Best Books: 06:58
Near Misses: 30:27
The Top 5: 31:38
The Best Book of the Last 25 Years: 33:46
Titles Mentioned (Listed Alphabetically By Author)📚
Call Me By Your Name, Andre Aciman
The Rain Heron, Robbie Arnott
Whose Names Are Unknown, Sanora Babb
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
The Plague of Doves, Louise Erdrich
Matrix, Lauren Groff
Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, Honorée Fannone Jeffers
War Trash, Ha Jin
Train Dreams, Denis Johnson
Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan
The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
The Good Lord Bird, James McBride
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
A Place For Us Fatima Farheen Mirza
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw
Close Range: Wyoming Stories, Annie Proulx
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
Empire Falls, Richard Russo
All My Puny Sorrows, Miriam Toews
Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward
The Yield, Tara June Winch
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My favorite of the last 25 years is “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles, as evidenced by the fact that I’ve read it at least five times since it came out in 2016. It would be in the top 25 on my 75 years list (I’m 73) and my top 50 all time.
I somehow still haven’t read an Amor Towles book and I need to fix that.
I absolutely loved this book! Couldn't agree more.
@@pokemonmaster9196 I'll get to it at some point!
Thank you - I just reserved it at my library.
If you haven't read Towles' The Lincoln Highway, I would recommend it!
I don’t read very much, but I would definitely think The Kite Runner (2003) deserves consideration. A great story set in Afghanistan.
I love your enthusiasm in your videos, Greg! I read Gilead this year and it's easily one of my favorite books ever. So much heart and humanity in this work. Always looking forward to your videos!
Thank you so much!
I just discovered your channel not too long ago and I'm so glad I did! As a hardcore music nerd trying to get back into reading as an adult, it's overwhelming how many books are out there that I really want to read. Your down-to-earth personality and enthusiasm for literature really resonated with me so I will gladly check out these books you have suggested. Thank you so much for everything you do and keep up the good work!
I'm new to his channel as well as in like the last 3 weeks. I'm watching his back list plus new ones. I'm sorry I didn't find him during the covid lock down he's more productive than pimple popping videos
This has been the first video of your channel I've watched - and I'm hooked! Fascinating list, a few of which I have read (Never Let Me Go and Small Things Like these I've read this year and could very much see them making their way on to my own list). There are a few there that I've wanted to read - The Poisoneood Bible is definitely one I'm going to pick up, especially having recently read Demon Copperhead, which I feel is very likely one of my all time favourite books. Gilead has been sat on my shelves for a few years now and for some reason i always seem to overlook it - having listened to your discussion of it, I have just taken it down and am about to start reading this evening!
I particularly connected with your notion of how books change for us depending on who we are and where we are at in our lives. There's a very interesting podcast by The Women's Fiction Prize called Book Shelfie which interviews female authors and has them talk about five books that have left a mark on them, Barbara Kingsolver was interviewed last week and it was a fascinating insight into her own writing, she talks about Demon Copperhead. During the interview she talks about how we never read the same book twice, because we are never the same person we were on previous readings. This resonated with so much of what you said when you talked about Gilead.
Thanks for a really interesting introspective on your top 25 of the last 25 years - I look forward to watching more of your videos 😊
I hope you like Gilead! The Poisonwood Bible is definitely one I recommend--especially if you liked Demon Copperhead. I'll need to listen to that podcast episode with Barbara Kingsolver--I always love hearing her discuss her work. Thank you for watching! 🥂
- The Happening, Annie Ernaux (2000)
- Atonement, Ian McEwan (2001)
- Fingersmith , Sarah Waters (2002)
- Never let me go, Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
- Half of a yellow sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2006)
- The whole My struggle series, Karl Ove Knausgaard (2009 and onwards)
- Bondrée, Andrée A Michaud (2014)
- The Kingdom, Emmanuel Carrère (2014)
- The Catholic School, Edoardo Albinatti (2016)
- And their children after them, Nicolas Mathieu (2018)
- Crimson, Niviaq Korneliussen (2019)
- Homeland elegies, Ayad Akhtar (2020)
Thank you for sharing your list! Some solid choices and many I haven’t read yet.
I've read more of your list.
I love Sarah Waters' work
@@shelleyaultman1193 I still need to catch up to Sarah Waters.
I'm about to order several from your list : Never Let Me Go; The Secrets Lives of
Church Ladies; and Plague of Doves -- I'm anxious to read these. I'd like to recommend the Susan Howatch series about the C of E books. Excellent! Hyperion series by Dan Simmons; the Hugh Howey Silo series; and The Foundation classics by Asimov
Good job, really enjoyed this. What a wide variety of titles you've loved, talked about, retained. There's just nothing like a great book.
Definitely nothinn like a great book!
Thank you for all the time and thought put into this video! Love your compilation. I am inspired to give Gilead another go - had tried in my 20s and put it down then.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy Gilead better the second time around.
First time viewer, loved it! Your earnest hard work and brief descriptions are perfect for me. I'll be exploring your other videos and look forward to new videos as well. I loved Poisonwood Bible too.
Thank you so much! This video was a lot of work but I had a great time doing it.
This was a very fun and interesting video Greg! You are always so thoughtful in what you say about books. I loved Gilead also, the writing is so beautiful and it is a book that really stays with you. Looking forward to reading more Robinson in the future.
Loved this video, thank you! I have read (and agree with you on) quite a few of these. But the others are quickly getting added to my tbr. I probably would have had Gilead as my number 1 too (or at least top 5) but I can’t actually bring myself to reread it because the first time was such a magical reading experience and I’m worried it won’t be as I’ve remembered it.
I'm the opposite--really looking forward to a reread of Gilead!
You have given me a great list to read since my favorite authors made the cut. Erdrich, Kingsolver, Proulx. You have filled up my autumn with recommendations. I look forward to it.
Yay--I hope you enjoy any of the books you pick up!
What a terrific service ! Thank you sooo much. Really interesting. I definitely will add a few of your top 25 to my TBR.
I hope you enjoy any of the books you pick up!
For sure Siri Hustvedt: What i loves
"All the light we cannot see"....best book I've read in years and years. Couldn't put it down. The Pulitzer prize was so richly deserved.
Wasn’t it a fabulous read!?
❤❤❤❤❤ Agree
This is a great list, of which I have only read (and loved) 4, but have many more on my TBR. Just started Interpreter of Maladies yesterday and holy wow, is it good!
I’m so glad you’re liking it! That’s a book I’m always recommending and I always get so excited when people love it as much as I do.
Incredible! I’m a reader and I haven’t read a single book on your list. So excited to get started, thank you so much
Thanks for watching!
The Known World by Edward P Jones is magnificent. Lyrical writing and a shocking story. If you were moved by Beloved this will have a similar effect.
I'm really looking forward to reading The Known World.
an absolutely wondrous reading experience
@@shelleyaultman1193 Hopefully, I will ge to it soon!
Great video! Thanks for the recommendations! 😄
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
So many great recommendations! I had to keep pausing the video to update my list of books I want to read.
I hope you enjoy any of the books you pick up!
Greg, thank you for this list. It introduced me to a load of new books and I'll try to pick up a few.
I hope you enjoy any of the books you pick up!
Thank you for creating and sharing such wonderful and inspiring content! You have really encouraged me to consider how I can elevate and expand my reading experience. I've even started to consider developing a few long term reading projects for myself because of you. Your enthusiasm and passion for reading is delightful. I also really appreciate your videos with your husband. He is so sweet and I love that you both share such deep love and appreciation for reading. I hope Jamie continues to heal and feel better. Sending lots of love to you and your family.
Thank you so much. Joel really is a sweet man--I'm very lucky!
Great list. Many on the list are also my favorites. Yes, I can tell all the hard work that went into preparation for this video. I don't think I have the stamina to do the same. Poisonwood Bible is one of my all-time favorite books. In addition I love The Good Lord Bird. We will be seeing James McBride in August 2023 in Nashville. So excited. Thanks for a wonderful video
I'm so jealous that you'll get to see McBride in person!
Thank you for a fantastic list! Most of them I have read, and the ones I haven’t , went straight onto my TBR list.
I hope you like any of the books you pick up!
Thanks for the effort you put into this. I really learned a lot.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy any of the books you pick up.
Thank you so much for you effort, totally loved your video.
Thank you so much!
I absolutely love The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. I read and reviewed it just this last month. I don't read a lot of short stories but I LOVED this collection.
It's such a good book!
This was fun.
I started working on my list while I watched.
Ahhh, I can't wait to see your list!
Great list, some of my faves and a few I will look for now after hearing your intros. I loved The White Tiger, I hope you will make time for it soon. Cloud Atlas too. I wanted to ask if you'd read/had opinions about Cloudsplitter (1998), one of my faves that still haunts me. I had such a strong negative reaction to the series version of Good Lord Bird that I had no desire to read it. I find it hard to imagine the setting and themes of Cloudsplitter from a comedic perspective. If you never read Cloudsplitter I highly recommend it, more grounded in history and a very powerful impact. Poisonwood Bible is also one of my favorites, and Gilead has been on my reread list for a long time, after lots of life experience like you;) Life of Pi, another one to read if you hadn't gotten there yet, I don't think I heard you mention in it in your still to read list
Very interesting video. I really enjoyed it. Thank you
Just found this….love your picks and your good taste! Subscribed, and am happy to find a fellow book lover of literary fiction. So much book/ lit commentary on UA-cam and IG focuses on YA and fantasy, so I’m happy I found you…..also what did you think of The Dutch House? It would be on my list for best of last 25 years! Thanks for your channel!
Thank you! I had stayed away from Ann Patchett after hating her book Run, but I’m going to give her another try soon.
@@SupposedlyFun yeah, Run was sub-par, I agree.
It was! But I look forward to reading more of her work.
@@SupposedlyFunI hate pushing anyone into a book! Read The Dutch House only if you like crazy family drama that takes place in an old, architecturally interesting home, complete with evil stepmother, eccentric childhoods, generational family saga….that combo is like catnip to me.
@@kathleena4038 I am interested in all of those things!
Wow! So well read. Every book that you listed that so have read are books that I really enjoy and would be in my top 25 - Kav and Clay, Road, Homegoing, Ishiguro) makes me keen to check out others from this list 👍
Thank you! I hope you like any of the books you pick up.
I haven’t read enough for a top 25 yet.
My number 1 book is Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and is the only one on this list I’ve read. I found it darkly beautiful, very tender and moving scenes between the man and the boy. Most emotional I’ve ever gotten over a novel.
House of Leaves is high on my list as well, it really hooked me when I read it in 2006. The highly detailed, esoteric academia nature of it really made it feel real.
I’ve gotten back into science fiction lately, and two newer books I really loved are Blake Crouch’s Recursion and Andy Wier’s Project Hail Mary. In terms of prose and character development, they’re not that sophisticated, but they both told stories I found fascinating with really solid pacing.
It’s older than 25 years, but I would highly recommend Octavia Butler’s Dawn (book 1 of a trilogy) if you’d like to explore some science fiction. It’s some of the best prose I’ve ever read.
I’ve heard many great things about Gilead so that’s been on my list. I look forward to reading some of your other top picks as well, thank you.
Thank you for the recommendations. I've heard good things about the books you mentioned.
"The Road" is one of the best post-apocalyptic novels. The children chained to the wagon train as it trudged along is one scene not depicted in the movie. Couldn't do it. Could film it easily enough, but couldn't release it to the public.
And if you read the book, I know you know why.
That sequence is just one part of the novel where Cormac McCarthy really hit the nail on the head, such a realistic portrayal--"The Road" is--of how awful a post-apocalyptic world would be.
I LOVED THE ROAD!!! ❤
This was such a well thought out video! I added a few of these books to my own TBR list, including your cheat book about the dust bowl that I had never heard of until today. Every book you mentioned that I have read would have been included in my own list, but I would have also included Rebecca Makkai’s the Great Believers and Love Songs of WEB DuBois would have been in my top five.
I’ve had Gilead and Call me by your Name on my TBR list for years so this video might motivate me to finally read them. You said you never read Tin Man, is there a reason? You mentioned a couple small books that pack a punch in this video, when I think of small books that pack a punch Tin Man is always the first book that comes to mind.
I loved this video and look forward to reading both the new additions to my TBR list as well as some of the gems that have been sitting there for awhile 🙂
I’m so glad you loved this video! I think I was concerned about recency bias with Love Songs of WEB du Bois, but I should have made it top five. The Great Believers was on my longlist.
Honestly, sometimes a book I really want to read just keeps sliding by-and that’s the case with Tin Man. I also think so many people have told me that I’ll love it that I’m worried it’s become overhyped. But I need to get over myself and try it.
A list imma try to finish within this year and the next...a very strong list, no doubt...I did see a very good number of regulars from binging your channel over the past year!! I have only read one...Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan and own other 7 from the list!!! So looking forward to exploring your comprehensive and passionate picks with shrewd objectivity...a very immediate addition to my TBR for sure 💙👍💙👌💙📚💯
Super thoughtful. Thanks.
this is such a great vid! put so many books on my radar!! i dont think i've read enough to make a comparable video lol!! but hopefully one day :)
I believe you could, but it's up to you.
Thanks for the well thought out list. I predicted you were going to say Demon Copperhead then when you said you were going to wait on it . I said Poisonwood Bible and Gilead was a good choice. I’m glad you are going to try to get to more translated fiction, it’s a whole big world out there
It definitely is!
I love Sing Unburied Sing. I have read it twice…..and recommend to everyone!
Jesmyn Ward is a tremendous writer!
I'm new to your channel. Don't know where I have been 😊. Clearly I have lots of catching up to do. Really pleased you picked 2 of my top 25. Wow. The Poison wood Bible and Gilead.
Great list, well presented. Now a new subscriber.
Thank you so much!
I read Gilead many years ago and loved it. I am due for a reread. Thank you for this incredible list. May I ask your name and a bit about your background ? I will share this list with one of my best friends.
Thank you for this list! I picked up a few books that you recommended. I am currently reading Matrix which so far is gearing up to be really great. I did also read The Rain Heron.. I felt that the majority of the book was exactly as you described and very engaging but I wasn't sure how I felt about the ending. Once again thank you!
I can see how the ending of The Rain Heron might feel a little too tricky.
Great idea for a video. I wish the Times would rerun this list every few years (and considering how much people love clicking on top X lists, I actually don't understand why they haven't)! It's interesting to think about how reputations of books even in the quite recent past shift over time.
I really have not read enough of contemporary literary fiction to offer a list this exhaustive. My main contenders as of now for the title would simply be Gilead and The Known World (and perhaps DeLillo's Underworld would've made it if this had been done one year ago). I'm still in search of books from this century to reach those heights for me, so excited to read some of the recs in this video that I haven't gotten to yet.
I'm a little surprised the Times hasn't updated the list as well, given how much time has passed. I definitely want to read The Known World soon!
Great list. I finally picked up Love Songs of WEB du Bois. I don’t know if I could narrow a list down like this. The Poisonwood Bible is one of my all time faves. Still need to read Demon Copperhead. Jhumpa Lahiri is a fave too. 😊💙
I hope you enjoy Love Songs as much as I did!
Just seen that your over 10k subs! Amazing stuff. Hope you’re well.
Also, this is a great video. Must have taken you so long to think about and put together. I decided I would only add one book from your list to my tbr (the list is getting too big to add any more) I think I’ll go with Gilead.
Thank you! I feel confident you'll be at 10k soon enough. I would be very curious to hear your thoughts on Gilead when you get to it.
Quite a list. I haven't read most of them but your selection of Never Let Me Go gives you full credibility to me. You mention short story collections -- have you read Ted Chiang's collections Stories of Your Life and Others, and Exhalation? There's some great ones, in my humble opinion. Any thoughts on Pynchon's Bleeding Edge , or Inherent Vice, which fit in your timeframe? I know that lots of Pynchon fans consider these "Pynchon Lite", but I enjoyed them. I was taken aback by one of the comments by Susan Townsend praising A Gentleman in Moscow which I stopped reading at page 51 (just pulled it from the bookshelf and I had a marker in the page), but I think I will give it another try if she has devoted quite a bit of time to it (5 readings). Someone else recommended Le Carre's A Perfect Spy, but that came out in the mid 80s. A really great read, that one. Speaking of spy novels I certainly enjoy Mick Herron's Slow Horses series. Anyhow thanks for doing this video. I have never gotten around to Cormac McCarthy but I intend to shortly.
I’ve actually never read a Pynchon book, but at some point will likely try Gravity’s Rainbow. And I have not read Chiang’s stories, but I’ve heard good things. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
“A cilantro book” - love that phrase!
Me too!
what does that mean?
It means you either love it or you hate it
Very good collection! Definitely added the ones I haven’t read to my list. I would strongly recommend Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon, I truly believe it’s the best novel of the 21st century (or, less definitively, my personal favorite)
Edit (near misses): so glad u mentioned hamnet!! I thought it was phenomenal
Thanks for the recommendation!
If you haven't read it, do yourself a favour and read "Five Little Indians" by Michelle Good. It has received a lot of love from Canadian readers, but I rarely hear of anyone outside of Canada talking about this book. It's my favourite book of the last several years. (and if you can't tell by my spelling, yes, I am Canadian 😆).
Thank you for the recommendation! 🇨🇦
I agree! I have the book, too! There are many great Canadian novels, some recent, some older
I really enjoyed this video! New subbie 👏🏾
Thank you so much!
Thanks for the great lists
My pleasure--thanks for watching.
Some of my all time faves on this list. Never Let Me Go is probably my number 1…my gut punch reaction to that book is still with me almost 20 years later. And your reaction to Gilead (I love) was my same type of reaction to Lila in the same series- I saw so much of my life in that book and it just made me cry and cry…for various reasons! I didn’t love Housekeeping but maybe I was too old when I read it. I probably would’ve included Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan quartet on my own list but those are in translation.
Never Let Me Go is definitely a haunting novel. I'm not sure how I would respond to Housekeeping if I read it now--I think it would be the opposite of the experience I had with Gilead. I've only read the first Neapolitan book but it was very good.
Over the years I have not often been one of those "I saw the movie, didn't read the book" people, but for "Never Let Me Go" I'm one of those bad people. Very special film. Touching. But mostly there's the "I'm a great artist, why am I not recognized as a great artist??!!" feeling that the movie conveys, and we artists eat it up. Crying for ourselves. Of course, one of the main characters is a visual artist, and my artistry is with words. But same thing.
@@tarico4436 Very interesting!
There are so many wonderful books that I love on your list, and some that I own but haven't read yet, including Homegoing, The Plague of Doves and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. A video about "cilantro" books would probably yield a lively batch of comments!
It probably would!
Yes, love the concept of cilantro books
New subscriber here...This was absolutely so much fun to watch. 😊
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the video.
This is a wonderful video, and so are the comments. Totally agree about Lahiri, Kingsolver, McBride, Groff, Keegan, and Philyaw. I'm a little late to the discussion, but I would also add:
*Richard Powers' The Overstory (not an easy read but wow);
Roth's The Human Stain;
Also (for books translated into English):
Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan series;
Ferrante's Days of Abandonment;
Tokarczuk's Drive Your Plow... ;
& W.G. Sebald's Austerlitz.
Thanks for all you do. Love your channel.
Thank you for the kind words. Your additions are interesting!
Before I watched this, I knew my next read was going to be Empire Falls, so I was happy to see it on your list.(I usually decide my next read when I'm about halfway through my current read.) Small Things Like These was on my Amazon wish list. It isn't anymore, I have ordered it. Poisonwood Bible is on my very extensive and overflowing tbr bookcase . I think I'm going to have to purchase Gilead and squeeze that onto my tbr bookcase. Great video!
If only there were more time in the day to help us get to all the books we want to read!
It is good but Nobody's Fool is much better.
Very interesting list, thank you! I've added quite a few to my TBR. For me, the top 3 are "Atonement" by Ian McEwan, and 2 translated works: all of Karl Ove Knausgaard's autobiographical books, starting with "death in the family", translated from the Norwegian; "History of violence" by Edouard Louis, translated from the French.
I should reread Atonement sometime. I remember loving the first and last sections but not liking the middle.
@Mauro Biglino The Naked Bible ,& When The Gods Walked Among Us & God's of the Bible @ Paul Wallis Escaping Eden & Scars of Eden & Echoes of Eden & The Conspiracy of Eden @ Marcel Grauile The Pale Fox & Conversations With a Dogon Elder. These are the proper books on OUR origins The Nommo created US before the Anunnaki Enslaved Us genetically altering Us downgrading Us from x 12 strands DNA to x 2 strand DNA where WE only experience 16% of OUR reality in the Materium.
This was a great video and it made me think. First thing - I love your use of the term cilantro book.
Second - I run into problems making a list of my own like this because I don’t often read the type of books that make it on to these lists. I also need to include some non-fiction which is usually parsed out into its own list.
So I made a shorter list that includes some nonfiction. Strange Weather in Tokyo, White Oleander, Circe, The Lesser Bohemians, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, American Gods, The Housekeeper and the Professor, The Outlaw Ocean, Idaho, Cleopatra A Life, The 7th Function of Language and The Machineries of Empire series.
I feel like any list of best books is welcome regardless of whether or not it has the "conventional" choices. Lists without the typical books can be more interesting! I haven't read any of the books on your list, so it definitely caught my attention.
Great list. I agree with you on Gilead. Definitely in my top 5 all-time favorites and I'm due for a reread.
My top 5: The Sense of an Ending, Julian Barnes
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks
Wolf Hall trilogy, Hilary Mantel
The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Steven Erikson (fantasy series)
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier would be in this list but misses eligibility by a year.
I haven’t read People of the Book-I’ve only read March by Geraldine Brooks. I need to work through more of her writing.
What did you think of Barkskins by Proulx? Very interesting list!
I liked Barkskins! I thought it was a little messy in parts but on the whole, I love Proulx's writing and thought the way she showed the passage of time was very interesting.
Greg Thank you for your list … Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favourite writers and I have always said that for me Poisonwood Bible has been my favourite read . Because of this I feel that we appreciate the same thing about books . I will add a lot of your suggestions to my reading list. 😊❤ 📚
I hope you enjoy any of the books you pick up!
_The Murmur of Bees_ has been my favorite book since I read it. By Sofía Segovia, written in Spanish ( _El Murmullo de las Abejas_ ), translated into English, this book of magical realism is stunningly beautiful and profound. Not a day goes by that I don't think of Simonopio. When I finished reading it, I said college courses will make it required reading within 10 years. I stand by that. I hope it will find its way into your hands.
That sounds incredible! Thank you for recommending it.
Not in order but these are among the top books I would consider:
Ring Shout - P. Djèlí Clark
A Perfect Spy - John le Carré
The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu (Translated by Ken Liu)
The Wall of Storms - Ken Liu
Home Fire - Kamila Shamsie
Shadow Life - Hiromo Goto & Ann Xu
The Enigma of Rm 622 - Joël Dicker
Lady Joker - Kaoru Takamura
Fool’s Assassin - Robin Hobb
Butterfly Winter - William Kinsella
Alif the Unseen - G Willow Wilson
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell
The Removed - Brandon Hobson
Razorblade Tears - SA Cosby
Piranesi - Suzanna Clarke
The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas
Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr
The Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler
The Winter King - Bernard Cornwell
The Immortals of Tehran - Alireza Taheri Araghi
And, for my taste, you are exactly right about Louise Erdrich, Barbara Kingsolver, & Hillary Mantel.
Great suggestions--thank you for sharing.
Piranesi is a great call!
I was kinda hoping you might add Demon Copperhead to the list! Loved it.
So here's a spoiler: I'm going to keep updating and working on my list for the next two years so in 2025 I can do "The 25 Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far)." Demon Copperhead is on that list at the moment.
How lovely that you included Australians in your list. The Yield would make my top 25 too. Robbie Arnott is in with a chance of winning the 2023 Miles Franklin Award today with Limberlost, I can't pick between either Limberlost or The Rain Heron as my favourites of his.
I love The Poisonwood Bible that would also make my list. The only other one I've read is the Claire Keegan and I prefer her Foster.
So many of the others are still on my TBR and I might add a couple more.
A great idea to share. Happy Reading.
I think the only other Arnott book published in the US right now is Flames. I'm hoping more of his work makes it over here.
Am going to have to respectfully disagree with your choice of Arnott.
It should be Am-To.
No. It's Arnott.
Am-To.
Are-Not!
It's easy to see how much work this was. I enjoyed it very much. I've read books 2&4 of the Gilead Quartet. I really must read the other 2.
I want to reread Gilead before I try any of the others.
This is an interesting premise for a list, can't say I'd personally agree with your choices though since I'm not really literary fiction reader and haven't really heard or read any of those (i prefer historical fiction, mystery novels and SFF). Still i like seeing what others find the best books since lists are generally very subjective to our own tastes and experiences in life. 😊
I definitely have blind spots in my reading. I'm hoping others will pick up the idea and share their list to balance things out. And I love seeing how other people fill out their lists!
As for a mix of my favorite fiction and nonfiction I've read as an adult, that will be a challenge to narrow down. Educated by Tara Westover, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, The Field of Blood by Joanne Freeman, Jesus and John Wayne by Kristen Kobes DuMez, Floating Coast by Bathsheba Demuth, The Deep by Rivers Solomon, The Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder, The Bone Witch series by Rin Chupeco, The Beast's Heart by Leife Shallcross, Red Notice by Bill Browder, Say Nothing by Patrick Keefe, Hero of Two Worlds by Mike Duncan, As You Wish by Cary Elwes, Revolutionary Backlash by Rosemarie Zagarri, An Empire on the Edge by Nick Bunker, The Widow Washington by Martha Saxton, They Were Her Property by Stephanie Jones-Rodgers, The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray
I just went out and grabbed Empire Falls and Train Dreams thanks to this vid. I am especially interested in EF because nostalgia and existential dread is something I struggle with deeply now that I am in my mid-40s. The Poisonwood Bible and Gilead are already on my TBR shelf. I will def look into some of the others.
I hope you like them as much as I did! I’m in my early forties so I can relate to nostalgia hitting hard.
@@SupposedlyFunI finally sat down to read Train Dreams tonight and read it straight through in one sitting without coming up for air. It was amazing and I would've never known about it had I not watched this video a while back. So, thanks again!
@@jr4bz I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It's a beautiful book.
Love Songs of WEB DuBois and Gilead definitely would be in the top five of my list. If pressed. I'd say Louise Erdrich may be my favorite author, and Love Medicine in the running for my favorite book of all time, but I'd have to look closer at her books in the last 25 years to pick a favorite. Ditto for everything else....I don't think in terms of years, so I'd have to think about it!! Thanks for a fun video!
Thanks for watching! Louise Erdrich is a very powerful writer.
I like your list! You reminded me of a couple I’ve wanted to read.
Off the top of my head I think I’d also include Lost Children Archive, Middlesex, Cloud Atlas, White is for Witching, and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. Maybe also 2666…I mean, I couldn’t finish it 😂 but I could tell it was brilliant.
Middlesex was on my longlist but I feel like I should reread it given how much understanding of that subject has changed over the last twenty years.
@@SupposedlyFun Good point, I had the same thought after I wrote this comment. I read it when it first came out, and was blown away by the writing, Cal’s struggle felt so real, and I would have called it my favorite book for several years, but I do wonder how well it’s aged.
@@Elizabeth-Reads I feel fairly confident it will hold up, but it will be interesting for sure.
Same here with "2666." I read about three-quarters of it, then quit. I found it moving for a while, but then it just fizzled. Or I grew bored? Can't remember exactly what happened. I think if I tackled something similar now, I would quit even sooner. Why? Because at least twice as many males disappear in these kinds of deals, only to be ignored by everyone. Just the cartel doing cartel things is why all the missing people.
thanks for so many ideas for my next reads. wonder if you ever reviewed All Aunt Hagar's Children.
I haven’t read All Aunt Hagar’s Children! I hope to do The Known World first.
@@SupposedlyFun I think you have great rewards in store. Jones is a great soul. But my mind boggles that even with your voraciousness as a reader, you haven't read everything of genuine merit. It has to be a testament to the quality and quantity of the cultural output we all enjoy!
@@bbbartolo There are so many books out there! My Pulitzer Project is, in part, my way of forcing myself to get to some of them. I'm hoping to read The Known World in 2024.
Hello Greg, I enjoy your videos even though we have very different tastes. I Could not handle the Poison wood Bible and I love to foster more than small things. But that’s what makes booktube so unique and fun. And thanks for the video suggestion. Aloha
I'm glad you enjoyed this! And I look forward to your version if you get to it.
When I saw the title I thought you were doing the best book for each of the previous 25 years, which seemed an impossible task. Although I wonder if what you have actually done isn't even more difficult. The list of acclaimed books from the past 25 years that I haven't read yet is a lot longer than yours. I definitely read more older books and just can't keep up with publishing. Oryx and Crake from your "haven't read" list would definitely be on my 25 best list though. From your 25 list, I would probably include Kavalier & Clay. (Ten of the others are already on my TBR. Definitely bumping Gilead and the Poisonwood Bible up towards the top of that tbr list.) I would add Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to my list, for sure. That book has really lingered since I read it four or five years ago.
I got in the habit of staying up to date on newer books while I was working at Borders. I credit that experience with how I usually do a mix of older and new books.
Great list, added a lot of titles to my Goodreads! It was interesting to me that you said you didn't connect with Haruki Murakami's writing, though. I particularly like his writing because I think he captures the 20/30-something year old male experience and mindset really well. That said, I never considered that it might be the straight male experience in particular. Do you think being gay made his characters less appealing to you?
Great choice! What a book! It's been on my top 10 list forever. It's not quite at the top, because my #1 and #2 spots are taken by The Enchanted by Denfeld, and Mink River by Doyle, respectively. I think you'd really love The Enchanted -- it makes you sob for the awful, but also for the beautiful. 💚
Thanks for the recommendation!
I knew as soon as you said you DNFd The Goldfinch that I could trust your taste. Added 6 books from your list to my TBR, and had already read 5 others. Great video!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy any of the books you pick up!
Right on!!! THAT was my immediate reaction, too :)
@@d.e.s.2919 Goldfinch DNF-ers need to stick together. 😉
@@SupposedlyFun I Fd it, but it was the last book that I forced myself to F. I learned my lesson the hard way.
@@macylightfoot I can see how that book would be a good source for that lesson.
Amazing video❤
Thank you!
Thank you for this. I would also consider Amor Towles's "A Gentleman in Moscow," "Cutting for Stone" " by Abraham Verghese , Saint Maybe" by Anne Tyler, and "A God in Ruins" by Kate Atkinson.
Homegoing or Transcendent Kingdom would be on my list.
I am excited to read Gilead
I love Transcendent Kingdom, but I love Homegoing more.
Also was completely blown away by Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’. It is stunning.
Great video. And so many women - wonderful. I've read 4, and have noted down 15 others (some of which I was peripherally aware of, just as a kind of underlining). Thanks! The best fiction reading experiences I can recall from recent years were The Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch and Burntcoat by Sarah Hall. Oh, and Ducks, Newburyport.
I haven’t read any of your picks and only own Ducks, Newburyport-so thanks for sharing. I didn’t realize how female-driven the list was until I started pulling all the books off of my shelves. It was a pleasant surprise.
@@SupposedlyFun I should warn you Book of Joan is SF - but Yuknavitch is a very serious, literary writer.
@@tjpieraccini SF is fine! It's not my typical read but it's important to get outside the ol' comfort zone every once in a while.
Have you read anything by Elena Ferrante? Especially The Neapolitan Novels? Because I can't imagine none of those books being on a best books of last 25 years list.
Interesting list. I've read 10 of the books from your list and from those ten my top three would be 1. Plague of Doves, 2. Kavalier and Clay, 3 The Yield. I have a copy of the Poisonwood Bible which sounds very good but Gilead wasn't one I really enjoyed.
That's fair. I wasn't sure I enjoyed Gilead the first time around.
I’ve just discovered your videos and love them - you talk a lot of sense to me! Gilead has been on my list to read for some time now so clearly this is the sign I need to get on with it!
I absolutely love Richard Russo and Empire Falls is one of my favourites. Do you like Willy Vlautin? I think he is also fabulous and writes in the same vein as Russo
Thank you so much. I have never read Vlautin so I will have to look him up. I appreciate the recommendation.
Thanks for the list!
Two authors from your list who wrote books superior to the ones included here:
Erdrich’s Master Butchers Singing Club
Ishiguro’s Klara and the sun.
I admit, didn’t read Never L M Go with enough focused attention.
But Plague of Doves… it struck me as a set of short stories shoehorned into a novel, so some of the characters’ actions and attitudes seemed inconsistent across chapters.
To be honest, I was not a fan of Klara and the Sun. To me, it felt like a lesser rehash of Never Let Me Go. I haven’t read Master Butchers yet, but many of Erdrich’s books have stories that span many characters and storylines.
I must be blanking on this, but I don’t remember you really talking much about Gilead before, which is why it’s a surprise choice for me. Lots of books on your list that I’ll be adding to my wish list. I’ve only read two of these (Keegan and Philyaw), but I have a bunch here waiting to be read/listened to. There’s no way I could do a list like this because my reading urge was only reawakened around 2017 after many years away. However, Hamnet is the book that came instantly to my mind and it could be my best/favorite. The Many by Wyl Menmuir and Stillicide by Cynan Jones would be near the top as well.
Oh, I forgot to add that I don’t do “best” since I don’t have any skills to analyze the quality of writing. I think I have a feeling when something is well written, but that’s as analytical as I get. So, it’s more favorite than best for me.
It's very difficult to do a best list of any kind, so I hope other people start making their own lists. It would be interesting to see where commonalities lie. I haven't read either The Many or Stillicide.
I loved your Top 25!!! So many I haven't read that now are going on the to be read list. My Number one from the last 25 is easily Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin. That book is stuck to me
A lot of people love that book.
Gilead is so great. Great choice.
Thank you! It was a tough decision.
Several of these are on my TBR. I'm looking forward to reading The Poisonwood Bible and The Love Songs of w. e. b. du Bois.
I hope you like them!
Cloud Atlas. Definitely put that one at the top your list for reading next.
It's on my list! Thanks for the recommendation.
I can’t agree with you on Gilead. But I loved the Poisonwood Bible!
Well one out of two isn't bad! 😉
I would highly recemmond...
1..Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree
1,Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami
3 Feast of GOAT by Mario Vergas ilosa
4.Klara and the sun by Ishiguro
5.All the pretty horses by Cormac Macrathy
6.Unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kunders
7.poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver...
8.Correction by jonathan Franzon
9.Autumn by Ali smith
10.Buddha of Subarbia by Hanif kureshi
Above lists are my favourte..They are truly awesome..Greetings From Kathmandu..Nepal.😁
Greetings! Thanks for the suggestions. Several of these have been on my list to get to.
Small things like these is a wonderful book. Happily it is shortly shortly to be released as a movie starring Cillian Murphy, I am really looking forward to it
I'm looking forward to the movie!
Kent Haruf’s trilogy especially the first two Plainsong and Eventide would be on my list. Homegoing is the perfect novel in my opinion; it’s a writing prof’s dream from 1st paragraph to the last, and would be on my 25 best book list also.
I've been wanting to read Haruf for about twenty years at this point and somehow have failed spectacularly. The only book of his I have read is Our Souls At Night, which was great.
PS I’m going to visit Louise Erdrich store Birchbark books in a few weeks and I might pick up her book you mentioned
I went to her store back in my pre-BookTube days. It's cute. Naturally, they have a lot of signed copies of her books.
So good! So good!
🤗
Tricky to come up with titles, as after making a list, a book that you had completely forgotten pops into your head, so here are some off the top of my head :
Toibin's "The Master", "Shuggie Bain", "Girl, Woman, Other", Jaume Cabre's "Confessions", Orhan Pamuk's "A Strangeness in My Mind", "The Luminaries", "This Thing of Darkness", "Atonement", "The Sense of an Ending", "Cloud Atlas" and from two wonderful writers, "The Lacuna" ties with "The Poisonwood Bible" and my favourite Robinson set in Gilead is "Home", but "Lila" remains to be read.
There are several on your list that I want to read at some point! Lacuna is a prime example.
Great presentation! But I'm amazed with one omission, that being a number of works of Sir Salman Rushdie. Think I've have chosen "Shalimar the Clown"! Now I see that "Cloudsplitter" (Russell Banks) was published in 1998. I'd have included it. Wendell Berry's "Jayber Crow" was published in 2000. It belongs on my list. Then there's Pat Barker's "Regeneration Trilogy", one of those for sure.
Hello there this is my first video of yours. In your opinion, what makes writing beautiful or captivating?