News | Penguin Random House | New York, 07/17/2024

The 100 Best Books Of The 21st Century

The “New York Times Book Review,” the literary supplement of the “New York Times,” has published a highly acclaimed list of the 100 best books published between 2000 and the present day. Fully 48 of the titles on this “100 Best Books of the 21st Century” list are published by Penguin Random House U.S. The new list includes many famous names such as Colson Whitehead, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan, Alice Munro and Cormac McCarthy.

Weekly, monthly, and annual bestseller lists are available in abundance, and they are a popular decision-making tool for book lovers. Now the “New York Times Book Review,” the literary supplement of the famous daily newspaper, has taken it up a notch by publishing the “100 Best Books of the 21st Century,” a list of the best books published between January 1, 2000 and today. And Penguin Random House U.S. publishers account for nearly half of all the titles on this impressive list of famous names and titles – 48, to be precise.

The titles on the “100 Best Books of the 21st Century” list were selected by experts from the “New York Times Book Review,” but not based solely on their own judgment. Instead, the judges interviewed 500 literary personages, including Penguin Random House authors Marlon James, Ann Napolitano, and Riley Sager. The result is an impressive selection of the 100 best and most influential books of the past nearly 25 years. It includes many well-known authors and some of their most important works. In the case of Penguin Random House U.S., these include Colson Whitehead with “The Underground Railroad” (Vintage), Kazuo Ishiguro with “Never Let Me Go” (Vintage), George Saunders with “Lincoln In The Bardo” (Random House), Ta-Nehisi Coates with “Between The World And Me” (One World), and Ian McEwan with “Atonement” (Everyman’s Library).

And here are all 48 PRH U.S. titles in the “100 Best Books of the 21st Century” list

#2 THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration von Isabel Wilkerson (Vintage)

#7 THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD von Colson Whitehead (Vintage)

#8 AUSTERLITZ von W.G. Sebald (Modern Library)

#9 NEVER LET ME GO von Kazuo Ishiguro (Vintage)

#11 THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO von Junot Diaz (Riverhead Books)

#12 THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING von Joan Didion (Vintage)

#13 THE ROAD von Cormac McCarthy (Vintage)

#16 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & KLAY von Michael Chabon (Random House Trade Paperbacks)

#18 LINCOLN IN THE BARDO von George Saunders (Random House Trade Paperbacks)

#19 SAY NOTHING von Patrick Radden Keefe (Anchor)

#21 EVICTED von Matthew Desmond (Crown)

#22 BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS von Katherine Boo (Random House Trade Paperbacks)

#23 HATESHIP, FRIENDSHIP, COURTSHIP, LOVESHIP, MARRIAGE von Alice Munro (Vintage)

#25 RANDOM FAMILY: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx von Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (Random House Audio)

#26 ATONEMENT von Ian McEwan (Everyman’s Library)

#27 AMERICANAH von Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Vintage)

#28 CLOUD ATLAS von David Mitchell (Random House)

#31 WHITE TEETH von Zadie Smith (Vintage)

#36 BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME von Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World)

#39 A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD von Jennifer Egan (Anchor)

#42 A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS von Marlon James (Riverhead)

#43 POSTWAR: A History of Europe Since 1945 von Tony Judt (Penguin Books)

#47 A MERCY von Toni Morrison (Vintage)

#48 PERSEPOLIS von Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon)

#49 THE VEGETARIAN von Han Kang (Hogarth)

#50 TRUST von Hernan Diaz (Riverhead)

#53 RUNAWAY von Alice Munro (Vintage)

#54 TENTH OF DECEMBER von George Saunders (Random House Trade Paperbacks)

#55 THE LOOMING TOWER: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 von Lawrence Wright (Vintage)

#58 STAY TRUE von Hua Hsu (Doubleday, Vintage)

#63 VERONICA von Mary Gaitskill (Vintage)

#64 THE GREAT BELIEVERS von Rebecca Makkai (Penguin Books)

#65 THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA von Philip Roth (Vintage)

#68 THE FRIEND von Sigrid Nunez (Riverhead Books)

#72 SECONDHAND TIME: The Last of the Soviets von Svetlana Alexievich und Bela Shayevich (Random House Trade Paperbacks)

#73 THE PASSAGE OF POWER von Robert Caro (Vintage)

#74 OLIVE KITTERIDGE von Elizabeth Strout (Random House Trade Paperbacks)

#75 EXIT WEST von Mohsin Hamid (Random House Trade Paperbacks)

#76 TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW von Gabrielle Zevin (Vintage)

#81 PULPHEAD: Essays von John Jeremiah Sullivan (Random House Audio)

#83 WHEN WE CEASE TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD von Benjamin Labatut (New York Review Books)

#85 PASTORALIA von George Saunders (Riverhead Books)

#87 DETRANSITION, BABY von Torrey Peters (One World)

#89 THE RETURN von Hisham Matar (Random House Trade Paperbacks)

#91 THE HUMAN STAIN von Philip Roth (Vintage)

#93 STATION ELEVEN von Emily St. John Mandel (Vintage)

#94 ON BEAUTY von Zadie Smith (Penguin Books)

#99 HOW TO BE BOTH von Ali Smith (Anchor)