The Really Long List of Great Literature (cont'd)
Ancient • Medieval & Renaissance • 18th & 19th century • 20th century • 21st century
Twenty-First Century Literature (2001 CE to present)
2001
Year of Wonders
by Geraldine Brooks, Australia
Novel
The Beauty of the Husband
by Anne Carson, Canada
Poetry collection
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story collection, also known as Away from Her, includes "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage"; "The Bear Came Over the Mountain"; and others.
The Half-Brother
by Las Saabye Christenson, Denmark
Novel
American Gods
by Neil Gaiman, England
Novel
The Other Boleyn Girl
by Philippa Gregory, England
Novel
Platform
by Michel Houellbecq, France
Novel
Austerlitz
by W.G. Sebald, Germany
Novel
Artemis Fowle
by Eoin Coifer, Ireland
Novel
I'm Not Scared
by Niccolò Ammaniti, Ireland
Novel
Soldiers of Salammis
by Javier Cercas, Spain
Novel
The Corrections
by Jonathan Franzen, United States
Novel
Topdog/Underdog
by Suzan-Lori Parks, United States
Play
Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett, United States
Novel
The Bonesetter's Daughtert
by Amy Tan, United States
Novel
2002
The Polished Hoe
by Austin Clarke, Canada
Novel
Life of Pi
by Yann Martel, Canada
Novel
Unless
by Carol Shields, Canada
Novel
City of the Beasts
by Isabel Allende, Chile
Novel
Coraline
by Neil Gaiman, England
Novella
Dart
by Alice Oswald, England
Poetry collection
Kafka on the Shore
by Haruki Murakami, Japan
Novel
The Bookseller of Kabul
by Åsne Seierstad, Norway
Novel
Snow
by Orhan Pamuk, Turkey
Novel
Stories of Your Life and Others
by Ted Chiang, United States
Story collection
Middlesex
by Jeffrey Eugenides, United States
Novel
Eragon
by Christopher Paolini, United States
Novel
Everything Is Illuminated
by Jonathan Safron Foer, United States
Novel
The Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold, United States
Novel
The Twentieth Wife
by Indu Sundraresan, United States
Novel
Fingersmith
by Sarah Waters, Wales
Novel
2003
The Great Fire
by Shirley Hazzard, Australia
Novel
Oryx and Crake
by Margaret Atwood, Canada
Novel
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon, England
Novel
Reading Lolita in Tehran
by Azar Nafisi, Iran
Memoir
The Housekeeper and the Professor
by Yoko Ogawa, Japan
Novel
Elizabeth Costello
by J.M. Coetzee, South Africa
Novel
The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown, United States
Novel
Paladin of Souls
by Lois McMaster Bujold, United States
Novel
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini, United States
Novel
The Known World
by Edward P. Jones, United States
Novel
The Namesake
by Jhumpa Lahiri, United States
Novel
The Time Traveller's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger, United States
Novel
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
by ZZ Packer, United States
Story collection
Vernon God Little
by DBC Pierre, United States
Novel
2003–2004
The Baroque Cycle
by Neal Stephenson, United States
Novel series includes Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World.
2003–2013
Emperor
by Conn Iggulden, England
Novel series
2004
Fruit
by Brian Francis, Canada
Novel
Runaway
by Alice Munro, Canada
Story collection
A Complicated Kindness
by Miriam Toews, Canada
Novel
2666
by Roberto Bolaño, Chile
Novel
Wolf Totem
by Jiang Rong, China
Novel
The History Boys
by Alan Bennett, England
Play
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
by Susanna Clarke, England
Novel
Stuff Happens
by David Hare, England
Play
The Line of Beauty
by Alan Hollinghurst, England
Novel
Small Island
by Andrea Levy, England
Novel
Cloud Atlas
by David Mitchell, England
Novel
Suite Francaise
by Irène Némirovsky, France
Novel series
The Swarm
by Frank Schätzing, Germany
Novel
P.S. I Love You
by Cecilia Ahearn, Ireland
Novel
The Master
by Colm Tóibín, Ireland
Novel
New and Collected Poems
by Czesław Miłosz, Poland
Poetry collection
The Book about Blanche and Marie
by Per Olov Enquist, Sweden
Novel
Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson, United States
Novel
The Plot Against America
by Philip Roth, United States
Novel
The News From Paraguay
by Lily Tuck, United States
Novel
2005
March
by Geraldine Brooks, Australia
Novel
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak, Australia
Novel
The Time in Between
by David Bergen, Canada
Novel
Still Life
by Louise Penny, Canada
Novel
Spin
by Robert Charles Wilson, Canada
Novel
Rapture
by Carol Ann Duffy, England
Poetry collection
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro, England
Novel
On Beauty
by Zadie Smith, England
Novel
Measuring the World
by Daniel Kehlmann, Germany
Novel
The Sea
by John Banville, Ireland
Novel
A Long Long Way
by Sebastian Barry, Ireland
Novel
The Year of Magical Thinking
by Joan Didion, United States
Memoir
The Historian
by Elizabeth Kostova, United States
Novel
The History of Love
by Nicole Krauss, United States
Novel
No Country for Old Men
by Cormac McCathy, United States
Novel
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
by Lisa See, United States
Novel
2005–2007
Millennium trilogy
by Stieg Larsson, Sweden
Novel series includes The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.
Critique • Quotes • Buy the book
Critique • Quotes • Buy the book
2005–2008
The Twilight Saga
by Stephenie Mayer, United States
Novel series includes Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn.
2006
Lullabies for Little Criminals
by Heather O'Neill, Canada
Novel
Inés of My Soul
by Isabel Allende, Chile
Novel
Mother's Milk
by Edward St. Aubyn, England
Novel
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
by Muriel Barbery, France
Novel
The Inheritance of Loss
by Kiran Desai, India
Novel
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
by John Boyne, Ireland
Novel
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
by Haruki Murakami, Japan
Story collection
Half of a Yellow Sun
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigeria
Novel
What Is the What
by Dave Eggers, United States
Memoir
The Road
by Cormac McCarthy, United States
Novel
The Night Watch
by Sarah Waters, Wales
Novel
2006—2008
Mistborn: Era One
by Branden Sanderson, United States
Novel series
2007
Late Nights on Air
by Elizabeth Hay, Canada
Novel
The Book of Negroes
by Lawrence Hill, Canada
Novel, also known as Someone Knows My Name
The Birth House
by Ami McKay, Canada
Novel
The Shack
by William P. Young, Canada
Novel
The Uncommon Reader
by Alan Bennett, England
Novella
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
by J.K. Rowling, England
Story collection
The Blind Side of the Heart
by Julia Franck, Germany
Novel
Dara Shikoh
by Danish Iqbal, India
Play
The Gathering
by Anne Enright, Ireland
Novel
In the Woods
by Tana French, Ireland
Novel
The Vegetarian
by Han Kang, Korea
Novel
Flights
by Olga Tokarczuk, Poland
Novel
Long Way Gone
by Ishmael Beah, Sierra Leone
Memoir
The Yiddish Policeman's Union
by Michael Chabon, United States
Novel
The Great Man
by Kate Christenson, United States
Novel
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Díaz, United States
Novel
A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini, United States
Novel
Last Night at the Lobster
by Stewart O'Nan, United States
Novella
The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss, United States
Novel
2007–2011
Conqueror
by Conn Iggulden, England
Novel series
2007–2017
The Adventures of Hector Lynch
by Tim Severin, England
Novel series
2008
The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman, England
Novel
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
by Kate Summerscale, England
Nonfiction novel
The White Tiger
by Aravind Adiga, India
Novel
The Secret Scripture
by Sebastian Barry, Irelanbd
Novel
The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins, United States
Novel
Unaccustomed Earth
by Jhumpa Lahiri, United States
Story collection
2008–2010
Rembrance of Earth's Past
by Liu Cixin, China
Novel series includes The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, Death's End.
2009
Come Thou Tortoise
by Jessica Grant, Canada
Novel
The Bishop's Man
by Linden MacIntyre, Canada
Novel
February
by Lisa Moore, Canada
Novel
Ru
by Kim Thúy, Canada
Novel
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
by Grace Lin, China
Novel
Jerusalem
by Jez Butterworth, England
Play
Wolf Hall
by Hilary Mantel, England
Novel
The City & The City
by China Miéville, England
Novel
Brooklyn
by Colm Tóibín, Ireland
Novel
Signs Preceding the End of the World
by Yuri Herrera, Mexico
Novel
The Thing Around Your Neck
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigeria
Story collection
A Death in the Family
by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Norway
Novel
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
by Olga Tokarczuk, Poland
Novel
Cain
by José Saramago, Portugal
Novel
The Windup Girl
by Paolo Bacigalupi, United States
Novel
The Magicians
by Lev Grossman, United States
Novel
Let the Great World Spin
by Colum McCann, United States
Novel
Shanghai Girls
by Lisa See, United States
Novel
2009–2010
IQ84
by Haruki Murakami, England
Novel
2010
Room
by Emma Donoghue, Canada
Novel
Annabel
by Kathleen Winter, Canada
Novel
Faithful Place
by Tana French, Ireland
Novel
Voroshylovhrad
by Serhiy Zhadan, Ukraine
Novel
A Visit From the Goon Squad
by Jennifer Egan, United States
Novel
Freedom
by Jonathan Franzen, United States
Novel
2010–present
The Stormlight Archive
by Brandon Sanderson, United States
Novel series includes The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbringer, Rhythm of War
2011
The Antagonist
by Lynn Coady, Canada
Novel
The Sisters Brothers
by Patrick DeWitt, Canada
Novel
Half-Blood Blues
by Esi Edugyan, Canada
Novel
The Cat's Table
by Michael Ondaatje, Canada
Novel
Among Others
by Jo Walton, Canada
Novel
The Sense of an Ending
by Julian Barnes, England
Novella
Family Values
by Wendy Cope, England
Story collection
The Stranger's Child
by Alan Hollinghurst, England
Novel
City of Bohane
by Kevin Barry, Ireland
Novel
My Brilliant Friend
by Elena Farrante, Italy
Novel
Infatuations
by Javier Marías, Spain
Novel
The Marriage Plot
by Jeffrey Eugenides, United States
Novel
Wateer by the Spoonful
by Quiara Alegría Hudes, United States
Play
The Sojourn
by Andrew Kfrivak, United States
Novella
The Buddha in the Attic
by Julie Otsuka, United States
Novel
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
by Catherynne M. Valente, United States
Novel
Salvage the Bones
by Jesmyn Ward, United States
Novel
2012
419
by Will Ferguson, Canada
Novel
Indian Horse
by Richard Wagamese, Canada
Novel
Arthur & George
by Julian Barnes, England
Novel
Bring Up the Bodies
by Hilary Mantel, England
Novel
Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn, United States
Novel
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
by Ben Fountain, United States
Novel
The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green, United States
Novel
The Twelve Rooms of the Nile
by Enid Shomer, United States
Novel
2013
The Narrow Road to the North
by Richard Flanagann, Australia
Novel
The Orendah
by Joseph Boyden, Canada
Novel
Bone and Bread
by Saleema Nawaz, Canada
Novel
The Story of a New Name
by Elena Farrante, Italy
Novel
The Luminaries
by Eleanor Catton, New Zealand
Novel
Americanah
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigeria
Novel
Crazy Rich Asians
by Kevin Kwan, United States
Novel
Ancillary Justice
by Ann Leckie, United States
Novel
Tenth of December
by George Saunders, United States
Story collection
2014
Outline
by Rachel Cusk, England
Novel
Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay
by Elena Farrante, Italy
Novel
A Brief History of Seven Killings
by Marlon James, Jamaica
Novel
The Books of Jacob
by Olga Tokarczuk, Poland
Novel
All the Light We Cannot See
by Anthony Doerr, United States
Novel
Mr. Mercedes
by Stephen King, United States
Novel
2014
Citizen: An American Lyric
by Claudia Rankine, United States
Long poem
Family Life
by Akhil Sharma, United States
Novel
2015
The Girl on the Train
by Paula Hawkins, England
Novel
Ghachar Ghochar
by Vivek Shanbhag, India
Novella
Zuleikha Opens Her Eyes
by Guzel Yakhina, Russia
Novel
John
by Annie Baker, United States
Play
The Sellout
by Paul Beatty, United States
Novel
The Humans
by Stephen Karam, United States
Play
The Sympathizer
by Viet Thanh Nguyen, United States
Play
A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara, United States
Novel
2015–2016
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, China
Novel
2015–2017
Broken Earth Trilogy
by N.K. Jemisin, United States
Novel series includes The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky.
2015–2018
Sands of the Emperor
by Mia Couto, Mozambique
Novel series includes Woman of the Ashes, The Sword and the Spear, The Drinker of Horizons.
Binti trilogy
by Nnedi Okorafor, United States
Novel series includes Binti; Binti: Home; Binti: The Night Masquerade.
2016
Days Without End
by Sebastian Barry, Ireland
Novel
Homegoing
by Yaa Gyasi, United States
Novel
The Underground Railroad
by Colson Whitehead, United States
Novel
2017
Bellevue Square
by Michael Redhill, Canada
Novel
The Heart's Invisible Furies
by John Boyne, Ireland
Novel
Conversations With Friends
by Sally Rooney, Ireland
Novel
The Changeling
by Victor LaValle, United States
Novel
Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee, United States
Novel
Her Body and Other Parties
by Carmen Maria Machado, United States
Story collection
Lincoln in the Bardo
by George Saunders, United States
Novel
Sing, Unburied, Sing
by Jesmyn Ward, United States
Novel
All Systems Red
by Martha Wells, United States
Novella
2018
Too Much Lip
by Melissa Lucashenko, Australia
Novel
Normal People
by Sally Rooney, Ireland
Novel
Milkman
by Anna Burns, Northern Ireland
Novel
Children of Blood and Bone
by Tomi Adeyemi, United States
Novel
The Calculating Stars
by Mary Robinette Kowal, United States
Novel
Circe
by Madeline Miller, United States
Novel
2019
This Is How You Lose the Time War
by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, Canada and United States
Novella
Girl, Woman, Other
by Bernardine Evarista, England
Novel
2021
Klarfa and the Sun
by Kazuo Ishiguro, England
Novel
Ancient • Medieval & Renaissance • 18th & 19th century • 20th century • 21st century
See also:
Creating the Greatest Literature of All Time list
Does it matter which translation you read?
On Twitter:
