My first impression was that it would be books from 1900 to now and then I realized that it is the list of books in 21st century and that a quarter of a century has passed since 2000! It just seems like 2000 was yesterday!

NYT article on this is here. I’m not sure if would be paywalled or not. NYT didn’t drop all the names in the list in one shot. They did it in stages, posting 20 every day starting with 100 and working their way down.

Below is a table with the full list. 100 seems to be a large number but when you think of it, each year hundreds of thousands of books are published and over 25 years, the number is huge. So there could at least be a thousand must-read books. So shortlisting to just 100 might have been a tough task. Kudos to NYT.

RankNameAuthorYear
1My Brilliant FriendElena Ferrante2012
2The Warmth of Other SunsIsabel Wilkerson2010
3Wolf HallHilary Mantel2009
4The Known WorldEdward P. Jones2003
5The CorrectionsJonathan Franzen2001
62666Roberto Bolaño2008
7The Underground RailroadColson Whitehead2016
8AusterlitzW.G. Sebald2001
9Never Let Me GoKazuo Ishiguro2005
10GileadMarilynne Robinson2004
11The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoJunot Díaz2007
12The Year of Magical ThinkingJoan Didion2005
13The RoadCormac McCarthy2006
14OutlineRachel Cusk2015
15PachinkoMin Jin Lee2017
16The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & ClayMichael Chabon2000
17The SelloutPaul Beatty2015
18Lincoln in the BardoGeorge Saunders2017
19Say NothingPatrick Radden Keefe2019
20ErasurePercival Everett2001
21EvictedMatthew Desmond2016
22Behind the Beautiful ForeversKatherine Boo2012
23Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, MarriageAlice Munro2001
24The OverstoryRichard Powers2018
25Random FamilyAdrian Nicole LeBlanc2003
26AtonementIan McEwan2002
27AmericanahChimamanda Ngozi Adichie2013
28Cloud AtlasDavid Mitchell2004
29The Last SamuraiHelen DeWitt2000
30Sing, Unburied, SingJesmyn Ward2017
31White TeethZadie Smith2000
32The Line of BeautyAlan Hollinghurst2004
33Salvage the BonesJesmyn Ward2011
34CitizenClaudia Rankine2014
35Fun HomeAlison Bechdel2006
36Between the World and MeTa-Nehisi Coates2015
37The YearsAnnie Ernaux2018
38The Savage DetectivesRoberto Bolaño2007
39A Visit From the Goon SquadJennifer Egan2010
40H Is for HawkHelen Macdonald2015
41Small Things Like TheseClaire Keegan2021
42A Brief History of Seven KillingsMarlon James2014
43PostwarTony Judt2005
44The Fifth SeasonN.K. Jemisin2015
45The ArgonautsMaggie Nelson2015
46The GoldfinchDonna Tartt2013
47A MercyToni Morrison2008
48PersepolisMarjane Satrapi2003
49The VegetarianHan Kang2016
50TrustHernan Diaz2022
51Life After LifeKate Atkinson2013
52Train DreamsDenis Johnson2011
53RunawayAlice Munro2004
54Tenth of DecemberGeorge Saunders2013
55The Looming TowerLawrence Wright2006
56The FlamethrowersRachel Kushner2013
57Nickel and DimedBarbara Ehrenreich2001
58Stay TrueHua Hsu2022
59MiddlesexJeffrey Eugenides2002
60HeavyKiese Laymon2018
61Demon CopperheadBarbara Kingsolver2022
6210:04Ben Lerner2014
63VeronicaMary Gaitskill2005
64The Great BelieversRebecca Makkai2018
65The Plot Against AmericaPhilip Roth2004
66We the AnimalsJustin Torres2011
67Far From the TreeAndrew Solomon2012
68The FriendSigrid Nunez2018
69The New Jim CrowMichelle Alexander2010
70All Aunt Hagar’s ChildrenEdward P. Jones2006
71The Copenhagen TrilogyTove Ditlevsen2021
72Secondhand TimeSvetlana Alexievich2016
73The Passage of PowerRobert Caro2012
74Olive KitteridgeElizabeth Strout2008
75Exit WestMohsin Hamid2017
76Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and TomorrowGabrielle Zevin2022
77An American MarriageTayari Jones2018
78SeptologyJon Fosse2022
79A Manual for Cleaning WomenLucia Berlin2015
80The Story of the Lost ChildElena Ferrante2015
81PulpheadJohn Jeremiah Sullivan2011
82Hurricane SeasonFernanda Melchor2020
83When We Cease to Understand the WorldBenjamín Labatut2021
84The Emperor of All MaladiesSiddhartha Mukherjee2010
85PastoraliaGeorge Saunders2000
86Frederick DouglassDavid W. Blight2018
87Detransition, BabyTorrey Peters2021
88The Collected Stories of Lydia DavisLydia Davis2010
89The ReturnHisham Matar2016
90The SympathizerViet Thanh Nguyen2015
91The Human StainPhilip Roth2000
92The Days of AbandonmentElena Ferrante2005
93Station ElevenEmily St. John Mandel2014
94On BeautyZadie Smith2005
95Bring Up the BodiesHilary Mantel2012
96Wayward Lives, Beautiful ExperimentsSaidiya Hartman2019
97Men We ReapedJesmyn Ward2013
98Bel CantoAnn Patchett2001
99How to Be BothAli Smith2014
100Tree of SmokeDenis Johnson2007

7/19/2024: NYT Readers’ List

NYT offered readers a chance to vote on their own best-books of the 21st century-so-far list and a lot of people responded. The article with the readers’ list is here. Sixty-one books from the NYT list were not on the readers’ list. A lot of books that I’ve heard of are on this list than the original one, probably because many of them got made into movies and TV series or they featured on airports, costco and other places that I go to.
Here is the list.

RankTitleAuthorOn NYT List
1Demon CopperheadBarbara KingsolverNo. 61
2All the Light We Cannot SeeAnthony Doerr-
3A Gentleman in MoscowAmor Towles-
4The GoldfinchDonna TarttNo. 46
5PachinkoMin Jin LeeNo. 15
6EducatedTara Westover-
7Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and TomorrowGabrielle ZevinNo. 76
8My Brilliant FriendElena FerranteNo. 1
9Never Let Me GoKazuo IshiguroNo. 9
10Station ElevenEmily St. John MandelNo. 93
11A Little LifeHanya Yanagihara-
12The OverstoryRichard PowersNo. 24
13The Underground RailroadColson WhiteheadNo. 7
14Wolf HallHilary MantelNo. 3
15The RoadCormac McCarthyNo. 13
16Lincoln in the BardoGeorge SaundersNo. 18
17AtonementIan McEwanNo. 26
18MiddlesexJeffrey EugenidesNo. 59
19AmericanahChimamanda Ngozi AdichieNo. 27
20The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & ClayMichael ChabonNo. 16
21HomegoingYaa Gyasi-
22HamnetMaggie O’Farrell-
23The Warmth of Other SunsIsabel WilkersonNo. 2
24Bel CantoAnn PatchettNo. 98
25GileadMarilynne RobinsonNo. 10
26The CorrectionsJonathan FranzenNo. 5
27Normal PeopleSally Rooney-
28Cutting for StoneAbraham Verghese-
29Say NothingPatrick Radden KeefeNo. 19
30A Visit From the Goon SquadJennifer EganNo. 39
31CirceMadeline Miller-
32Cloud Cuckoo LandAnthony Doerr-
33The Book ThiefMarkus Zusak-
34Cloud AtlasDavid MitchellNo. 28
35The Covenant of WaterAbraham Verghese-
36The Year of Magical ThinkingJoan DidionNo. 12
37The Nickel BoysColson Whitehead-
38The Great BelieversRebecca MakkaiNo. 64
39Olive KitteridgeElizabeth StroutNo. 74
40The Kite RunnerKhaled Hosseini-
41Life After LifeKate AtkinsonNo. 51
42The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar WaoJunot DíazNo. 11
43Between the World and MeTa-Nehisi CoatesNo. 36
44The Heaven & Earth Grocery StoreJames McBride-
45There ThereTommy Orange-
46The Song of AchillesMadeline Miller-
47Lessons in ChemistryBonnie Garmus-
48On Earth We’re Briefly GorgeousOcean Vuong-
49Gone GirlGillian Flynn-
50JamesPercival Everett-
51CasteIsabel Wilkerson-
52The NightingaleKristin Hannah-
53TrustHernan DiazNo. 50
5411/22/63Stephen King-
55Braiding SweetgrassRobin Wall Kimmerer-
56The Hunger GamesSuzanne Collins-
57Small Things Like TheseClaire KeeganNo. 41
58White TeethZadie SmithNo. 31
59Where the Crawdads SingDelia Owens-
60The Dutch HouseAnn Patchett-
61North WoodsDaniel Mason-
62The SympathizerViet Thanh NguyenNo. 90
63The Fifth SeasonN.K. JemisinNo. 44
642666Roberto BolañoNo. 6
65EvictedMatthew DesmondNo. 21
66Just KidsPatti Smith-
67PiranesiSusanna Clarke-
68The Devil in the White CityErik Larson-
69Killers of the Flower MoonDavid Grann-
70Know My NameChanel Miller-
71Sing, Unburied, SingJesmyn WardNo. 30
72Crying in H MartMichelle Zauner-
73Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsJ.K. Rowling-
74Klara and the SunKazuo Ishiguro-
75The Lincoln HighwayAmor Towles-
76Just MercyBryan Stevenson-
77SapiensYuval Noah Harari-
78Kafka on the ShoreHaruki Murakami-
791Q84Haruki Murakami-
80Deacon King KongJames McBride-
81The Immortal Life of Henrietta LacksRebecca Skloot-
82Tom LakeAnn Patchett-
83Let the Great World SpinColum McCann-
84Tenth of DecemberGeorge SaundersNo. 54
85When Breath Becomes AirPaul Kalanithi-
86Life of PiYann Martel-
87Girl, Woman, OtherBernardine Evaristo-
88The Plot Against AmericaPhilip RothNo. 65
89The Glass CastleJeannette Walls-
90In the Dream HouseCarmen Maria Machado-
91Project Hail MaryAndy Weir-
92Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the DeadOlga Tokarczuk-
93Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt-
94The Bee StingPaul Murray-
95A Thousand Splendid SunsKhaled Hosseini-
96The Vanishing HalfBrit Bennett-
97My Year of Rest and RelaxationOttessa Moshfegh-
98Shuggie BainDouglas Stuart-
99Empire of PainPatrick Radden Keefe-
100A Man Called OveFredrik Backman-