The Guardian's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century

[Jamie John]

Seeing as we've made a thread for all of their other articles, I thought it wouldn't do to leave out books. Link.

 

To my shame, I've only read about a dozen of them, though I own about quite a few that I've yet to read. The Road would probably be my number one, with the Amber Spyglass a close second. I've tried Wolf Hall a couple of times but never been able to get into it properly, so I'll suppose I'll have to try it again now.

[Stopharage]

I've read 10 of those and like any list it's easy to criticise. I'd have had at least one Dave Eggers book on there, Donna Tartt's Goldfinch, Cixin Liu, Kazuo Ishiguro etc. And yet Gone Girl makes it on the list; Jesus wept.

[Monkeyboy]

I've read about four of that one hundred. It's likely to stay that way as well.

[Miner Willy]

Yeah, I've only read 15 of them. I read The Sixth Extinction because the Guardian raved about it last year - deserves its place I think. Good to see Tell Me How It Ends getting the coverage - it's one of the most harrowingly moving things I've read.

[Jamie John]

31 minutes ago, Stopharage said:

I've read 10 of those and like any list it's easy to criticise. I'd have had at least one Dave Eggers book on there, Donna Tartt's Goldfinch, Cixin Liu, Kazuo Ishiguro etc. And yet Gone Girl makes it on the list; Jesus wept.

 

I thought Gone Girl was a great thriller, myself. Why didn't you like it?

[Kingpin]

I have also read about a dozen of them. Some of the ones I have read on that list are perfectly fine, but didn't stay with me long (Gone Girl, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and others are genuinely memorable (Nothing to Envy,  Never Let Me Go, The Road). 

 

I think I own a lot more of those that are on the to-read pile but something more exciting always gets put ahead of more "worthy" fare. If anything, I have a few things to add to my wishlist as a result of this article and I may get to them by the time this list is redone in ten years. 

 

I would have liked to have seen the Power of the Dog on there. My personal list would probably also contain The Sisters Brothers, The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart, The Damned United, I, Partridge, The Martian, and Horns - mostly based on pure enjoyment if nothing else. 

 

[Garwoofoo]

I've read 5 of the top 10 (at least one of which I thought was garbage) but only 17 of the list overall.

 

My tastes tend to run to more literary stuff so for me a list like this is great - although it's only ever going to be subjective, there's a whole lot of stuff I've never heard of on here, and enough information to suggest which ones I might enjoy (or, indeed, not). As a bunch of recommendations for new things to consider I think it's a good list.

[ZOK]

I’ve read three on the list, and didn’t bother to finish two more.

 

I’ve not read any in the top ten but based on the terrible lists they’ve produced previously and the fact Ted Chiang is only at number eighty, I’m guessing this list is just as pointless.

[Miner Willy]

I also loved that Ted Chiang book, but nitpicking over positions seems a bit pointless; I'd have thought we can assume that just appearing anywhere in such a list is a very strong recommendation.

[ZOK]

Not really! I don’t think their recommendations are worth that much.

[Stopharage]

On 21/09/2019 at 23:03, Jamie John said:

 

I thought Gone Girl was a great thriller, myself. Why didn't you like it?

I thought it was poorly written, the plot was predictable from the very beginning, the characters were self-absorbed, dull and one-dimensional. Plus it meant every publishing house rushed to get more psychological thriller dirge cluttering the shelves. I can appreciate why an awful lot of the titles are on the list but that one stands out as being out of place.

[Boothjan]

I've only read 1 of those 

 

But TBF The Goblet of Fire IS a worthy inclusion.  Disappointing lack of Star Wars new canon....