Top 20 Greatest Books of the Century (So Far)

These are the books that have defined the 21st century...so far. For this list, we’re only looking at fiction novels - so no non-fiction, short story collections, or poetry collections - released from 2000 onwards. Our countdown includes “Cloud Atlas", "The Road", "Gone Girl", “A Visit from the Goon Squad”, “The Underground Railroad”, and more! Let us know in the comments what your favorite twenty-first-century novel is!
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#Books
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#TheBriefWondrousLifeofOscarWao
#Middlesex

[@WatchMojo]

Let us know in the comments what your favorite twenty-first-century novel is! We're excited to announce that The WatchMojo Game (wmojo.com/game) is here and available now on Amazon! Canada and UK now in stock! wmojo.com/game_canada wmojo.com/game_uk

[@lom591]

Lol and I was just wondering when you guys were gonna do more book lists. I think you should also do one of these but for manga.

[@sgrass471]

You should def make the top 10 fiction books of the year !!!

[@ibraheemlatif1673]

Mine Is the girl with the dragon tattoo

[@1234sas]

I’m

[@Yew_chube]

What’s a book?

[@snoozy04]

20. Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 19. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000) Michael Chabon 18. Cloud Atlas (2004) - David Mitchell 17. Klara and the Sun (2021) - Kazuo Ishiguro 16. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) - Stieg Larsson 15. The Goldfinch (2013) - Donna Tartt 14. The Book Thief (2005) - Markus Zusak 13. All the Light we Cannot See (2014) - Anthony Doerr 12. Life of Pi (2001) - Yann Martel 11. Atonement (2001) - Ian McEwan 10. The Known World (2003) 0 Edward P. Jones 9. The Kite Runner (2003) - Khaled Hosseini 8. The Road (2006) - Cormac McCarthy 7. Gilead (2004) - Marilynne Robinson 6. Gone Girl (2012) - Gillian Flynn 5. White Teeth (2000) - Zadie Smith 4. The Underground Railroad (2016) - Colson Whitehead 3. Middlesex (2002) - Jeffrey Eugenides 2. A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010) - Jennifer Egan 1. The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) - Junot Diaz

[@jamesdayton2598]

Thank you so much for takin time out of your day to write this list. God bless you!

[@madman00774]

David Fincher's version of Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is so underrated that it's almost a crime. The Direction perfectly captured the book's atmosphere while Rooney Mara was phenomenal! She was robbed of her Oscar!

[@leetogo3333]

Meryl Streep as Thatcher deserved it more.

[@madman00774]

@@leetogo3333 Are you kidding me? I mean, Meryl is a great actress but her performance wasn't Oscar Worthy. Her performance (like the movie itself) was forgettable. Rooney Mara and Viola Davis deserved it more.

[@angelaholmes8888]

@@madman00774 you are so right viola Davis should had won

[@MsJayjkern]

Rooney deserves the Oscar more

[@joed2818]

Do you have to know the book or books to understand the movie?

[@trinaq]

"Gone Girl" was such a gripping read, I was blown away by the twist in that certain characters weren't who they initially seemed to be.

[@amandamarshall1204]

Have you read her other 2 books? Shape objects or Dark places? If not they are really good too!

[@Satans_Little_Helper]

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is not "A dark thriller about the suspicious disappearance of a girl in the 70s identified only by her distinct tattoo of a dragon." What the fuck did nobody on the Watch Mojo team read the book? Did they even watch either of the films. I'm litterally in tears from how wrong they are.

[@lipovacbrothersfarms8823]

If they had read it, it would have been higher than 16.

[@AA-qb7ni]

The Millennium books were amazing. I loved Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I wish we got the full trilogy of that.

[@angelaholmes8888]

Yes they should had continue with the trilogy but since fans of the swedish films got upset they decided not to

[@thejenmath]

I'll forever be bitter Fincher never got to finish the trilogy.

[@docOld55]

The titular "Girl with the dragon tattoo" was not the missing girl; it refers to Lisbeth Salander, who is the main character in the "Millennium" books and has a large tattoo of a dragon on her back.

[@portzblitz]

I know, that was such a weird.. mistake? I'm honestly not sure what to make of it. As far as i know, 15-year-old suburban rich girls having back-spanning tattoos of dragons is not a thing- not back there in the 70s, and not today.

[@cookiesncream789]

The Book Thief is one of my favourite books 📚! I read it for a book club years ago and it was one of the only books that every single person in the club loved and enjoyed.

[@lijo4518]

Agree great book! I never even seen the movie cuz I don't wanna ruin my image of the book 👍

[@mikeprewittmovieandbookreviews]

An honorable mention that should be on this list is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. It's one of my favorite books of all time.

[@BigFella117]

Gone Girl was one of the most intense books I’ve read, but it was so addictive I couldn’t put it down

[@melissajanemoore8869]

I didn't find The Goldfinch flawed at all. I found it mesmerising. My favourite book I read last year.

[@TeamRemForever]

My favorite book, and quite possibly the best one I've ever read is a dystopian novel called Utopia 58 by Daniel Arenson. When I read it, I was astounded. I couldn't put it down, and it kept me on edge throughout the whole book! I can TOTALLY picture it having a film adaptation one day. I highly recommend it!

[@michaelmonthey5974]

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was actually adapted into a movie twice. David Fincher’s version and the Swedish version. All of Larsson’s books were adapted into Swedish movies.

[@lorivaldez4839]

Thank you for posting this video, I am a BIG bookworm so y’all just gave me a vast variety of books to try & read📖📚

[@darthstarkiller1912]

Read "Life of Pi" in AP English during my senior year in high school. Such a fascinating book.

[@InkanSpider]

I felt split regarding the movie adaptations of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I saw the original Swedish version first, and is the best version according to me. But the newer English version did show a few things from the book the original missed. Sad tho that they didn't mention the original Swedish movie series

[@darkkstar5647]

Fantastic list.

[@WatchMojo]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@MSGSlayer1]

This reminds me that I've yet to finish The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I borrowed the first book to kill time while visiting family in DR. I finished the second after borrowing it off and on. Might as well buy the whole set and start over.

[@MamaBethsWorld]

The Book Thief was excellent!

[@MamaBethsWorld]

And The Kite Runner was so good I read it twice!

[@BlenderStudy]

Thank you for the update, WatchMojo..!! Very interesting selection of books. I thought the winner was going to be Harry Potter, then I thought that book was released before 2000.

[@trinaq]

Me too, Philosopher's Stone was first published in 1997, so just a fraction off.

[@colleenjacobs8210]

20. Half of a Yellow Sun 19. The amazing adventure of kavalier clay 18. The cloud atlas 17. Klara and the sun 16. The girl with the dragon tattoo 15. The Goldfinch 14. The Book Thief 13. All the Light We Cannot See 12. Life of Pi 11. Atonement 10. The Known World 9. The Kite Runner 8. The Road 7. Gilead 6. Gone Girl 5. White Teeth 4. The Underground Railroad 3. Middlesex 2. A Visit From the Goon 1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

[@Adidasler593]

Thanks

[@Pseedholm]

The person who wrote the copy on “girl with the dragon tattoo” never read “girl with the dragon tattoo” lol. The missing girl did not have the tattoo 🤣

[@Zethonring23]

Still have a lot to read but my rough current list: My list: 1. The Road - Cormac McCarthy 2. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell 3. Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre 4. The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan 5. True History of the Kelly Gang - Peter Carey 6. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan 7. The Overstory - Richard Powers 8. The Power - Naomi Alderman 9. Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart 10. The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton 11. The Last Green Valley - Mark Sullivan 12. Vagabond - Bernard Cornwell 13. Eileen - Ottessa Moshfeigh 14. The Little Friend - Donna Tartt 15. The Dark Tower - Stephen King 16. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 17. Where the Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens 18. The River Between Us - Liz Fenwick 19. Train to Trieste - Dominica Radulescu 20. Light Perpetual - Francis Spufford

[@tracidavis3565]

The Swedish movies staring Noomi Rapace are a must watch if you loved the trilogy of books.

[@abeldisla.5488]

As Dominican Thanks for putting on the Top The Brief and Wondrous life of Oscar Wao. Also: The Devil all the time by Donald Pollock, Tentacle by Rita Indiana, Solenoide by Mirceas Cartarescu, Some of Murakami, El Sueño del Celta by Mario Vargas Llosa, The Secret In Their Eye, Eduardo Ucheti, Las Cosas que Perdimos en el Fuego by Mariana Enriquez, Frogs by Mo Yan, some of Samantha Schweblin, Candela by Rey Andujar, We Need to Talk about Kevin, Still Alice, The Room, Mis Putas Triste by Garcia Marquez, Tongolele no Sabia Bailar by Sergio Ramirez, Grey Bee by Andrei Kurkhov, Over the Death's Bones by Olga Tuczkasu, etc...

[@lom591]

Great. As if my reading list wasn’t enormous enough already 😂.

[@tawandamuradzikwa259]

we need top 10 thriller/mystery novels please

[@gspendlove]

Since it was published in the year 2000, I realize a lot of people won't consider it eligible for a list of books published in this century. However, one of my best reads ever was _House of Leaves_ by Mark Danielewski. It's definitely a thicket in terms of comprehension, and it's difficult to describe it in a KZbin comment. All I can say is, you'll be thinking about it long after finishing it. There's this house, see....

[@c.s.christopher5801]

Eh what. 2000 IS this century. That’s literally the starting year of not only this century but also this millennium.

[@gspendlove]

@@c.s.christopher5801 No, 2000 was the final year of the 20th century, since there was no year zero. The 21st century began on January 1st, 2001. You can Google this stuff, you know. You should try it. A world of correct information is just a phone tap or mouse click away.

[@adamcahn82]

I can’t believe The Plot Against America by Philip Roth didn’t even get an honorable mention.

[@lijo4518]

The Millennium series is the best hands down! The Girl w the Dragon Tattoo was a good movie but I wished they continued w the storyline 🙏

[@michaelcain9324]

The dragon tattoo was on the female protagonist of the books (there are two protagonists), not the missing girl. #thegirlwiththedragontattoo

[@Amarmarcy]

Suggestion: Can you please do Top 10 Amphibia Characters soon?!

[@kimroberteslabon8849]

Top 20 Best Fantasy Novels of all time... Make a list for this

[@dibdab101]

I probably would have chosen Never Let Me Go over Klara And The Sun. Hilary Mantel`s tryptic Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies/The Mirror And The Light should definitely be on the list.

[@GamerFunOriginallyAarush]

Beautiful!

[@LeonardoKlotz]

Did you know that David Mitchell co-wrote THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS with Lana Wachowski?

[@olvialee7221]

200: I love The Book Thief. Read the book and watched the movie at school

[@lp-xl9ld]

Having loved KAVALIER AND CLAY got me to seek out Chabon's other novels. Some of which could have been honorable mentions on this list.

[@dougputhoff]

No poetry? The Vogons are going to be peeved!

[@StoffelDilligas]

The Spider Shepherd books by Stephen Leather are gripping. If I pick one up, nothing gets done until I have read it. Highly recommended.

[@candidarobert]

The narrator needs to read the books he is talking about before talking about the plot. He says The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is about the mystery of a disappearance of a girl in the 70s who is only identified as having a dragon tattoo. The girl with the dragon tattoo, Lizbeth Sanders, is the one who helps solve the mystery of the disappearance of the other girl. The girl with the dragon tattoo is not the one who disappeared. Also, the disappearance took place in the 60s not the 70s.

[@dhuseinovic]

There is no flaw to Goldfinch.

[@blomobloom9639]

One of this days my name will be mentioned here...

[@rof8691]

Another 21st century books to consider checking out is the Don Winslow’s Mexican Drug War trilogy the power of the dog”, “the cartel”, and “the border” which are currently getting a tv series adaption at fx network

[@drsoe08]

The Road should be higher tbh

[@michaelmonthey5974]

The Book Thief is one of my favorite stories. I love the book and the movie.

[@trippyboi91]

All 3 of Gillian Flynn’s novels.! She is the one I CANNOT put down.

[@corymorimacori1059]

Other great books of the century: The lord of the flies Glass Castle Life as we knew it The five people you meet in heaven Tell me other books that are great in the century

[@ering2467]

Lord of the Flies was written in 1990.

[@MadHatter1984]

@@ering2467 1954

[@trorisk]

We are far too close to the beginning of the century to know which books of this century will remain in history.

[@darkkstar5647]

Wow, such a bril deduction. 😆 That's why the headline reads "SO FAR."

[@trorisk]

@@darkkstar5647 What I am saying is that there may be books that have been published that have missed the criticism. And overrated books that are currently loved.

[@jackinthebox1993]

I used to know this Dominican girl I went out with a few times and gave her an old copy of "The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" I found in my closet. I didn't know shit about the book except for the fact that the author was Dominican. Interesting to see it again as number 1 on this list. I hope she ended up reading it 📖

[@randomcreatoryt8467]

I don’t even read books still I am watching it

[@valetboy21]

No Science Fiction, no Fantasy, seems like non-fiction wasn't the only genre disregarded in this list.

[@killua6226]

I agree, i mean vagabonds, children of time, the dark forest, a memory called empire were all fantastic and deserve a lot more.

[@conniethesconnie]

No George RR Martin, no Sarah Maas, no J.K. Rowling, no Robert Jordan, no Suzanne Collins. There are a few fantasy books that deserved to be in the discussion. But then they thought The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo was only #16 so I defiantly disagree with their judgement. Then again, I am not a fan of fictional stories of real people (if you are writing a biography with a biography if you are writing fiction write fiction chose a lane and stay in it). Nor do I care for someone who needs to cover decades of time to tell a story; is it really asking too much for you to confine yourself to one time period? However, those are what the people who compiled this list seem to enjoy.

[@javigomez1697]

Don't you know the Daniel Graig's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a remake!!!!!????

[@leetogo3333]

LUL ... u must be new to pop culture ... yeah of course, like the most american movies they are just remakes of awesome movies around the globe.

[@angelaholmes8888]

Yes I knew that it was a remake but that movie is way better than the swedish film

[@lukewilliams6083]

It's not a remake, it's an adaptation. It's adapting the book, not the movie.

[@Jubilee3011]

how about a video on the Greatest Books to movies of all time (so far)

[@averyps]

"Fiction novels"

[@stevenjackson5106]

Danke schon fur dieses Video ich liebe Bucher... 😍🤩

[@natsune09]

I loved 'Ready Player One' but I can see how some people didn't think it was so great. It had a narrow target audience of people who lived through the 80's and played on computers which were not very common for people to have.

[@LittleMan27]

Caging Skies, Wonder and The Hate U Give should be on this list

[@angelaholmes8888]

Definitely will be reading the Road by cormac McCarthy and Gilead

[@eberts0604]

It's super grim and just kind of meh as a story. Don't bother.

[@chasehedges6775]

The Percy Jackson books will be legendary

[@guadalupebelengreco2566]

The Name of the Wind PLEAAASE

[@wojtek1765]

There was also a film made about the book thief which I thought was really good

[@Mauricio21ish]

Im surprised Wolf Hall didnt make the cut, or The Luminaries

[@joed2818]

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is the best book of the last 30 years. Maybe longer.

[@ImSandyRubi]

I've read only 8 of these, will definitely read the rest!

[@kshitijghadge1739]

Exclusion of Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending doesn't make sense...

[@bartoltolic]

I hope for new cyberpunk books/novels

[@abrehman7182]

The Book Thief>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[@scarletttyson4622]

do top 20 kid books of the century please

[@dougputhoff]

+10 for KAVA;LIER AND CLAY!

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

Half of a Yellow Sun was published in 2005 not 2006.

[@iris-il3eq]

I'm trying to get back into reading. Can anyone recommend books? Any genre will do.

[@serije650]

If you like hardboiled cyberpunk stories, try Altered Carbon, it's a rather long book, but i read it in 2 days because how addictive it was. It also has a netflix show, which i dropped after 2 episodes.

[@chrisfisher3445]

If you have any interest in fantasy, I'd recommend Brandon Sanderson, especially the Stormlight Archive and Mistborn series.

[@Zethonring23]

Detective: The Black Dahlia - James Ellroy Thriller: The Day of the Jackal - Frederick Forsyth Classic: The Picture of Dorian Grey - Oscar Wilde Non-Fiction: Blue Highways - William Least Heat-Moon Based on a true story: The Last Green Valley - Mark Sullivan Romance: The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan Character drama: The Secret History - Donna Tartt Comedy: Vernon God Little - DBC Pierre ^ All blew my mind the first time i read them, enjoy!

[@cherrytree8807]

The Shadow’s Grasp has been my favorite this year. It’s a YA fantasy series though

[@jkrissyla]

Gone girl made me want to throw my Kindle across the room. I hated it.

[@gregmcknight5183]

Wow didn’t expect to see white teeth here but Yes!!

[@robertblair5058]

Rooney Mara is no comparison to Noomi Rapace.

[@zeokingsilver]

Let’s have a read

[@riotdopa5310]

cloud atlas

[@manoftheusajones5147]

TOP 10 BEST Things To Come Out in the 2020's

[@rig-zag]

With the exception of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road", I'd rename this list "Most Pretentious and Overrated Books of the Century (So Far)".

[@Zethonring23]

So... you've read all of them?

[@rig-zag]

@@Zethonring23Why, of course I have. What kind of asshat would hop on the internet and comment on something without first doing their due diligence? Now that would be pretentious! Seriously though, I've read a handful of them for classes and workshops, etc. The rest I'm either familiar with or can safely glean my opinion through the synopsis. In all fairness, I can also safely assume that all of these authors works are vastly superior to my own, as I didnt garner even an honorable mention. Lol. Plus, I'm more of a genre guy.

[@shashanksrivastava5772]

As expected, not a single fantasy book in this list ☹️

[@josh72456]

Only read number 8 and 6.

[@KaraHendricks]

Down Here in the Warmth by Euel Arden is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. It really drained me emotionally. I had to take a reading break after finishing it. Honestly, I would place it in this category.

[@cameronzero]

Didn't even mention "letter to a christian nation"

[@jankaprime]

Where is The song of Achilles or Cercei

[@aidanhever3369]

I think you're referring to the 21st century, right ?

[@msn64man1]

The fault in our stars

[@barcalona55]

Not one Brandon Sanderson book!?!? Stick to hockey. SMH

[@ering2467]

Tender is the Flesh

[@p8ntbawlr210]

@5:23 ??? 🤨

[@angelaholmes8888]

I know I'm going to hate the goldfish definitely won't be reading it

[@Boosh43]

I read the book with a girl with a dragon tattoo and saw the movie..Book was better though

[@leetogo3333]

did u see the crap ass fincher version or the good version "Män som hatar kvinnor" ?

[@Boosh43]

@@leetogo3333 fincher don't remember what it was about though it was a long time ago

[@ricardonichols6109]

I haven't read any of these.

[@trexadvent4726]

Can you do comic book origin of Marvel's D'Spayre and Sleepwalker?

[@marcjameswhelan]

Bot

[@trexadvent4726]

Which one of these books is exciting and worth checking out?

[@illchangemyusernamewhenith9130]

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

[@marcjameswhelan]

Watch the fucking list bot

[@BlackHatCinephile]

I think Cloud Atlas might be the last straw for why the controllers made *Larry* and *Andy* wear dresses. Because they revealed too much, and they were already in hot water for revealing too much in The Matrix. *Larry* and *Andy* aren't gay or trans, they both had and still have wives and kids, so why would they willingly wear dresses? They wouldn't, they were made to, given the choice between that or get *Kubricked.* Later, *Andy* got to quit wearing dresses, because *Larry* took the bulk of the blame.

[@trexadvent4726]

Can you do top 10 episodes of the Netflix show Voltron Legendary Defender?

[@marcjameswhelan]

Bot

[@markpriestley354]

Why are these all novels. What about factual books, eg KL?

[@LeopardJoy]

Because he said the list would be fiction only.

[@markpriestley354]

@@LeopardJoy that could have been put in the title, in order to avoid confusing dimwits such as myself.

[@LeopardJoy]

@@markpriestley354 It would have been nice, yes 😏

[@LeopardJoy]

@@markpriestley354 It would have been nice, yes 😏

[@jorgeadairramos7469]

I'm posible que

[@pandittroublejr]

📚❤️📚🔥📚😍📚👍🏾📚✌🏾

[@Ancient_Ys]

Maze runner and ready player one 😍