The New York Times has issued a list of 100 books that are considered by many literary authorities to be the best that have been published since the year 2000. I had read several of the titles before I started this blog in 2017, so they don’t appear in my archive of reviews. But I can recommend them heartily.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000) by Michael Chabon transports readers to mid-20th-century New York with a pair of successful creators of comics. This novel was a Pulitzer Prize winner, but everything Chabon produces is golden. I reviewed one of his later books, Moonglow, here.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (2001) by Barbara Ehrenreich is a hard-hitting nonfiction look at poverty in the United States. The issues haven’t gone away in the past two decades.
Middlesex (2002) by Jeffrey Eugenides is a Pulitzer Prize fiction winner that explored complex gender issues long before the broader society began to. It’s well-plotted, with highly relatable characters.
Olive Kittredge (2008) by Elizabeth Strout, a series of linked short stories about the indomitable Maine-dwelling Olive, also won the Pulitzer Prize. Click here to read my review of the sequel, Olive, Again. Strout captures family and community dynamics like no one else.
Wolf Hall (2009) and Bring Up the Bodies (2012) by Hilary Mantel vividly portray the turbulent reign of Britain’s Henry VIII. I preferred Wolf Hall over its more violent sequel, but these two justifiably top the lists of historical fiction. Both books won the Booker prize, among other honors.
In my next post, I’ll revisit some of the 21st-century novels from that New York Times list that I’ve reviewed on this blog.