Last week, the New York Times published the list of the top 100 books of the 21st century as determined by their readers. I was one of the readers who submitted my top 10 list, although I admit that I didn’t think of some books I might have included. I thought I’d take a look at this new list from several angles .
Which Books Were Also on My List
The books on this list that were also on my list are these:
Not so good, but I did a little better if you add in the books that were on my shortlist but got scratched off to get down to 10:
What Other Books Were on My List
I tend to have eccentric tastes, so I wasn’t surprised that some of the books I put on my list weren’t included on the top 100 at all. The rest of the books on my top 10 were:
Which Books Did I Wish I’d Thought Of
Of course, I noticed books on the list that I might have put on my list if I’d thought of them:
- Never Let Me Go
- Cloud Atlas
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- The Glass Castle
- Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Which Books Are Still on My Pile
There are a couple books that I actually have on my pile to read. (In fact, one is next, but I haven’t brought it along with me on my trip because it’s so fat.) So, I haven’t read them yet but intend to:
- Lessons in Chemistry
- The Bee Sting
Which Books I Think Are Overrated
There are lots of books on this list that I admire. It’s just difficult to bring a list down to 10 books from all those written since 1999. However, let’s get down to it. There are lots of wildly popular books that I think are overrated. In my opinion only, here are the ones from this list. Don’t get mad at me if they’re your favorites. I’m just saying they shouldn’t be on a list of the best books of the century.
- All the Light We Cannot See
- Pachinko
- My Brilliant Friend
- The Book Thief
- Where the Crawdads Sing (I did not review this one because I couldn’t bear it.)
- 1Q84
- Let the Great World Spin
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation
- A Man Called Ove
What? Me Read? 