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Five Favorite 21st Century Novels

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warren99

warren99

Lifer
Aug 16, 2010
2,428
28,417
California
What are your five favorite 21st century novels read so far:

Mine (not necessarily in order) are the following:

Atonement, Ian McEwan
The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
 
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LeafErikson

LeafErikson

Lifer
Dec 7, 2021
2,282
20,071
Oregon
Year of wonders - Geraldine Brooks

People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks

My name is red - Orhan Pamuk (came out in 1998 but yeah)

The weight of ink - Rachel Kadish

Stories of your Life - Ted Chiang (a novella but I like breaking rules)
 
PA Piper Mike

PA Piper Mike

Lifer
Oct 3, 2021
1,141
5,374
Southeastern PA
Everything from Vince Flynn... I'm a sucker for the Mitch Rapp series.

Wool series by Hugh Howey - Wool, Shift, Dust

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline ...As usual, the book is way better than the shit movie they put out. I read this when it 1st came out and was giving the contest go for the DeLorean he was giving away. I couldn't make it past the 2nd challenge which was a stupid Facebook game.
 
smudgersmissingleg

smudgersmissingleg

Lifer
Jun 9, 2018
4,514
14,477
England
smudgersmissingleg said:
Fear and loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson

Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

Naked Lunch - William S. Burroughs

A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Click to expand...
I wondered why people were leaving laughing emojis to my post then I noticed the title for the thread said "21st century novels". Oops! 🤦🏻‍♂️

I think "A Farewell to Arms " was written in the 1920's so it's only 80 years shy of the 21st century🤷🏻‍♂️. Close but no cigar, which is unfortunate considering this is a smoking forum.

I haven't read any 21st century novels so I obviously can't make a top 5 list. These days I mainly read true crime books and biographies.


I'll be quiet now 😶
 
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brooklynpiper

brooklynpiper

Part of the Furniture Now
May 8, 2018
664
1,463
warren99 said:
Did you finish all six volumes of My Struggle?
Click to expand...
Not yet! Lol, I’ve read the first two so far but plan on reading the third soon.

When I posted I only meant the first one.

An extra thought: I really think part of why it’s a good rec despite being six volumes is that each volume (so far) is very self-contained and satisfying. They end with something more like off-ramps than cliffhangers. What keeps me coming back to them is not the need to find out what happens but the quality of the writing.
 
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Streeper541

Streeper541

Lifer
Jun 16, 2021
3,191
20,220
44
Spencer, OH
I assume by novels you mean fiction... If so, my top five (in no particular order) of the 21st century are:

Leviathan Wakes - James S.A. Corey

Altered Carbon - Richard K. Morgan

11/22/63 - Stephen King

Angels & Demons - Dan Brown

The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown
 
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PA Piper Mike

PA Piper Mike

Lifer
Oct 3, 2021
1,141
5,374
Southeastern PA
Streeper541 said:
I assume by novels you mean fiction... If so, my top five (in no particular order) of the 21st century are:

Leviathan Wakes - James S.A. Corey

Altered Carbon - Richard K. Morgan

11/22/63 - Stephen King

Angels & Demons - Dan Brown

The DaVinci Code - Dan Brown
Click to expand...

11/22/63 (still need to watch the series), Angels & Demons, and The DaVinci Code were fun reads! Forgot about those.

Digital Fortress and Deception Point were also solid Dan Brown (non-Robert Langdon) books.
 
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makhorkasmoker

makhorkasmoker

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 17, 2021
762
1,988
Central Florida
This is a tough question. Most novels I love were published (well) before 2000. And what novels I like after that date tend to blur novel with memoir/essay. But given some leeway, I’d say:

A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz (categorized as memoir)

Some of the post -2000 graphic novels of Jiro Tanaguchi. “A distant neighborhood “ especially

Solenoid by Cărtărescu.

Yoga by Carrère

And for fun a mystery by Donna Leon, or Michael Connelly
Or maybe Larry Block?
 
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doccaliban

doccaliban

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 14, 2014
116
216
Pacific Northwest
warren99 said:
What are your five favorite 21st century novels read so far:

Mine (not necessarily in order) are the following:

Atonement, Ian McEwan
The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Click to expand...
I had no idea that The Road was not pre-21st!
I'll lump the entire 9-book Expanse series into my #1 of 5 slot in answer to your question. I'll have to actually remember the other things I've read in order to fill out the last 4!
 
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LeafErikson

LeafErikson

Lifer
Dec 7, 2021
2,282
20,071
Oregon
I’m actually pleasantly surprised at how many legit answers the OP is getting. I figured there’d be way more “older books are more better because classics were written when people could write good 70 years ago so I only read old books and people aren’t good at being creative anymore.”
 
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