Brilliant!
A quick note: the following 10 novels will not appear on this list. It’s not your list. You might think these are great. I think they are overrated, whether because they are simply badly written (The Historian, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter), pretentious McSweeney’s-esque prattle (Absurdistan, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Everything is Illuminated), boring (Life of Pi), overrated due to serious
Drivel!
subject matter (Lovely Bones), well written but uninteresting (Bee Season, Wickett’s Remedy) or, fatally flawed due to oversimplification of a truly horrid situation (The Kite Runner). They’re not here, don’t ask for them. Also not here are the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde, which are fantastic, but, like Douglas Adams, not quite great writing, or the Jump 225 Trilogy, which I love and was written by a friend of mine, but isn’t quite up there and isn’t done yet.
I have done away with the English language requirement for this list, because my previous list was done to Modern Library standards for their list. Only two of these were foreign language novels anyway. Here’s our list:
25 – Portrait of an Artist as an Old Man (Joseph Heller)
He set the literary world on notice with Catch-22 and then waited until he was dead before he finally released his second best book. Overlooked, as many posthumous novels are.
24 – Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood)
Going back to the science fiction ideas that fed into her dystopian masterpiece, A Handmaid’s Tale.
23 – Bridge of Sighs (Richard Russo)
His first novel in six years continues his exploration of forgotten upstate New York.
22 – American Gods (Neil Gaiman)
The best novel from Britain’s fantasy master, it’s a fascinating combination of American mythos and Norse mythology.
21 – The True History of the Kelly Gang (Peter Carey) – Booker Prize
Australia’s master novelist explores the legendary outlaw who is Australia’s Billy the Kid.
20 – The Corrections (Jonathan Franzen) – National Book Award
Very well written, though a novel completely devoid of anything even resembling a likeable character.
the British cover
19 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J.K. Rowling)
My favorite is Half Blood Prince, but this is the best as she moves away from the “school year at Hogwarts” formula, that includes truly terrifying moments, truly wonderful moments, and one moment that made my wife wake me up in the middle of the night, crying, the first time she read it.
18 – Middlesex (Geoffrey Eugenedis) – Pulitzer Prize
A bit uneven at times, but so well written, and the opening scenes in Greece are so fascinating.
17 – The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri)
Gets overshadowed by the fact that she’s written the two best short story collections since Dubliners, but this is a great first novel.
16 – Everyman (Philip Roth) – PEN/Faulkner Award
Much like a Murakami novel, a character without a name takes us through a life.
15 – Exit, Ghost (Philip Roth)
Supposedly the final Zuckerman book, and combined with Ghost Writer, The Counterlife, American Pastoral and The Human Stain, makes the finest series of books involving one character.
14 – Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami)
A fascinating work that really couldn’t have been written by anyone else.
13 – On Beauty (Zadie Smith)
A new version of Howards End, set in Boston that fantastically reworks the original novel into a modern setting.
12 – Snow (Orhan Pamuk)
This novel is a major reason that Pamuk won the Nobel Prize two years ago.
11 – The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood) – Booker Prize
The best novel from the best writer Canada has ever produced.
World's greatest living writer? Or 2nd behind Rushdie?
10 – The Plot Against America (Philip Roth)
He’s been the best living American novelist for ages and has pretty much won everything but the Nobel Prize. Can we just give it to him, finally?
9 – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Mark Haddon)
The debut novel that set everyone talking. The book that everyone had to read.
8 – Shalimar the Clown (Salman Rushdie)
Given that Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez have won the Nobel Prize, in my mind, this is Roth’s only serious competition. His best book since Satanic Verses.
7 – Bel Canto (Ann Patchett) – PEN/Faulkner Award
My mother hates the ending, but can’t deny the book is brilliantly written. I like the ending.
6 – No Country for Old Men (Cormac McCarthy)
Everyone went nuts over The Road, but this to me, is the book everyone should have been talking about. And for those who think the ending of the film is odd, please note, it’s word for word the end of the book.
5 – Empire Falls (Richard Russo) – Pulitzer Prize
Given a fantastic treatment by HBO with their miniseries, but even that still can’t capture the epic scope of the novel.
4 – Atonement (Ian McEwan) – National Book Critics Circle Award
Only three books on the list have been filmed (plus two television miniseries), all three of them in 2007, all of them faithful, and two of them were the two best films of the year. It’s not a coincidence.
3 – White Teeth (Zadie Smith)
There are three debut novels in the top 10. We have a lot of great things to look forward to. This book went places I never expected it to, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
if you don't like reading comics, read the novel about comics
2 – The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon) – Pulitzer Prize
Before The Dark Knight redefined what a comic book film could be, this was the novel that brought comic books into the mainstream.
1 – Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (Suzannah Clarke)
An amazing combination of 19th century narrative with 20th Century fantasy and a whole world of British mythology thrown in makes for the best novel so far of the 21st Century.
8 August, 2008 at 10:58 am
Good list! I’ve read the majority and loved them. I’ll have to check out some of the others I have yet to get to.
And I agree that The Historian was drivel.
8 August, 2008 at 11:55 am
Good list. Thanks.
3 June, 2009 at 1:53 am
I like your exclusions . . . but Harry Potter? Really?
And I think you’re overusing Margaret Atwood . . . if you want female Canadian representation you should look at Ann-Marie MacDonald.
7 June, 2009 at 4:03 pm
James,
Harry Potter deserves to have one book on this list (I would have chosen Half blood prince).
Believe me, I read at least 100 books a year and know about the best. This is a great list.
1 July, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Are you kidding me? Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell? That book was ok, but I didn’t recommend it to one person. It left no lasting impact on me. If you are going for a Fantasy Pick, George R. R. Martin’s first three books of his Song of Ice and Fire series blow this book away. Kite Runner over-rated? You need to stand in front of the mirror with your top pick and ask the same question.
7 July, 2009 at 12:47 pm
I generally love your list. The only thing I have to disagree with is the fact that Extremely Loud and Incredibly close is not on here. I know you stated that Everything is Illuminated is “pretentious McSweeney’s-esque prattle” I would highly recommend Foer’s second novel to any and everybody