The New York Times Top 100 Books of the 21st Century

The New York Times has released their Top 100 Books of the 21st Century so far. I discuss. 

Book discussed:

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishuguro

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

2666 by Roberto Bolano

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

The Warm of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Educated by Tara Westover

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

H is Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen

Overstory by Richard Powers

There There by Tommy Orange

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Devil in the White by Erik Larson

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

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Transcript

Amy Mair: 0:23

Hello, welcome back to the Red Fern book. I am the host, Tyler the dead of summer. And I officially stopped recording for the season. But I had to drop back on because I recently received a copy of The New York Times has published their top 100 books, the 21st century. And it's kind of blown up the internet. And I just felt the need to come on here and weigh in on it. And I'm really curious what you think about the list, what books you would include, or exclude from the list. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to talk a little bit about the list itself, and then a few of the books that jumped out to me either books that I have been wanting to read, or that I've read myself, and give you my thoughts. And also, I want to talk a little bit about some of the books that I think have been excluded from the list, and encourage you to think about what books that you would place on there, yourself. So one of the things that I think is really interesting about this list, the New York Times has pulled together their list of the top 20, top 100 books in the 21st century. And it's interesting because we're right in the middle of it. In fact, we're only a quarter of the way through the century. So in that way, it's a living list. And it will be interesting, at the end of the century, how that list might be the same or change. And my guess is probably half of them will say the same and half of it will be different. But what's fascinating is I think we've all seen lots of lists that talk about the top books of the 20th century. And how many times have we thought about the merits of The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye Lolita The Grapes of Wrath in 1984. Sometimes you wonder why books remain on the list. Over time, the most interesting books I find on those lists are the ones closest to present day. Because sometimes I just think these, the books are canonized, but they may or may not deserve their spot. But what's interesting to me about the 21st century list is that everyone listening to this will have remembered all kinds of major events that have happened since 2000. And remember the books that they've enjoyed and why. And, you know, when you look at books from a 20th century, most of us weren't around for most of it. So we're really just basing it on history and what others have said or what we were taught in school. Okay, so the way the New York Times came up with this list is they interviewed 500 people, mostly authors, book agents, people in the industry. So with that said, and even I listened to an interview with The New York Times desk talking about it, because it is the New York Times and they also gave this out to critics and other kind of important people in industry. I think the books kind of skewed more towards literary and what people thought are important. And you'll find that often when, you know people read or want to talk about books, are they talking about books they actually couldn't put down or books they think are important. And it's nice if you can find something that's sort of the intersection between the two, let's pull up the New York Times top 10 lists, according to critics and other authors. And I'm going to start at number 10. And number 10 is Gilead by Marilynne Robinson that came out in 2004. actually haven't read that book. Number nine is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I have mixed feelings about this book. It came out in 2005. It was a beloved book. It's a dystopian novel. So not everyone loves that, including me. I didn't like this book. But then is it because the topic made me uncomfortable? Yes. So it's kind of hard for me to say but this book is interesting because it appeared on both sides. The critics lists for the top 100, the 21st century and the readers list for the top 100 books that 21st century so there was an intersection there. And just so you know, there were 39 books that were on both lists and this was one of them. One of my objections to this book could be the fact that one of my favorite books of all time is another book that kazoo wrote called The remains the day, which you will undoubtedly be familiar with, about a butler in postwar England. So, number eight is Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald, I have not read that book. Number seven is Colson Whitehead, the underground railroad that came out in 2016. Um, I wouldn't put this in the top 10. I put it in the top 100. I think it's clever and important. I, I just wouldn't put it in the top 10. And it's kind of a fantastical book that talks about slavery. It's very creative, and it's important, but I would not have put it at number seven. Number six is to 666 by Roberto bolano. I've also not read that this is not very good. I have not read a lot of the books in the top 10. Ah, number five is the corrections by Jonathan Franzen. An absolute delight, I absolutely love this book. It's one of my favorite books. And if you haven't read it, you got to go read it. It came out in 2001. So just the beginning of the 21st century. And it really, I think, change literature. It's part of a genre called hysterical realism. And it's, it's about a family coming home for Thanksgiving, which is super relatable, and to satire on mental health, self improvement and instant gratification. It's hilarious. It's sad, and I think everyone should read this book. Number four is the known world by Edward P. Jones, have read that one either. Wolf Hall by Hillary mental is number three. And this is historical fiction about Thomas Cromwell, I think this is a really good book as well. But I don't know that I put it at number three. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson is number two. And number one is My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. So this book of My Brilliant Friend, clocked in at number one, and it also appeared, I believe, in the top 10 on the the readers list. And everyone kind of loves this book, it was clever, I think part of it is Elena Ferrante, the author, it's a nom de plume. It's never been completely confirmed who the author is. And I think people kind of love that book, but it's about two or two girls growing up poor in Naples. And what it is, it's about the power, and the dysfunction, and the beauty of deep female friendship and deep female friendship that can really only be forged when it starts really young like this. So it's about art and politics and class and gender. And the critics felt that the reason why this came in at number one also, is because it's part of a four book series. And the books together kind of add up to 1000 pages. So you really get super involved in the characters. And that might be another thing or you're just so committed that I think you have to say. Maybe it is worth being number one. Okay, so I want to move over to the reader list because I feel like the reader list is a little bit more relatable, and I think a lot of people will know a lot of these books. So, number 10 is station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel. An amazing book. I think if you haven't read it, you should. She's a Canadian author. And she wrote this book, it's about a pandemic. And she wrote it before our actual pandemic, and it's really eerie on the similarities. It's dystopian, so it's about a band of I'm traveling or the band of a theater troupe that travels around in a world that's basically over because of the plague, but they continue to move around and perform and live, despite the destruction all around them. But the way I found this relatable was in the beginning chapters when the pandemic is just being underway. And the main characters are not really fully computing what's happening. And there's a scene where someone is at the grocery store and kind of getting it the people are grabbing things off shelves, and it's becoming quite clear that this is something you can't even conceive of, or really understand and life is not going to be the same. So I thought that was super relatable. Number nine is Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, so people love it. Number eight is my brilliant friends. Number seven is tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevon, I completely agree. I love this book, one of my favorite books, and it is about the video game industry and kind of the merits of an art involved in video games. And it's very, very contemporary. Not like other books I've read. She's a younger author. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and tomorrow is a reference to Shakespeare. I can't say enough about this book. I thought it was great. Most of you will be familiar with educated by Tara Westover about a woman who grew up in kind of crazy off the grid circumstances and goes on to become highly educated. I thought it was great Pachinko, another one epic novel by Min Jin Lee, I think that deserves its spot at number five, the Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. loved that book. And that came in at number four, about a painting and a little boy, and a painting that goes missing and how it kind of involves the under the kind of the mob underworld it takes place across decades. It's it's an opus, I loved it. A Gentleman in Moscow comes in at number three, love that book by Mr. Tolls. He's an excellent writer. This is historical fiction about a kind of a member of the nobility and Russia, who speaks out against the government, by, through his writing, curates a poem. And he gets locked up essentially, in a beautiful hotel. And he's never allowed to leave. But he's allowed to have a beautiful life in the hotel. But it's you know, he gets dressed up every day, he walks around the hotel, he has tea and coffee, he interacts with people, but he's actually in a prison kind of, of his own making, by speaking the truth. It's beautiful. It's sad. And actually, it kind of reminded me of the pandemic. So I would actually I would read any of Mr. tols books. I love the Rules of Civility as well. Number two is All the Light We Cannot See. And that's an excellent book most of you familiar with. I thought it was super, super well done. It takes place in World War Two, and a beautiful walled town in France called St. Malo, that's overtaken by the Germans. But what I thought was really interesting about this book, which I have, since read, is the book. When Anthony Doerr envision this book, he came up with the idea of wanting to write about communication. And then he decided where it would be set. And he picked this setting because he went on a book tour and ended up in this town and thought it was beautiful. And then he figured out the time period and the story, so I thought that was kind of interesting that he came up with more a big picture idea about communication. And the way communication comes to play in this book, is people are not allowed to have radios because otherwise they can understand the outside world. And it's a crime and so people are hiding their radios and some are listening. And someone has kind of a covert radio program. I'm number one on the reader survey is demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. And most of you will be familiar with this book. It's a modern take on Charles Dickens novel, David Copperfield. It is excellent, but I didn't like it because it was very He's difficult to read. And it's about a young boy. And it's setting up a lot larger. And it's explores kind of drug culture and poverty, and it won the Pulitzer Prize. And Barbara Kingsolver grew up in that area. So it's imbued with a lot of truth. And it is excellent. But it's, it's hard. It's hard to read. So I don't know. That's my opinion there. Okay, so then the next thing I want to just talk to you about was, I scan through the list, and there's a few books that I thought were left off the list. And also, I wanted to just highlight a couple of books that I think have stood the test of the last 25 years and are worth going back and reading if you haven't. So going to the main list. At number eight is the book bel canto by Ann Patchett. This is an excellent book. It's in my top five books of all time. And it's about a famed opera singer who's performing for a Japanese executive birthday in South America. And what happens is, you know it at this birthday, there's kind of famous people and wealthy people and politicians and a group of young gorillas swoop in and take everyone in the house hostage. What makes this book special is sort of the relationship that forms between some of the hostages and the gorillas. And how music kind of weaves through and is the through line through this whole book. I just thought it was gorgeous. One of the best books. The other book I wanted to mention was George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo, another amazing book. This is an experimental book. And what George Saunders is a beloved writer. He's a writers writer, he teaches writing at Serkis University, and a lot of famous writers have trained under him. He is a bit more he can be a bit on the difficult side. But Lincoln in the Bardo is definitely worth a read. It is about Lincoln's son, one of his sons died during his term from an illness, and it greatly affected his presidency and is thought to have actually impacted the outcome of the Civil War. And what this book does is it is about Lincoln one night, going to the graveyard, and grieving for his son, and all the ghosts that come up and swirl up and kind of wish path 10 and reveal themselves and talk about their lives. And it is a beautiful book, it's experimental. People are kind of coming and going. You're learning about slavery, and generals and all kinds of things. So it's just it's a little bit hard to describe, but I think it's worth the investment. Sometimes I'll tell you when a book is hard, this is a little bit challenging, but it's not very long. And I think I think it's worth your time. Middlesex by Jeffrey, Jeffrey Eugenides, excellent book. And most of you have thought about a read it or you'll know about it. And it is about when it came out very early in the 21st century. And it is interesting because it's about an intersex person. And that really wasn't talked about that much. And there at that time, and the person's trying to live a normal life. There's a lot of references to Greek mythology and persons born to Greek parents. I thought it was very lyrical. It's super long, but beautiful. Oh, this is a book you may not have heard of, which I think is excellent. It's called H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. It's a memoir, and it's about a woman who is grieving the death of her father while also trying to train a hawk, which is an incredibly difficult thing to do. And the bird is majestic and difficult. And she has to give this woman has to give everything she has to the hawk in order to train it. And while she does that, she kind of saves herself. It's Just a beautiful book. It's it's also a little bit hard to describe, but I would check that out. Another book on the list that I thought was excellent is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. It's a very challenging book, maybe one of the more challenging books that I've read. But I think it's worth your time. If you're up for it. Kind of, as I say a lot, I'm a mood reader. So I'd read a book like this. And then I'd pick up a book probably by Ellen Hildebrand, and just have a good time. But this book is basically it's a bit of a puzzle box of a book. And it's a bunch of short stories basically strung together across all different time periods. And each section is seemingly unrelated. But somewhere within each section, you see, kind of a link in the last story that was in a different country, a different time period. It's just beautiful and clever and ambitious. atonements by Ian McEwan makes the list. And this, of course, is a story of Briony Tallis is a 13 year old in post war or pre war England. And she sees something happen in the household that she reveals and it changes everyone's life. It's a beautiful book. It's a sad book. It's an excellent movie. But definitely worth your time. Okay, now on to wrap up on the list, there were a couple of books that I've been wanting to read. And they popped up on the list. And I'm wondering if you've read them. I have not read the Copenhagen trilogy. But it's supposed to be excellent. And it's a memoir about growing up, kind of underprivileged in Copenhagen. I've just heard great things about it. And I'm kind of curious. Another book that caught my eye is the overstory around by Richard powers. And it's about the power of trees. And it's a novel with as follows nine characters, and they're all somehow involved are related to trees, or the wood industry. Or they're environmentalists. And it is supposed to be excellent. And this sections have to do with kind of the different parts of the tree like there's, I think, a section called trunk and another called seeds. And I don't know, it just seems kind of creative and different. And we've heard a lot lately about trees and how trees can actually feel things and talk to each other. And I don't know, I just think the idea of something, you think of a large soaring tree and how it's more powerful than ourselves and think that's kind of interesting. Okay, now, the things not on the list, which I'm going to argue I think should be on the list. They're there by Tommy orange. It was not on the main list, but it was on the readers list. This is an excellent book about Tommy Orange is a First Nations writer. This book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. And it is about a group of First Nations people living in Oakland, California, where there's a large population of First Nations people living there, and they're all getting ready to go to a drum circle. And it's essentially kind of short stories interwoven. But it was sad. It was funny. You really cared about these characters, even if they weren't always the best. And you sometimes you just did you just learned a lot about the culture. And I just loved it. I can't say enough about it. I thought, You know what it did best? Was it was it illuminated a different culture without being preachy. And I think that's that can be a really great way to reach people. American wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. I think this was on the readers list, but not on the main list. In fact, another book by Curtis Sittenfeld, prep anything by Curtis Sittenfeld, I think should be on this list and it wasn't American wife is historical, a historical fiction novel about Laura Bush. Laura Bush has not mentioned by name but it is basically her entire life lived kind of lived out in these pages and the thought was winner Her husband, George Bush, was in office. She always just kind of stood behind and sort of serenely. And he always just wondered what was she about? And she's been through a lot. She's, she accidentally killed someone in a traffic accident, a friend of hers when she was a teen. She's been through her husband's alcoholism. She's stood by his side, through all aspects of his presidency, and you're kind of thinking, What Does she really think? And they actually seem to have a real marriage or like a strong marriage. So it's a good book. Prep is about someone's experience of boarding school. And it's excellent, it's searing. It's funny, it's scary. A little Lord of the Flies. Another book that was not on the main list was Hamlet by Maggie O'Farrell. And that's just an excellent book. It came out in recent years, anything by Maggie O'Farrell. But it's historical fiction about William Shakespeare's son who died, and how that might have actually impacted his art his life. And you name him that draws obvious parallels with Hamlet. So that's kind of interesting. And the last book I wanted to mention that was not on the main list is Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. And it is a true crime story about a serial killer that was terrorizing the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. And anything by Erik Larson is excellent. He Read