The Greatest Books: The Best Books Since 2000 - 101 to 150. Top Ten Best Novels You've Never Heard Of - The Journal Pulp. Or perhaps you have.
Yet the following list, laid out in no particular order (with the exception of Number 1), is relatively obscure: Nothing is as it seems under the sharp western sun. After recovering from an enigmatic and near-fatal illness, Gasteneau, a man with an iron will, glimpses something so extraordinary and so horrific that he feels his life irrevocably altered. But did he really see what he thinks he saw? In the aftermath of his sickness, he’s also drawn deeper into a resolution he made just prior to getting sick: to seek out a piece of evidence that shows with certainty God’s hand at work upon the earth. 10.
Published in 1995, this is James Salter’s fourth novel — a novel as real, as poetic, and as heartbreakingly beautiful as anything I’ve ever read. 9. By Fydor Dostoevsky. 8. Tom Drury’s fourth novel, published in 2006, is intelligent, endearing, funny — though perhaps a little too farcical — and contains an exceptionally likable hero named Pierre Hunter. 6. 5. 4. 3. 50 Must-Read Novels from the 20th Century. Literature, as with all forms of creative expression, is a highly subjective art.
The preferences of one individual may not necessarily overlap with those of another. However, many books nevertheless hold significant influence over both contemporaries and society as a whole. If not necessarily read for enjoyment, they ought to at least be acknowledged for their insight and impact. This list intends to blend highly recognized and celebrated works with those that may have gone overlooked by those outside the literary community and deserve more mainstream attention.
Regardless of their status, each novel provides readers with something valuable, whether it be historical context, an intelligent exploration of some aspect of society, or some combination thereof. 1. A muckraking exploration of worker exploitation and inadequate food safety laws in America, this novel directly led President Teddy Roosevelt to pass the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Top 10 Best Novels of the Last 20 Years. Books The ten novels on this list all substantiate the belief that books are the most elastic, introspective, human and entertaining form of media that exist.
Not movies, not music, not art, not the theatre. A famous author once said that novels are the best way for two human beings to connect with each other. I believe this, and I believe that people who do not find pleasure in words have never had the opportunity to read one of the great novels. The first introductions students often have to literature are stale century-old books that do not translate well to this new modern era.
Music for Torching by A.M. First Sentence: ”It is after midnight on one of those Friday nights when the guests have all gone home and the host and hostess are left in their drunkenness to try and put things right again.” As the only woman on the list, A. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (1996) Of course, Palahniuk had to be on this list. House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski (2000) 50 Most Influential Books of the Last 50 (or so) Years. In compiling the books on this list, the editors at SuperScholar have tried to provide a window into the culture of the last 50 years.
Ideally, if you read every book on this list, you will know how we got to where we are today. Not all the books on this list are “great.” The criterion for inclusion was not greatness but INFLUENCE. All the books on this list have been enormously influential. The books we chose required some hard choices. We also tried to keep a balance between books that everyone buys and hardly anyone reads versus books that, though not widely bought and read, are deeply transformative. 1.
Best Sellers. Well, At Least There Was Good Stuff to Read: The Books of the Decade. Anybody remember how anxious and thrilled we were in those last months of the 20th century?
When we weren't at war and we had a budget surplus and it looked like Al Gore would be president? The prospect of a 21st century filled with new technologies, new art and literature loomed large and bright. But now, as we look back at what was decidedly a shitty decade for an incredible variety of people in an equally incredible variety of ways (evictions/invasions/bombings/etc), it's surprisingly hard to be pessimistic about the books that assessed, satirized, dramatized and distracted us from the events of the past 10 years.
Goethe said that the decline of a nation's literature is the precursor to that nation's fall, and with this look back at the books that defined the decade, we'd like to tell Goethe to suck it. Almost in spite of ourselves, we're still writing, translating, publishing and even occasionally buying good books in this country. Top 10 Novels of the 2000s.