'It has saved countless lives': readers' picks of the best books this century
“London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd(2000) made me fall in love with London all over again. The blood of the city’s history soaked into the clay. Quiet hidden corners, conspiratorial whispers in coffee houses, the dirty Thames and the Great Stink. Invasions, bridges, fires and fog. It’s a very human tale told with the verve of a novelist, the detail of a diarist and the grace of a poet.” – dylan37
“The one novel I’ve read from the century to date that I am sure will stay with me for the rest of my life, for personal as well as for general reasons, is The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller (translated by Philip Boehm in 2012). It was published in German as Atemschaukel in 2009, just before she (deservedly) won the Nobel prize for literature. It’s an extraordinarily dense and poetic work and one that seems to transcend language – so perfectly written that text and idea are fused, yet still overflowing with humanity.” – nilpferd
“I also rate The City and the City very highly but Perdido Street Station by China Miéville (2000) is the one I’ve reread a couple of times since I first came across it. The world he builds is convincing and immersive, whereas in some of his later work it can feel like the ideas he wants to explore take primacy over character development, plot and setting.” – Vonnegut
“The People’s Act of Love by James Meek (2005) is like a classic Russian masterpiece, written by a British author, dark and a bit twisted.” – BParker
“Very surprised not to see any of Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis Trilogy (2008-2015). Historical writing very much for our time, set in the 1830s when drugs, capital, indentured labour and languages themselves were moving across the seas between Britain, India and China. Ghosh juggles the fates of multiple and memorable British, Indian and Chinese characters with some glorious writing, especially about ships and the sea.” – bertilek
“We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (2003) is one of the most disturbing, unstoppable and unforgettable books I’ve ever read. Incredibly well written and a sucker punch twist at the end .”– Major Jack
“Was waiting and waiting for Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig (2015) to appear. Very intelligently written, beautiful, heartbreaking and life-affirming and SO important – it has saved countless lives. Can’t imagine a more important book.” – gadget
“East West Street by Phillippe Sands (2016) is a work of startling humanity, timely importance, magisterial prose and emotional depth. Not many laughs, I grant you, but on any measure it beats most of the non-fiction on this list into a cocked hat.” – MartyPines
“Convenience Store Woman by Sakata Murata (2016, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori in 2018) and Quiet by Susan Cain (2012). Convenience Store Woman was short but brilliant, with incisive observations about Japanese society, convenience store ‘culture’ and how ‘outsiders’ and those with mental health conditions are often maligned and misunderstood by society. Quiet was a fascinating read with eye-opening revelations on how softspoken and shy individuals often don’t receive the credit they deserve.” – piggywigee
“The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2007) was the first time I had seen a clear explanation of the two types of statistics that explain clearly “normal” events and statistically “fractal” ones such as stock-market crashes and delayed projects. It also made me
realise how poorly educated we are.” – Maclon
“The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross (2007), his superb survey of 20th -century music, which makes you want to listen immediately to each and every piece he discusses; Anathem by Neal Stephenson (2008), which takes you from monkish cloisters to the stars in bravura style; Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts by Christopher de Hamel (2016), which gives the most illuminating insight into … illuminated manuscripts (something you never thought you’d find interesting, but read this and you will!); and The Algebraist by Iain Banks (2004). (There has to be something by Banksie in any list of this sort – perhaps you’d prefer Transition, but anyway, he knocks spots off yer McEwans, Rowlings and Amises.)“– Dogbertd
“Stephen Baxter’s Space (2000). The hardest of hard science fiction authors (save for perhaps Kim Stanley Robinson), and also the one with the most “out there” ideas. Never more epic than the climax of Space. The book is an incredible answer to Fermi’s Paradox … you’ll remember Space forever. It answers everything.” – dholliday
“I’d just add a shout out for Liu Cixin’s Three Body Problem (2008, translated by Ken Liu in 2014). A really different hard science fiction take on “are we alone in the universe and why has no one contacted us yet”, made more intriguing by the fact it was originally written in Chinese and therefore has totally different cultural assumptions to our usual western sci-fi.” – yazbod
“Adrian Desmond and James Moore’s Darwin’s Sacred Cause (2009) is the companion and follow-up to these authors’ 1991 biography of Darwin. Once read, all of the attacks on Darwin can be dismissed as you will know far more than any antagonist. But more than dates or facts, you will have the most intimate portrait, fully fleshed out, which really gives an insight into this Victorian gentleman. If you don’t love him after this account, you have a heart of stone.” – jonniestewpot
“Lawrence Wright’sThe Looming Tower (2006) is a fascinating and exhaustive account of the background and build-up to the 9/11 attacks, including a fairly comprehensive history of modern Islamic radicalism (or ultraextreme conservatism, if you prefer) going back to Sayyid Qutb.” – Tempest-TargetTug