This week we have fun with all of the top books of the 21st century hype by sharing our own top 10 lists. We each killed a few darlings and made some very tough decisions. How did we do?
What books would make your list?
Summer Book Club
The book for the Mookse and the Gripes Summer Book Club 2024 is William Trevor’s The Story of Lucy Gault. You can start reading it whenever you want to! We have lined up a guest to join us to discuss the book for the next episode!
Shownotes
Books
The Story of Lucy Gault, by William Trevor
The Land Breakers, by John Ehle
Testing the Current, by William McPherson
Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young
Schattenfroh, by Michael Lenz, translated by Max Lawton
Lesser Ruins, by Mark Haber
Horror Movie, by Paul Tremblay
Universal Harvester, by John Darnielle
A Head Full of Ghosts, by Paul Tremblay
Cabin at the End of the Woods, by Paul Tremblay
The Indian Lake Trilogy, by Stephen Graham Jones
The Empathy Exams, by Leslie Jamison
In a Strange Room, by Damon Galgut
The Promise, by Damon Galgut
Open City, by Teju Cole
When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamin Labatut, translated by Adrian Nathan West
The MANIAC, by Benjamin Labatut
The Employees, by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken
Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones Croft
The Books of Jacob, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft
LaRose, by Louise Erdrich
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Life of Sylvia Plath, by Heather Clark
Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke
Underland: A Deep Time Journey, by Robert Macfarlane
The Wild Places, by Robert Macfarlane
Reinhardt’s Garden, by Mark Haber
Ducks, Newbury Port, by Lucy Ellmann
Your Face Tomorrow, by Javier Marías, translated by Margaret Jull Costa
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy
Runaway, by Alice Munro
2666, by Roberto Bolaño, translated by Natasha Wimmer
Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson
Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson
Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
Austerlitz, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Anthea Belle
The Immigrants, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Michael Hulse
The Rings of Saturn, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Michael Hulse
Vertigo, by W.G. Sebald, translated by Michael Hulse
Blinding, by Mircea Cartarescu, translated by Sean Cotter
The Garden of Seven Twilights, by Miquel de Palol, translated by Adrian Nathan West
Antagony, by Luis Goytisolo, translated by Brendan Riley
Monument Maker, by David Keenan
Tomb of Sand, by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell
Praiseworthy, by Alexis Wright
Wizard of the Crow, by Ngugi wa Thiong’o
The Known World, Edward P. Jones
Hurricane Season, by Fernanda Melchor, translated by Sophie Hughes
The Twilight Zone, by Nona Fernandez, translated by Natasha Wimmer
Septology, by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls
The Years, by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison Strayer
In the Distance, by Hernan Diaz
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
My Struggle, by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated by Don Bartlett
Other Links
The Mookse and the Gripes Podcast is a book chat podcast. Every other week Paul and Trevor get together to talk about some bookish topic or another. We hope you’ll continue to join us!
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Episode 86: Our Favorite Ten Books of the 21st Century So Far