Episode 86: Our Favorite Ten Books of the 21st Century So Far

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?

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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!

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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 Untranslated

• New York Times: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

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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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