Earlier this month, New York Times published its list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. If you do not have a subscription to the NYT, you can also find NYT’s list here—albeit rearranged according to Goodreads readers’ rankings.
Such lists can be helpful in looking for a good book you might have overlooked. Still, they are hardly an objective science. Absences speak as loudly as inclusions. The NYT list was lower on nonfiction than fiction. Most noticeable, it did not include any works of theology or books published by Christian publishers.
And so, we at Current asked our own in-house team to recommend books—and you can find the full list of those who sent in suggestions for this list at the bottom of this post. If the NYT’s list seemed less overtly concerned with matters of the soul, ours amply compensates for it.
I hereby present our list, mostly alternating nonfiction (even numbers) with fiction (odd numbers). Because our list ended up being heavier on non-fiction than fiction, though, #40-65 (so, the middle portion of this list) are all non-fiction works. Each title is hyperlinked to Goodreads, where you can find a brief description of the book and links for more information.
The numbering is not the most scientific, I should make clear. Rather, the books in the ca. 50-100 range are ones that only received one nomination from our committee. Most books in the 1-49 numbers, however, received multiple nominations. Still, the numbering by no means implies that we think that book #100 (which happens to be one of MY personal favorites on this list) is in any way inferior to book #98 or, for that matter, #8.
All of this is to say: the substance of the list is the work of a brilliant committee of life-long readers, researchers, writers, academics, editors, teachers. But the layout, including the numbers, is my subjective rendering of the results.
Some authors were nominated for multiple books. In those cases, we only included one book on this list, listing another book in parentheses as an honorable mention.
If you find something good to read here, we will be gratified! Also, drop us a line—we want to hear what you think of our list, and what else you think absolutely must belong on any such list.
Asterisks designate the 14 books from the NYT list that our committee selected as well.
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100. The Taste of Ashes: The Afterlife of Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe (2013) by Marci Shore [Honorable mention: The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution (2018)]
* 99. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
98. The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen (2023)
97. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (2012)
96. Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design by Stephen C. Meyer (2009)
95. Bad Dirt by Annie Proulx (2004)
94. When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God by Tanya Luhrmann (2012)
93. Peace by Richard Bausch (2008)
92. Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration by Pope Benedict (2007)
* 91. Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine (2014)
90. Margaret Mead: A Twentieth-Century Faith by Elesha Coffman (2021)
89. The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson (2018)
88. Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity by Anthony D. Smith (2003)
* 87. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (2010)
86. Phoenix: A Father, a Son, and the Rise of Athens by David Stuttard (2021)
85. Exhalation by Ted Chiang (2019)
84. Reformed Expository Commentary series (varied authors and dates)
83. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (2003)
82. In the Matter of Nat Turner: A Speculative History by Christopher Tomlins (2020)
81. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2001)
80. They Flew: A History of the Impossible by Carlos Eire (2023)
79. North Woods by Daniel Mason (2023)
* 78. The Known World by Edward P. Jones (2003)
77. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (2000)
76. Abraham Lincoln: A Life by Michael Burlingame (2008)
75. Skeleton Man by Tony Hillerman (2004)
74. Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh by Thomas Kidd (2022)
* 73. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
72. The Drama of Doctrine: A Canonical-Linguistic Approach to Christian Theology by Kevin Vanhoozier
* 71. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022) [honorable mention: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (2007)]
70. The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels by Janet Soskice (2009)
69. The Fruit Thief: or, One-Way Journey into the Interior by Peter Handke (2017)
68. Through the Eye of a Needle by Peter Brown (2012)
67. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (2012)
* 66. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (2015)
65. Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times by Jonathan Sacks (2019)
64. Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America by Peter Silver (2007)
63. The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green (2021)
* 62. Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich (2013)
61. The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race by Willie James Jennings (2010)
60. What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics by O. Carter Snead (2020)
59. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
58. The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery by Ross Douthat (2021)
57. J-Curve: Dying and Rising with Jesus in Everyday Life by Paul E. Miller (2019)
56. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt (2012)
55. The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer (2013)
54. A History of Bombing by Sven Lindqvist (2003)
53. Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace (2005)
52. Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (2005)
51. We the Fallen People: The Founders and the Future of American Democracy by Robert Tracy McKenzie (2021)
50. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America by Allen Guelzo (2005)
49. The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History by Andrew F. Walls
48. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity by Philip Jenkins
47. The Problem of Atheism by Augusto del Noce (2022)
46. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N. T. Wright (2008)
45. God, Sexuality, and the Self: an Essay ‘On the Trinity’ by Sarah Coakley (2013)
44. Race Experts: How Racial Etiquette, Sensitivity Training, and New Age Therapy Hijacked the Civil Rights Revolution by Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn (2001)
43. Outside the Gates of Eden: The Dream of America from Hiroshima to Now by Peter Bacon Hales
42. Christianity in the Twentieth Century: A World History by Brian Stanley (2018)
41. The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper (2017)
40. Age of Fracture by Daniel T. Rodgers (2012)
39. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (2006) [honorable mention: The City and Its Uncertain Walls (2023)]
38. Evening in the Palace of Reason by James R. Gaines (2005)
37. Father’s on the Phone with the Flies by Herta Müller (2012)
36. Prophecy Without Contempt: Religious Discourse in the Public Square by Cathleen Kaveny (2016)
35. Invisible Ink by Patrick Modiano (2019)
34. Schubert’s Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession by Ian Bostridge (2014)
33. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy (2022)
32. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder (2010)
31. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007) by J. K. Rowling (honorable mention: the rest of the series)
* 30. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (2005)
29. Maze of Blood by Marly Youmans (2015)
28. The Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity by Eugene McCarraher (2019)
* 27. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2003)
26. To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by James Davison Hunter (2010)
25. Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts (2012)
24. American Nations by Colin Woodard (2011)
23. Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov (translated by Boris Dralyuk) (2018)
22. Tales from the Haunted South: Dark Tourism and Memories from the Civil War Era by Tiya Miles (2015) [honorable mention: All That She Carried (2021)]
21. Olio by Tyehimba Jess (2016)
20. Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford (2009)
19. Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams (2018)
18. Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (2020)
17. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (2016) [honorable mention: Rules of Civility (2011)]
16. America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln by Mark Noll (2002) [honorable mention: The Civil War as a Theological Crisis (2006)]
* 15. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (2017) [honorable mention: Tenth of December (2013)]
14. Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World by Tom Holland (2019)
13. Every Riven Thing by Christian Wiman (2010)
12. The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs (2011) [honorable mention: Year of Our Lord, 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis (2018)]
11. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (2021)
10. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe (2007)
* 9. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (2001) [honorable mention: I Cheerfully Refuse (2024)]
8. A Secular Age by Charles Taylor (2007)
7. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (2020) [honorable mention: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell (2004)]
* 6. Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight (2018)
5. Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin (2012) [honorable mention: A History of the Island (translation published in 2023)]
4. Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (2008) by Tim Keller
* 3. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2004) [with honorable mention for the rest of the series]
2. Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George Marsden (2003)
1. Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry (2000) [honorable mention: Hannah Coulter (2004)]
With many thanks to the committee that contributed to this list:
Lucy S. R. Austen, Luella D’Amico, M. Elizabeth Carter, John Fea, John Haas, Beth Felker Jones, Adam Jortner, Tiffany Eberle Kriner, Christina Bieber Lake, Dixie Dillon Lane, Timothy Larsen, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, Paul Luikart, Amanda McCrina, Abigail Wilkinson Miller, Eric Miller, Felix James Miller, Mark Noll, Marvin Olasky, Jon D. Schaff, Dan Williams, Nadya Williams, John Wilsey, John Wilson