The Times' 100 Best Books of the Decade
This list of best books of the first decade of this century was compiled by The Times (UK). The list on their website has the books' synopses.
100 The Position by Meg Wolitzer (2005)
99 The Lost Leader by Mick Imlah (2008)
98 Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie(2007)
97 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2007)
96 The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda's Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright (2006)
95 The Emperor’s Babe by Bernardine Evaristo (2001)
87 The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (2007)
86 District and Circle by Seamus Heaney (2006)
85 Berlin: The Downfall, 1945 by Antony Beevor (2002)
84 Unless by Carol Shields (2002)
83 This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust (2008)
94 Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta (2005)
93 The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson (2008)
92 Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower (2009)
91 My Father and other Working-Class Football Heroes by Gary Imlach (2005)
90 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (2005)
89 The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie (2008)
88 Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution by Ruth Scurr (2006)
82 Born Yesterday: The News as a Novel by Gordon Burn (2008)
81 The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud (2006)
80 The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008)
79 Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware (2000)
78 Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel (2003)
77 Collected Poems by Michael Donaghy (2009)
76 England in Particular: A Celebration of the Commonplace, the Local, the Vernacular and the Distinctive by Sue Clifford and Angela King (2006)
75 The Damned Utd by David Peace (2006)
74 War Music by Christopher Logue (2001)
73 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (2005)
72 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (2001)
71 Experience by Martin Amis (2000)
70 The PowerBook by Jeanette Winterson (2000)
69 My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (2001)
68 Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (2005)
67 The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell (2009)
66 Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2004)
65 Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass (2007)
64 Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times edited by Neil Astley (2002)
63 The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker (2002)
62 Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002)
61 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
60 Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (2005)
59 Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth by Andrew Smith (2005)
58 Dart by Alice Oswald (2002)
57 Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin (2004)
56 If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor (2002)
55 Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Baghdad’s Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran (2007)
54 Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss (2003)
53 Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver (2004)
52 Youth by J. M. Coetzee (2002)
51 Home by Marilynne Robinson (2008)
50 No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naomi Klein (2000)
49: The Ghost by Robert Harris (2007).
48 A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (2003)
47 Collected Poems of Ted Hughes (2003)
46 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
45 London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd (2000)
44 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (2005)
43 Thursbitch by Alan Garner (2003)
42 Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (2006)
41 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2008)
40 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight trans Simon Armitage (2007)
39 Runaway by Alice Munro (2005)
38 The Noonday Demon: An Anatomy of Depression by Andrew Solomon (2001)
37 William Trevor: The Collected Stories (2009)
36 How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (2004)
35 The Arrival by Shaun Tan (2006)
34 Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (2001)
33 Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan (2004)
32 Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (2002)
31 The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (2006)
30 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003)
29 The Accidental by Ali Smith (2005)
28 The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross (2007)
27 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)
26 Bad Blood by Lorna Sage (2000)
25 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (2003)
24 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
23 The 9/11 Commission Report (2004)
22 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (2000)
21 The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (2004)
20 White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
19 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (2001)
18 Bad Science by Ben Goldacre (2008)
17 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (2007)
16 Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy (2005)
15 The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (2006)
14 Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi (2003)
13 Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald (2001)
12 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (2000)
11 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, in a new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2007)
10 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2003)
9 Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)
8 Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth by Margaret Atwood (2008)
7 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)
6 The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
4 Masterworks of the Classical Haida Mythtellers trans Robert Bringhurst (2002)
3 Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama (2004)
2 Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2003)
1 The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)
100 The Position by Meg Wolitzer (2005)
99 The Lost Leader by Mick Imlah (2008)
98 Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie(2007)
97 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (2007)
96 The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda's Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright (2006)
95 The Emperor’s Babe by Bernardine Evaristo (2001)
87 The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (2007)
86 District and Circle by Seamus Heaney (2006)
85 Berlin: The Downfall, 1945 by Antony Beevor (2002)
84 Unless by Carol Shields (2002)
83 This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust (2008)
94 Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta (2005)
93 The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World by Niall Ferguson (2008)
92 Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower (2009)
91 My Father and other Working-Class Football Heroes by Gary Imlach (2005)
90 Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (2005)
89 The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie (2008)
88 Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution by Ruth Scurr (2006)
82 Born Yesterday: The News as a Novel by Gordon Burn (2008)
81 The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud (2006)
80 The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (2008)
79 Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware (2000)
78 Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel (2003)
77 Collected Poems by Michael Donaghy (2009)
76 England in Particular: A Celebration of the Commonplace, the Local, the Vernacular and the Distinctive by Sue Clifford and Angela King (2006)
75 The Damned Utd by David Peace (2006)
74 War Music by Christopher Logue (2001)
73 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami (2005)
72 True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (2001)
71 Experience by Martin Amis (2000)
70 The PowerBook by Jeanette Winterson (2000)
69 My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (2001)
68 Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson (2005)
67 The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell (2009)
66 Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (2004)
65 Peeling the Onion by Günter Grass (2007)
64 Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times edited by Neil Astley (2002)
63 The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker (2002)
62 Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002)
61 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
60 Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond (2005)
59 Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth by Andrew Smith (2005)
58 Dart by Alice Oswald (2002)
57 Fleshmarket Close by Ian Rankin (2004)
56 If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor (2002)
55 Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Baghdad’s Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran (2007)
54 Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss (2003)
53 Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver (2004)
52 Youth by J. M. Coetzee (2002)
51 Home by Marilynne Robinson (2008)
50 No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies by Naomi Klein (2000)
49: The Ghost by Robert Harris (2007).
48 A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (2003)
47 Collected Poems of Ted Hughes (2003)
46 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
45 London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd (2000)
44 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (2005)
43 Thursbitch by Alan Garner (2003)
42 Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (2006)
41 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2008)
40 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight trans Simon Armitage (2007)
39 Runaway by Alice Munro (2005)
38 The Noonday Demon: An Anatomy of Depression by Andrew Solomon (2001)
37 William Trevor: The Collected Stories (2009)
36 How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (2004)
35 The Arrival by Shaun Tan (2006)
34 Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (2001)
33 Chronicles: Volume One by Bob Dylan (2004)
32 Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (2002)
31 The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel (2006)
30 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003)
29 The Accidental by Ali Smith (2005)
28 The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross (2007)
27 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)
26 Bad Blood by Lorna Sage (2000)
25 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon (2003)
24 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)
23 The 9/11 Commission Report (2004)
22 The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman (2000)
21 The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (2004)
20 White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
19 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (2001)
18 Bad Science by Ben Goldacre (2008)
17 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (2007)
16 Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy (2005)
15 The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (2006)
14 Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi (2003)
13 Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald (2001)
12 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (2000)
11 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, in a new translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2007)
10 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2003)
9 Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)
8 Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth by Margaret Atwood (2008)
7 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2002)
6 The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
4 Masterworks of the Classical Haida Mythtellers trans Robert Bringhurst (2002)
3 Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama (2004)
2 Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (2003)
1 The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)
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