Add Your Top Picks to The NYTimes Poll
The folks at The New York Times Book Review recently asked over 500 hundred writers, critics, academics, booksellers, and other book lovers to name the ten best books of the 21st century. The titles had to be available in English and published in the US since January 1, 2000. While some selected their personal favourites, others chose books that will inspire generations of readers.
And now it’s your turn! The New York Times Book Review invites avid readers like you to submit your own Top 10 books of this century.
Check out which 100 books made the final cut, see how your favourite authors voted, and add your top picks—it’s easy with all-you-can-read access to The New York Times FREE through Burlington Public Library. Read all about it.
Top Five Sneak Peek
Curious to know which books got the top spots? Borrow them now with your BPL card!
# 1 My Brilliant Friend
A modern masterpiece from one of Italy's most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. The story begins in the 1950s in a poor but vibrant neighbourhood on the outskirts of Naples. Through the lives of these two women, Elena Ferrante tells the story of a neighbourhood, a city, and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her protagonists. Translated by Ann Goldstein.
Borrow My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
#2 The Warmth of Other Suns
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America.
Borrow The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
#3 Wolf Hall
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. With no male heir, the infamous Henry VIII wants to annul his 20-year marriage to allow himself to marry Anne Boleyn. When Cardinal Wolsey fails to convince the Catholic Church to follow his king's ideas, he falls out of favour, leaving a power vacuum and a deadlock. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell, a political genius, briber, bully, and charmer. In her Book Prize-winning novel, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage.
Borrow Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
#4 The Known World
A debut novel of stunning emotional depth and unequaled literary power by Edward P. Jones. Henry Townsend, a farmer, boot maker, and former slave, through the surprising twists and unforeseen turns of life in antebellum Virginia, becomes proprietor of his own plantation—as well as his own slaves. When he dies, his widow, Caldonia, succumbs to profound grief as things begin to fall apart at their plantation and the world beyond them.
Borrow The Known World by Edward P. Jones
#5 The Corrections
After almost fifty years as a wife and mother, Enid Lambert is ready to have some fun. Unfortunately, her husband, Alfred, is losing his sanity to Parkinson's disease, and their children have long since flown the family nest to the catastrophes of their own lives. Desperate for some pleasure to look forward to, Enid has set her heart on an elusive goal: bringing her family together for one last Christmas at home.
Borrow The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Happy reading!
