Best Novels of the Decade Lists Collected

I recently noticed sites making lists of the best novels of the decade, so I decided to see if combining the lists would show which novels were standouts and try to read them. The pictured novels above are the books I have read and loved most from the lists below. I don’t read many mainstream literary novels, just six from these five lists. Maybe I should try to expand my reading mind and try more different books. I imagine a steady diet of science fiction is warping my sense of reality.

These are the five lists:

• Entertainment Week Top 10 Fiction Books of the Decade – EW
• The 10 Best Fiction Books of the Decade – Time
• The Best Books of the 2010s Nudged the World in a New, Better Direction – Esquire
• The 20 Best Novels of the Decade – LitHub
• The 40 Best Novels of the 2010s – Paste

I only used Paste’s top 20 books to keep the focus tight. It’s worth following these links to read about the various titles.

This first group, are novels on more than one list. A Visit from the Goon Squad made it to 3 of the 5 lists. I guess I really need to read that one. Life After Life was also on three lists, and I have read it. It’s quite impressive. All of these books are ones I’ve seen on many lists over the years, so the consensus of fans makes me think I should give them a try.

These books are in no order. * = read and – = bought but not read

• A Visit from the Goon Squad (2010) by Jennifer Egan (EW, LitHub, Time)
• Life After Life (2012) by Kate Atkinson (EW, Paste, Time) *
• The Flamethrowers (2012) by Rachel Kushner (EW, LitHub)
• Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017) by Jesmyn Ward (EW, Time, Paste)
• My Brilliant Friend (2011) by Elena Ferrante (Esquire, Time) –
• The Sympathizer (2015) by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Esquire, LitHub)
• The Underground Railroad (2016) by Colson Whitehead (LitHub, Paste)
• Fates and Furies (2015) by Lauren Groff (EW, Paste)
• Lincoln in the Bardo (2017) by George Saunders (Esquire, Paste) *
• Swamplandia! (2011) by Karen Russell (Esquire, Paste)
• The Fifth Season (2015) by N. K. Jemisin (LitHub, Paste) –
• Station Eleven (2014) by Emily St. John Mandel (EW, Paste) *
• Little Fires Everywhere (2017) Celeste Ng (Time, Paste)

These books only made it to one of the five lists. They are probably great books to some people, but I feel less of an urge to try them over the above group. However, I thought The Overstory was fantastic and wondered why it didn’t make it to more lists.

• Exit West (2017) by Mohsin Hamid (EW)
• Commonwealth (2016) by Ann Patchett (EW)
• A Brief History of Seven Killings (2014) by Marlon James (EW)
• Normal People (2019) by Sally Rooney (EW)
• Gone Girl (2012) by Gillian Flynn (Time)
• Americanah (2013) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Time) –
• Tenth of December (2013) by George Saunders (Time) –
• The Sellout (2015) by Paul Beatty (Time)
• The Nickel Boys (2019) by Colson Whitehead (Time)
• There There (2018) by Tommy Orange (Esquire)
• Less (2017) by Andrew Sean Greer (Esquire)
• The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet (2010) by David Mitchell (LitHub)
• Train Dreams (2011) by Denis Johnson (LitHub)
• The Buddha in the Attic (2011) by Julie Otsuka (LitHub)
• The Tiger’s Wife (2011) by Téa Obreht (LitHub)
• Salvage the Bones (2011) by Jesmyn Ward (LitHub)
• All My Puny Sorrows (2014) by Miriam Toews (LitHub)
• Dept. of Speculation (2014) by Jenny Offill (LitHub)
• The Sellout (2015) by Paul Beatty (LitHub)
• A Little Life (2015) by Hanya Yanagihara (LitHub)
• Outline (2015) by Rachel Cusk (LitHub)
• Imagine Me Gone (2016) by Adam Haslett (LitHub)
• The Overstory (2018) by Richard Powers (LitHub) *
• In the Distance (2018) by Hernan Diaz (LitHub)
• Trust Exercise (2019) by Susan Choi (LitHub)
• Milkman (2019) by Anna Burns (LitHub)
• Circe (2018) by Madeline Miller (Paste)
• Homecoming (2016) by Yaa Gyasi (Paste)
• The Leavers (2017) by Lisa Ko (Paste)
• The Way of Kings (2010) by Brandon Sanders (Paste)
• Wolf in White Van (2014) by John Darnielle (Paste)
• The Water Dancer (2019) by Ta-Nehisis Coates (Paste)
• The Goldfinch (2013) by Donna Tartt (Paste) *
• The Night Circus (2011) by Erin Morgenster (Paste)
• Family Life (2014) by Akhil Sharma (Paste)
• Swing Time (2016) by Zadie Smith (Paste) *
• The Wise Man’s Fear (2011) by Patrick Rothfuss (Paste)

If you’ve read any of these books and can recommend them, leave a comment.

JWH