Making Our Own Damn List- The Ink Drinkers Top 20 Books of the 21st Century

Alright, what the heck am I talking about?

In my last post, I talked about this experiment I want to do, and so many of you were on board and excited. I am too, because I’ve decided where I want to go with all this.

As many of you know, I am working my way through some of the titles on the New York Times Top 100 Best Books of the 21st Century list that came out in 2024. I am going to read a total of 25 of the books from that list (I had to narrow it down somehow and a quarter seemed like a good place to stop).

I have already read 13 books, so I’ve chosen 12 others to read now (See? I can do math, too). With these 25 titles, I will make my own ranking, based purely on my own criteria and opinions, because honestly how else am I supposed to rank books?

So now the question: Why?

For one, it’s fun. We all love reading, so I thought why not add more books to the “to be read” list that is growing like an out of control fungus in my home?

But, along with just the fun of it all, I thought “Why not make our own damn list?” We can make an Ink Drinkers Top 20 Books of the 21st Century, submitted by you, the readers. I will narrow down the criteria as we go, but essentially as long as it’s in English and from the 21st century, it’s eligible. And I want to make this very clear- they can be, but they do not have to be from the NYT list!!!!!! What did they miss? Who did they overlook? Let’s fix that.

I’m still figuring out how to go about it, and if anyone has an idea, please feel free to leave a comment below.

All I know is at the very end, once we’ve come up with The List, we’ll make a display at the shop with all the titles so people can browse your favourite books.

For now, I’m just going to leave my current ranking of what I have read so far from the NYT list, the one that started it all, as well as the books I’m going to be reading in the next couple of months to make comparisons. I will update as I go along. In the next post, I’ll talk about more about the NYT voters’ criteria, who voted, etc…

Note* I read some of these years ago, but many of them have stuck with me, for better or worse, and I’ve ranked them based on that rather than any details.

Agree or disagree in the comments!

My criteria: insert disclaimer that this is all my opinion
Pacing: Does it keep my interest throughout? Does it have what I call the “Can- I- put- it- down” factor.
Language: How does the author use language? Puns? Humor? Wit? Irony? Do they play around with sentence structure, wording, etc?
Style: I like a wide range- sparse, flowery, poetic- but does it work with the story? Does the author do it well?
What was the after taste? Did I stare at the wall? Did I cry? Did I want to throw the book away? Did it leave me with a book hangover?
Did it teach me anything? Did it change my world view in any way? Did it unlock something within me? Or was it simply entertaining and that’s ok?

1. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (I love this book. The writing, the story, the sensitivity to the subject matter, the voice of the narrator, the pacing, everything. Love it.) No. 61 NYT (WTF NEW YORK TIMES)

2. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (Read in the next post why this is No.2 for me at the moment…A cliffhanger!) No. 5 NYT

3. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (I read this book about 15 years ago and I still remember how much I loved it.) No. 46 NYT

4. Atonement by Ian McEwan (Extremely powerful storytelling and writing. I read this as a teenager and it stayed with me.) No. 26 NYT

5. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (The writing saved this for me. Not usually a fan of short stories since I can’t get into it, but this one still packed a punch.) No. 41 NYT

6. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Read it for uni, did not regret it) No. 27 NYT

7. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (I know I know, sorry. Was not exciting for me, the writing, while it had it moments, did not wow me.) No. 1 NYT

8. The Overstory by Richard Powers (Really interesting premise, got bored about half way through. Way too long for what it was.) No. 24 NYT

9. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Sorry, I’m just not a Didion fan… it’s a me problem, not her.) No. 12 NYT

10. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (Sorry, so bored. Good writing but just didn’t add anything new for me.) No. 33 NYT

11. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Again, sorry. Really wanted to like it but it did not keep my interest at all.) No. 59 NYT

12. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (Barely remember this one… it was sad? Read it two years ago….) No. 64 NYT

13. Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (I cannot for the life of me fathom why this is on the list. The most cringe sex scene I’ve ever read and the most overwritten story ever…Also I couldn’t give a shit about the characters. I didn’t even finish it.) No. 76 NYT
    

    Upcoming reads:
    The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson No. 2 NYT
    The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon No. 16 NYT
    Gilead by Marianne Robinson No. 10 NYT
    The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz No. 11 NYT
    White Teeth by Zadie Smith No. 31 NYT
    Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro No. 9 NYT
    2666 by Richard Bolano No. 6 NYT
    The Known World by Edward P Jones No. 4 NYT
    Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald No. 8 NYT
    The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead No. 7 NYT
    Childhood, Youth, Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen No. 71 NYT
    Life After Life by Kate Atkinson No. 51 NYT