My 5 Favourite Novels of the 21st Century so far

Great vid might have to pick some of these up! 😄

Thank you for this wonderful video! You have persuaded me to read Never Let Me Go, Wolf Hall, and Station 11. The reading samples are so helpful, and I always enjoy your thoughtful and heartfelt commentary. Cheers to you from California 😊

This was a very informative video, especially for Station Eleven and Transcendent Kingdom, neither of which I heard of.

I also follow the fifty year litmus test. And I apply it to all kinds of fiction. If a detective novel survives that long, it's worth looking at.

"Hard SF" has never had much appeal to me.
I prefer the "inner space" SF of writers like Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, and J.G. Ballard. But I have heard good things about The Three Body Problem.

Try J.G. Farrell for English historical fiction.
He's not 21st century, but he covered a lot of stressful periods of English history (Irish rebellion, WW II in Asia, colonial rule of India).

Keep reading!!

A method I would use with kids to get them to read is to read the beginning of a book until I reached the author's hook. Then I would stop and leave, placing the book near the child. More times than not this method works as a curious child can't resist

Never Let Me Go is one of my favourite novels of the 21st century too. I wish I hadn't seen the movie before I read it.
I enjoyed Station Eleven a lot, and I really want to read Wolf Hall.
I haven't read Transcendent Kingdom, but I'd recommend Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. I've just finished it and enjoyed it immensely.

I've read two of these - Three Body Problem and Wolf Hall. Both so great. And I'm looking forward to reading the others you talked about.

Thanks Nicole - "Never let me go" has moved on to my very long TBR list, but at least it's on it. To be honest it did not sound very interesting from the reading but I trust your judgement so I'll go with it. I'm a person who tends to focus on the classics so it's good to have some modern tips. Thanks!!

Hello Nicole, my name is Thaizi Ono and I am from Brazil.
I got to your channel by Katie Lumsden from "Books and Things".

Amazing list!
Kazuo Ishiguro is one of my favorite writers and "Never Let Me Go" is a very powerful book.

I also read "The Three-Body Problem" by Cixin Liu two years ago and I thought it is a very clever sci-fi. I just finished reading "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" by Dai Sijie, which also talks about Cultural Revolution at China, I really like this book.
I really like Chinese Literature, it began a long time ago (2001), after I read "Soul Mountain" by Gao Xingjian.

"Station Eleven" is another amazing book, it is very well written. An after pandemic novel, which is surreal because of the events the world presented in 2020.

Hilary Mantel is the queen of Historical Fiction. I always want to read a book from her and I have the same feeling - "Why should I read a book about Thomas Cromwell?". After watching your video, this book seems very interesting ;).

Kind regards,
Thaizi

I feel the same way about how Hilary Mantel brought her characters and period to life in the Thomas Cromwell novels and know exactly what you mean about feeling so connected to Cromwell, like he was my best friend. I was devastated by the end of The Mirror and the Light. Can't wait for you to read it - a phenomenal conclusion to a masterpiece of contemporary literature.

I love three of these, so clearly I need to read the other two! If you haven’t read Sea of Tranquility yet, Emily St John Mandel does dwell in that novel on being an author who wrote about a pandemic then living through a pandemic.