The 25 best books of the 2010s
The 25 highest-ranked books first published in the 2010s in our ranking of 2,819, scored on how much readers love them, their prize, best-list and bestseller record, and current buzz. We rank 737 books of the 2010s in all. How we rank
- 1
Between the World and Me95.3Must-Read ScoreBetween the World and Me
It's short enough to read in an evening and stays with you for years.
- 2
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City93.3Must-Read ScoreEvicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
It reads like a novel, with people you'll think about long after, and it's backed by years of research.
- 3
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer93.3Must-Read ScoreThe Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
It turns a frightening subject into a thrilling story of brilliant, stubborn people, and it explains the science so clearly that you'll actually understand how cancer works.
- 4
Educated: A Memoir93.1Must-Read ScoreEducated: A Memoir
It's an astonishing true story, but what makes it great is Tara's honesty about what it cost her: every step toward an education was a step away from the family she loved.
- 5
All the Light We Cannot See92.8Must-Read ScoreAll the Light We Cannot See
It's a beautifully written, deeply humane story about two children trying to stay good in a war, and it won the Pulitzer Prize while also becoming a huge bestseller.
- 6
The Body Keeps the Score92.1Must-Read ScoreThe Body Keeps the Score
It changed how a whole generation understands trauma, and readers often say it helped them make sense of themselves or someone they love.
- 7
Americanah91.9Must-Read ScoreAmericanah
It's a love story, a social satire and one of the smartest novels ever written about race, immigration and identity, and it's often very funny.
- 8
The Fifth Season91.9Must-Read ScoreThe Fifth Season
It's one of the most inventive fantasies of the century, and its trilogy is the only one to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel three years running.
- 9
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland91.9Must-Read ScoreSay Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
It's history that reads like a gripping true-crime thriller, and it's also a profound book about the cost of political violence and the silence that follows it.
- 10
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration91.5Must-Read ScoreThe Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
It reads like a great novel but is built on years of interviews and research, and it explains how the America we live in now was shaped.
- 11
When Breath Becomes Air91.4Must-Read ScoreWhen Breath Becomes Air
It's a short, luminous book about mortality that somehow leaves readers feeling more alive.
- 12Atomic Habits91.0Must-Read Score
Atomic Habits
It's the defining self-help book of the decade: one of the ten best-selling books in America five years running, and more than 400 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists.
- 13The Passage of Power90.5Must-Read Score
The Passage of Power
It won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was a National Book Award finalist, reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and is on the New York Times' list of the 100 best books of the 21st century.
- 14The Nightingale90.0Must-Read Score
The Nightingale
It's one of the most loved novels of the past decade: a #1 New York Times bestseller and one of the ten best-selling books of 2015.
- 15
A Little Life89.8Must-Read ScoreA Little Life
It's one of the most emotionally overwhelming novels of the century, a book readers call devastating, unforgettable and sometimes unbearable, and it was a Booker and National Book Award finalist.
- 16
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets89.3Must-Read ScoreSecondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
No other book lets you hear an entire society thinking aloud.
- 17
Pachinko88.9Must-Read ScorePachinko
It's a sweeping, deeply humane family epic about identity, endurance and belonging, opening with one of fiction's great first lines: "History has failed us, but no matter." It was a National Book Award finalist and is beloved by readers everywhere.
- 18Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind88.8Must-Read Score
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
It's one of the best-selling nonfiction books ever, with about 25 million copies sold, a #1 New York Times bestseller, and on the Guardian's list of the best books of the 21st century.
- 19
Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood88.8Must-Read ScoreBorn a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
It's laugh-out-loud funny and genuinely moving, often on the same page, and it explains apartheid more vividly than any history book.
- 20
Stamped From the Beginning88.4Must-Read ScoreStamped From the Beginning
It won the National Book Award and reframed how a generation thinks about the history of race in America.
- 21Braiding Sweetgrass88.2Must-Read Score
Braiding Sweetgrass
Published by a small press in 2013, it found its readers by word of mouth and went on to spend more than 130 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists.
- 22
Verity88.1Must-Read ScoreVerity
It's a dark, twisty, can't-put-it-down thriller that became a word-of-mouth sensation, and its ending has divided readers into passionate camps.
- 23The Song of Achilles88.1Must-Read Score
The Song of Achilles
It won the Women's Prize for Fiction and has spent more than 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists.
- 24
The Nickel Boys88.1Must-Read ScoreThe Nickel Boys
It's short, devastating and beautifully written, and it won the Pulitzer Prize, Whitehead's second.
- 25
Becoming87.9Must-Read ScoreBecoming
It's warm, candid and funny, more about family, identity and finding your voice than about politics, and readers of all political views have embraced it.