The 25 best modern books
The 25 highest-ranked books published from 1990 on 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 1,575 modern books in all. How we rank
- 1
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone96.8Must-Read ScoreHarry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
It's the book that turned a generation into readers, and it's still pure magic: funny, warm, inventive and with a mystery that keeps you turning pages.
- 2A Game of Thrones96.2Must-Read Score
A Game of Thrones
It's the book that remade modern fantasy: grown-up politics, characters you love who aren't safe, and a world that feels as solid as history.
- 3
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.
- 4
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.
- 5
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.
- 6
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.
- 7
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.
- 8
The Book Thief92.3Must-Read ScoreThe Book Thief
It's a story about the power of words in a time when words were being used to destroy, and it's told with such warmth and strangeness that it stays with readers for life.
- 9
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.
- 10
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.
- 11
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.
- 12
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.
- 13
Dungeon Crawler Carl91.8Must-Read ScoreDungeon Crawler Carl
It's absurd, violent, very funny and surprisingly moving, and Carl's quiet rage against the people running the show gives it real heart.
- 14
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.
- 15
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.
- 16Atomic 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.
- 17The 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.
- 18
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer90.1Must-Read ScoreAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
It's a gripping portrait of a genius haunted by what he made, and of how America turned on him.
- 19The 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.
- 20
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.
- 21
The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/1189.6Must-Read ScoreThe Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11
It reads like a thriller, but it's careful, humane history that won the Pulitzer Prize.
- 22
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea89.6Must-Read ScoreNothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
It's the best book ever written about ordinary life in North Korea, because it focuses on people, not politics.
- 23
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.
- 24
The Help89.0Must-Read ScoreThe Help
It's a hugely popular, emotional and often funny story about courage and friendship across the color line, with three distinct narrators readers love.
- 25
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.