{"id":3940,"date":"2025-05-04T18:46:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T23:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/?p=3940"},"modified":"2025-05-11T12:46:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T17:46:38","slug":"favorite-books-of-the-2000s-up-to-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/archives\/2025\/05\/favorite-books-of-the-2000s-up-to-2023.html","title":{"rendered":"Favorite Books of the 2000s (so far)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A while ago (sometime in mid-2024 I guess based on where I found my list, heh), someone on Instagram was going through and choosing their very favorite book from each year in the 2000s. Here’s mine (nine months after I made the list, heh)!! Books are selected \/ listed in the year they were published as opposed to the year that I read them. I really tried hard to limit myself to one book per pub year,<\/strong> unless I could split it by genre, but in some years, I just wasn’t able to cut it down to one. I am only human!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2000<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: I absolutely loved Kavalier & Clay<\/strong> (Michael Chabon<\/strong>, FTW) and nothing else comes close. In fact, I didn’t even write anything else down for that year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2001<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: I would say now, in 2025, the best book published in 2001 was Erasure<\/strong> by Percival Everett<\/strong>, who I knew nothing of in 2001, but am all about in the 2020s.
Fiction runner-up<\/em>: But at the time, I think I would have said Atonement<\/strong>, by far Ian McEwan<\/strong>‘s best book and the least icky of everything he’s written because some are…just skeevy, creepy, yucky.
Nonfiction<\/em>: Shutterbabe<\/strong>, the first memoir from photographer Deborah Copaken Kogan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2002<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: No question, the best book published in 2002 was Audrey Niffennegger<\/strong>‘s The Time Traveler’s Wife<\/strong>. What a beautiful and beautifully crushing story. Ack, that ending. ACCKKKKK. How sad it was that they completely butchered it in the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2003<\/em>
Nonfiction<\/em>: No fiction or anything else I read published in 2003 can come close to challenging Jon Krakauer<\/strong> and possibly his best book Under the Banner of Heaven<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2004<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: The Plot Against America<\/strong> is fantastic and Philip Roth<\/strong> will never be reviled on this web site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2005<\/em>
Nonfiction<\/em>: I have come to think very differently of Joan Didion<\/strong> these days, but I do remember really loving The Year of Magical Thinking<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2006<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: I absolutely adore Black Swan Green<\/strong>, the least David Mitchell<\/strong> of all the David Mitchell books.
Poetry<\/em>: This is also the year Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard<\/strong> collection was published and it is excellent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2007<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: this was the year the first Tana French<\/strong> book In the Woods<\/strong> came out and that book is truly impressive. (There is a point where that series kinda fell off the rails for me, but the first three are outstanding.)
Nonfiction<\/em>: Love Is a Mixtape<\/strong> (Rob Sheffield<\/strong>) really speaks my language.
Honorable Mention<\/em>: The Watchman<\/strong> (Robert Crais<\/strong>) was the first book to feature my one true love Joe Pike. I’m still considering getting his tattoos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2008<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: Kristen Cashore’s<\/strong> Graceling<\/strong> is such a fabulous book and the beginning of a truly beautiful series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2009<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: How can one resist the siren call of Wolf Hall<\/strong>? My dad had introduced me to Hilary Mantel<\/strong> long before she latched on to Cromwell, but this book… This is Dorothy Dunnet levels of fabulous (Lymond + Nicolo + Thorfinn 4-ever). (I did not read it in 2009 however, heh.)
Honorable Mention<\/em>: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate<\/strong> by Jacqueline Kelly<\/strong> is just a lovely middle-grade book that I wish more kids would read and just seeing that title on my list brings it more vividly to mind than most of the adult books I read published that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2010<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: A Visit from the Goon Squad<\/strong> by Jennifer Egan<\/strong>. Done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2011<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: I love Maggie Stiefvater<\/strong> so much, and two of her series reside deep in my heart, but none of those books even hold a candle to The Scorpio Races<\/strong>, a stand-out stand-alone. OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2012<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: Tell The Wolves I’m Home<\/strong> by Carol Rifka Brunt<\/strong>. This might be the best book on this entire list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2013<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: The glorious, glorious HILD<\/strong>. Magical. Nicola Griffith<\/strong> is another follower in Dorothy Dunnet’s footsteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2014<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: There were lots of great novels published in 2014, but none that I have continued to think about as much as A Brave Man Seven Storeys Tall<\/strong>, by Will Chancellor<\/strong>.
Non-fiction<\/em>: H is for Hawk<\/strong> by Helen MacDonald<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2015<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: There are two truly fabulous science fiction series that started in 2015 and I just cannot acknowledge only one of them. So I’m declaring a tie between Children of Time<\/strong>, by Adrian Tchaikovsky<\/strong>, who is the writer to start reading if you never want to run out of material; and The Fifth Season<\/strong> by N.K. Jemisin<\/strong>, a complete tour de force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2016<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: I really fell for The Mothers<\/strong>, by Brit Bennett<\/strong>.
Honorable mention<\/em>: Hag-Seed<\/strong> by Margaret Atwood<\/strong> is truly fantastic.
Poetry<\/em>: Counting Descent<\/strong> by Clint Smith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2017<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: One of only a few YA nods on this list: The Hate U Give<\/strong>, by Angie Thomas<\/strong>. I really, really wanted to read this with my sixth graders, but there is just ONE s-e-x-u-a-l scene that makes that impossible and I do think I might have edited that out were I the author since there are more YA books on this topic than there are middle grades. Sigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2018<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: Holy crap, is There, There<\/strong> by Tommy Orange<\/strong> not the most stunning debut. Swoon.
Poetry<\/em>: American Sonnets<\/strong>, by Terrance Hayes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: I am still in 100% completely, head-over-heels in love with This Is How You Lose the Time War<\/strong> by Amal El-Mohtar<\/strong> and Max Gladstone<\/strong>.
Runner-Up<\/em>: But I cannot even fathom leaving Gideon The Ninth<\/strong> by Tamsyn Muir<\/strong> off this list. A life without Gideon? Not worth living.
Poetry<\/em>: I didn’t know Hanif Abdurraqib<\/strong> for his poetry at first, but that has become my favorite of his many genres and A Fortune for Your Disaster<\/strong> is just drop-dead beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2020<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: This is the year of Deacon KingKong<\/strong> by James McBride<\/strong>. Amazeballoons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2021<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: The Trees<\/strong> by Percival Everett<\/strong>. The most topical of topicals. Sly. Sarcastic. So Very funny. And yet, just a complete and utter chill to the bone.
Runner-Up<\/em>: Detransition Baby<\/strong> by Torrey Peters<\/strong>. ‘Nuff said.
Non-fiction<\/em>: How the Word Is Passed<\/strong> by Clint Smith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2022<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: The Swimmers<\/strong> by Julie Otsuka<\/strong> becomes such a surprisingly different book as it goes on. Everyone I told about this one raved about it for months.
Nonfiction<\/em>: Elaine Castillo’s<\/strong> fiction is great, but these essays were chef’s kiss: How to Read Now<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, by Moniquill Blackgoose<\/strong> How is this so good?
Non-Fiction<\/em>: Hijab Butch Blues, by Lamya H.<\/strong> So very good. But I just don’t see how it would be possible to maintain anonymity…
Poetry<\/em>: I was completely stunned by The Kingdom of Surfaces<\/strong> by Sally Wen Mao<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024<\/em>
Fiction<\/em>: My very, very favorite read in any genre for 2024 was “Wounded” by Percival Everett<\/strong>. Yes, I read James<\/strong>. Yes, I see it getting all the glory. Yes, I found it a good read. I did not find it as good a read as Wounded.
Non-fiction<\/em>: Hanif Abdurraqib<\/strong> with a breathtaking memoir “There’s Always This Year.”<\/strong>
Poetry<\/em>: Victoria Cheng’s <\/strong>collection “With My Back to the World.”<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now tell me yours…<\/em><\/strong> Comments are open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A while ago (sometime in mid-2024 I guess based on where I found my list, heh), someone on Instagram was going through and choosing their very favorite book from each year in the 2000s. Here’s mine (nine months after I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,14,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-lists","category-readin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3940"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3962,"href":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940\/revisions\/3962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/crankymonkeybutt.com\/snip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}