Not the NYT list: 100 fine books from around the world (and not just the USA) of the 21st century

The New York Times’ list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century has propelled the existing conversation around the megalithic influence of American publishing on global readership to address some interesting questions: How much, and for how long, is America going to obsess over reading and dissecting itself? Why do reading lists emerging from the West claim authority on culture with such hyperbole? Is diversity in literature only worth mention if the story speaks of a Great War or unrest?

If a list so devoid of representation from small presses, working class writers, genre-fiction, and poetry is aggregated with contributions from “hundreds of novelists, nonfiction writers, academics, book editors, journalists, critics, publishers, poets, translators, booksellers, librarians and other literary luminaries”, what does that say about the backbone of American readership?

This past week, our team at The Bookshop Inc went through the records of our careers as booksellers, reached out to authors, literary critics, peers in publishing, and our community at-large in an effort to build an alternative list of books we think have most significantly influenced readers upon publication, in the last 24 years. Some of them were written in the 1900s and translated into English in the 21st century.

As booksellers,...

Read more