The best-of lists

The best books in every genre, era and decade, from our ranking of 2,816 books. Tap a list to see its top 25. Or start with the Must-Read 50.

Genres

Fantasy booksTop 25 · 459 rankedScience fiction booksTop 25 · 313 rankedMysteries and thrillersTop 25 · 555 rankedHorror booksTop 25 · 86 rankedRomancesTop 25 · 233 rankedHistorical novelsTop 25 · 116 rankedLiterary novelsTop 25 · 309 rankedYoung adult booksTop 25 · 219 rankedMemoirs and biographiesTop 25 · 290 rankedHistory booksTop 25 · 198 rankedScience and ideas booksTop 25 · 119 rankedSelf-help and business booksTop 25 · 85 rankedHumor booksTop 25 · 35 rankedPolitics booksTop 25 · 44 ranked

Eras

New booksTop 25 · 481 rankedModern booksTop 25 · 1,573 rankedClassic booksTop 25 · 762 ranked

Decades

Books of the 1900sTop 20 · 20 rankedBooks of the 1920sTop 25 · 36 rankedBooks of the 1930sTop 25 · 41 rankedBooks of the 1940sTop 25 · 50 rankedBooks of the 1950sTop 25 · 75 rankedBooks of the 1960sTop 25 · 92 rankedBooks of the 1970sTop 25 · 131 rankedBooks of the 1980sTop 25 · 202 rankedBooks of the 1990sTop 25 · 273 rankedBooks of the 2000sTop 25 · 490 rankedBooks of the 2010sTop 25 · 736 rankedBooks of the 2020sTop 25 · 555 ranked

Recent years

Books of 2020Top 25 · 74 rankedBooks of 2021Top 25 · 106 rankedBooks of 2022Top 25 · 86 rankedBooks of 2023Top 25 · 84 rankedBooks of 2024Top 25 · 74 rankedBooks of 2025Top 25 · 101 rankedBooks of 2026Top 25 · 30 ranked