Throughout 2026, Book Riot has been releasing lists of the Best Books of the Century by genre, and I have loved following along. Now that they have just published their Fiction list, and all that is left is their editors’ overall picks, I am posting the links to each category for you to have easy access.
But before I send you to their easy to navigate landing page, I want to remind you why this is such a great resource for you, the person matching books with readers at the public library. Yes, there was lots of interest in the book world and with our patrons when the New York Times shared their Best 100 Books of the 21st Century (gift link of the list is here, my post about how to use it at your library is here), but that list was for critics by critics.
This one, by Book Riot, is different though. These books are picked by experts yes, but experts who work for Book Riot. Their mission to top help readers find books they will love. Their entire site is written and presented in conversational language, speaking directly to readers, meeting them where they already are and helping them to discover books they wouldn't know about on their own and share all the books news.
All of this means that their list of the Best Books of the Century is a list geared toward readers, not critics. And it has every genre, all ages, and even an adaptations list. All of that is perfect list for us. These are critically acclaimed books that are great reads for every type of reader. This is the definition of sure bets.
I am going to be as clear as possible here about the importance of this project:
BOOKMARK THIS PAGE. USE IT TO HELP READERS, MAKE DISPLAYS, AND FIND SURE BETS. THESE ARE BACKLIST TITLES YOU HAVE. AND THE LISTS ARE DIVERSE BECAUSE THEIR EDITORIAL GUIDELINES DEMAND IT.
Here is the link to that landing page, I have included the introduction below as well as links to each list:
It’s hard to wrap your head around the scope of 25 years but, as it turns out, looking back at this century so far in books is a clarifying exercise. You’ve likely seen iterations of these best of the century lists from various outlets, and what makes each of them unique are the perspectives of those curating these lists. Book Riot is composed of a diverse team of contributors and editorial staff, including teachers, librarians, activists, writers, as well as those of us with professions and interests beyond the world of books. All of us are readers with long-held understandings of the importance of books, reading, literacy, and being intentional about diversity and inclusion in all aspects of life. And so we approached our Best Books of the Century (So Far) list pulling from our diverse exposure to books and shared values.
Because we are aware and in awe of the expansive catalogs continually growing various genres and categories, we went the route of splitting this exercise into those genres and categories where we have expertise and that are of greatest interest to our readers. We worked hard to manage recency bias, looking way back to the beginning of the century, surprising ourselves with vivid memories of books from the early aughts while also doing our best to identify the instant classics of today. The point of these lists isn’t to identify our favorite works of the last 25 years, though many of those books made the cut, but to take a broader approach, considering the books that changed the landscape of a genre or broke out into the greater world of culture, becoming franchises, making a big impact on our understanding of the world, and breaking our brains in the best kind of way.
To do this, we asked all of our writers and any staff touching editorial work, from our CEO to our newest contributor recruits, to nominate titles for any categories they are knowledgable in. From there, our staff-appointed editors sorted the lists and weighed titles with multiple nominations, considered any context offered for why titles were nominated, and identified groundbreaking works that required inclusion. While we can’t capture every title every reader believes should make the cut, we can say we took each list seriously and made thoughtful decisions.
- Fantasy
- Romance
- Mystery/Thriller
- Historical Fiction
- Comics
- YA
- Science Fiction
- Adaptations
- Children’s
- Middle Grade
- Nonfiction
- Horror
- Fiction
- Best Overall Editorial Picks (coming soon)
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