These Are the Best Novels to Read of 2021

These Are the Best Novels to Read of 2021

No matter what else happened, 2021 was a banner year for incredible novels. 2021 has brought us some amazing novels that shifted our perspectives, uncovered essential truths, and encouraged us forward. Throughout the year, we’ve been updating you on the best novels our editors and writers have read, we’re sharing our final verdicts, and offering some great reads for the slowed-down days and weeks ahead. Rather than a definitive “best of the list,” this is simply what we’ve loved this year—and we hope that you do too.

Best Novels to Read of 2021

TitleAuthor

Great CircleMaggie Shipstead

Infinite CountryPatricia Engel

SankofaChibundu Onuzo

The Four WindsKristin Hannah

What's Mine And YoursNaima Coster

The Lincoln HighwayAmor Towles

Cloud Cuckoo LandAnthony Doerr

Harlem ShuffleColson Whitehead

Our Country FriendsGary Shteyngart

CrossroadsJohnathan Franzen

Count the WaysJoyce Maynard

Klara and the SunKazuo Ishiguro

Dava Shastri's Last DayKirthana Ramisetti

The SentenceLouise Erdrich

What Storm, What ThunderMyriam J.A. Chancy

BewildermentRichard Powers

The ProphetsRobert Jones R

The Book of Form and EmptinessRuth Ozeki

Beautiful World, Where Are YouSally Rooney

How LuckyWill Leitch

The Lincoln HighwayAmor Towles

The Lost ApothecarySaram Penner

Fault LinesEmily Itami

The Paper PalaceMiranda Cowley Heller

Beautiful World, Where Are YouSally Rooney

BewildermentRichard Powers

Cloud Cuckoo LandAnthony Doerr

Harlem ShuffleColson Whitehead

The SentenceLouise Erdrich

The Other Black GirlZakiya Dalila Harris

the Seed KeeperDiane Wilson

Mary JaneJessica Anya Blau

The Rib KingLadee Hubbard

What You Can See From HereMariana Leky

Sorrow and BlissMeg Mason

The Five WoundsKirstin Valdez Quade

Cloud Cuckoo LandAnthony Doerr

MatrixLauren Groff

The SentenceLouise Erdrich

Detransition, BabyTorrey Peters

Harlem ShuffleColson Whitehead

The love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers

The CommittedViet Thanh Nguyen

I love You But I've Chosen DarknessClaire Vaye Watkins

Milk FedMelissa Broder

The AtmospheriansAlex McElroy

Concrete RoseAngie Thomas

Harlem ShuffleColson Whitehead

the Final Revival of Opal & NevDawnie Walton

PalmaresGayl Jones

VirtueHermione Hoby

How Beautiful We WereImbolo Mbue

RepreiveJames Han Mattson

A Calling for Charlie BarnesJoshua Ferris

HarrowJoy Williams

LibertieKaitlyn Greenidge

Early Morning RiserKatherne Heiny

Klara and the SunKazuo Ishiguro

MatrixLauren Groff

Fake AccountsLauren Oyler

Great CircleMaggie Shipstead

AppleseedMatt Bell

What's Mine and YoursNaima Coster

No One is Talking About ThisPatricia Lockwood

Infinite CountryPatrician Engel

MonaPola Oloixarac

NightbitchRachel Yoder

Beautiful World, Where Are YouSally Rooney

Detransition, BabyTorrey Peters

The Other Black GirlZakiya Dalila Harris

The Last Thing He Told MeLaura Dave

The MaidensAlex Michaelides

LoreAlexandra Bracken

The Love HypothesisAli Hazelwood

Hail MaryAndy Weir

The PushAshley Audrain

One last StopCasey McQuiston

The Spanish Love DeceptionElena Armas

People We Meet on VacationEmily Henry

Klara and the SunKazuo Ishiguro

The Four WindsKristin Hannah

Apples Never FallLiane Moriarty

The Wife UpstairsRachel Hawkins

Beautiful World, Where Are YouSally Rooney

A Court of Silver FlamesSarah J. Maas

The Lost ApothecarySarah Penner

Malibu RisingTaylor Jenkins Reid

MatrixLauren Groff

Second PlaceRachel Cusk

PalmaresGayl Jones

The Book of Form and EmptinessRuth Ozeki

China RoomSunjeev Sahota

A ShockKeither Ridgway

Sorrow and BlissMeg Mason

AssemblyNatasha Brown

The Manningtree witchesAK Blakemore

Treacle WalkerAlan Garner

Cloud Cuckoo LandAnthony Doerr

Open WaterCaleb Azumah Nelson

The MagicianColm Toibin

Harlem ShuffleColson Whitehead

The PromiseDamon Galgut

Light PerpetualFrancis Spufford

My PhantomsGwendoline Riley

CrossroadsJonathan Franzen

Klara and the SunKazuo Ishiguro

Oh William!Lucy Barton

Painting TimeMaylis de Kerangel

A BurningMegha Majumdar

The Fortune MenNadifa Mohamed

The Books of JacobOlga Tokarczuk

Women of TroyPat Barker

No One is Talking About ThisPatricia Lockwood

How to Kidnap the RichRahul Raina

LusterRaven Leilani

Pity the BeastRobin McLean

Mrs Death Misses DeathSalena Godden

Beautiful World, Where Are YouSally Rooney

The HummingbirdSandro Veronesi

BurntcoatSarah Hall

BinaAnakana Schofield

Damnation SpringAsh Davidson

WaywardDana Spiotta

The Final Revival of Opal & NevDawnie Walton

Winter in SokchoElisa Shua Dusapin

Our Country FriendsGary Shteyngart

The love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers

The FugitivitiesJesse McCarthy

Three RoomsJo Hamya

My MonticelloJocelyn Nicole Johnson

The SentenceLouise Erdrich

No One is Talking About ThisPatricia Lockwood

Second PlaceRachel Cusk

ForegoneRussell Banks

Beautiful World, Where Are YouSally Rooney

Detransition, BabyTorrey Peters

The CommittedViet Thanh Nguyen

Build Your House Around My bodyViolet Kupersmith

SkinshipYoon Choi

The Other Black GirlZakiya Dalila Harris

Hell of a BookJason Mott

Shadow LifeHiromi Goto

Light from Uncommon StarsRyka Aoki

She Who Became the SunShelley Parker-Chan

Act Your Age, Eve BrownTalia Hibbert

All Her Little SecretsWanda M Morris

Beautiful World, Where Are YouSally Rooney

Cloud Cuckoo LandAnthony Doerr

CrossroadsJonathan Franzen

No One is Talking About ThisPatricia Lockwood

The love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers

The SentenceLouise Erdrich

Detransition, BabyTorrey Peters

BewildermentRichard Powers

The MagicianColm Toibin

WaywardDana Spiotta

Our Country FriendsGary Shteyngart

A Calling for Charlie BarnesJoshua Ferris

One Last StopCasey McQuiston

My Year AbroadChang-rae Lee

The PromiseDamon Galgut

How Beautiful We WereImbolo Mbue

LibertieKaitlyn Greenidge

The ProphetsRobert Jones Jr

Something New Under the SunAlexandra Kleeman

The War for GloriaAtticus Lish

Light PerpetualFrancis Spufford

AppleseedMatt Bell

What Strange ParadiseOmar El Akkad

The TreesPercival Everett

Razorblade TearsS.A. Cosby

Build Your House Around My bodyViolet Kupersmith

The Lincoln HighwayAmor Towles

Invisible ChildAndrea Elliott

Burnt SugarAvni Doshi

When We Cease to Understand the WorldBenjamin Labatut

The Sun CollectiveCharles Baxter

Harlem ShuffleColson Whitehead

Oh William!Elizabeth Strout

The love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers

How Beautiful We WereImbolo Mbue

The Wisteria Society of Lady ScoundrelsIndia Holton

The PlotJean Hanff Korelitz

Ghosts of New YorkJim Lewis

The NetanyahusJoshua Cohen

The Morning StarKarl Ove Nausgaard

IntimaciesKatie Kitamura

IntimaciesKatie Kitamura

Klara and the SunKazuo Ishiguro

Send for MeLauren Fox

No One is Talking About ThisPatricia Lockwood

A Lie Somone Told You About YourselfPeter Ho Davies

Velvet Was the NightSilvia Moreno-Garcia

The Book of MotherViolaine Huisman

Chronicles From the Land of the Happiest People on EarthWole Soyinka

Strange Beasts of ChinaYan Ge

oh WilliamElizabeth Strout

A Passage NorthAnuk Arudpragasam

The Lincoln HighwayAmor Towles

FolklornAngela Mi Young Ha

Cloud Cuckoo LandAnthony Doerr

Filthy AnimalsBrandon Taylor

Dear Miss MetropolitanCarolyn Ferrell

I love You But I've Chosen DarknessClare Vaye Watkins

the MagicianColm Toibin

The Liar's DictionaryEley Williams

PalmaresGayl Jones

Today A women Went Mad in the SupermarketHilma Wolitzer

AbundanceJakob Guanzon

Hell of a BookJason Mott

A Calling for Charlie BarnesJoshua Ferris

The Five WoundsKirstin Valdez Quade

Win me SomethingKyle Lucia Wu

Five Tuesdays in WinterLily King

Last night at the telegraph clubMalinda Lo

Fight NightMiriam Teows

Walking on Cowrie ShellsNana Nkweti

What Strange ParadiseOmar El akkad

No One is Talking About ThisPatricia Lockwood

BewildermentRichard Powers

Night Came With Many StarsSimon Van Booy

China RoomSunjeer Sahota

The CommittedViet Thanh Nguygen

Beautiful World, Where Are YouSally Rooney

The Sweetness of WaterNathan Harris

The Lincoln HighwayAmor Towles

These Precious DaysAnn Patchett

Cloud Cuckoo LandAnthony Doerr

Harlem ShuffleColson Whitehead

CrossroadsJonathan Franzen

IntimaciesKatie Kitamura

The SentenceLouise Erdrich

Great CircleMaggie Shipstead

The Dangers of Smoking in BedMarianna Enriquez

Infinite CountryPatricia Engel

BewildermentRichard Powers

The Man Who Lived UndergroundRichard Wright

New York , My VillageUwem Akpan

Mrs MarchVirgina Feito

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du BoisHonoree Fanonne Jeffers

Somebody's DaughterAshley C Ford

The War for GloriaAtticus Lish

WaywardDana Spiotta

A ShockKeith Ridgway

AssemblyNatasha Brown

Second PlaceRachel Cusk

All That She CarriedTiya Miles

Harlem ShuffleColson Whitehead

Klara and the SunKazuo Ishiguro

IntimaciesKatie Kitamura

Who is Maud DixonAlexandra Andrews

Something New Under the SunAlexandra Kleeman

The Lincoln HighwayAmor Towles

Cloud Cuckoo LandAnthony Doerr

AfterpartiesAnthony Veasna So

A Passage NorthAnuk Arudpragasam

Somebody's DaughterAshley C Ford

The RemovedBrandon Hobson

One last StopCasey McQuiston

My Year AbroadChang-rae Lee

SankofaChibundu Onuzo

The Life of the MindChristine Smallwood

The promiseDamon Galgut

Real EstateDeborah Levy

Oh WilliamElizabeth Strout

Our Country FriendsGary Shetyngart

The Sum of UsHeather McGhee

While we were DatingJasmine Guillory

Hell of a BookJason Mott

SilverviewJohn Le Carre

CrossroadsJonathan Franzen

LibertieKaitlyn Greenidge

Seeing GhostsKat Chow

There's no Such Thing as An Easy JobKikuko Tsumaura

Seek YouKristen Radtke

The Rib KingLadee Hubbard

MatrixLauren Groll

Great CircleMaggie Shipstead

Acts of DesperationMegan Nolan

Milk FedMelissa Broder

HeavenMieko Kawakanmi

The Sweetness of WaterNathan Harris

The Chosen and the BeautifulNghi Vo

Remote ControlNnedi Okarafor

No one is Talking About ThisPatricia Lockwood

The TreesPercival Everett

Second PlaceRachel Cusk

SorrowlandRivers Solomon

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a WitchRivka Galchen

The ProphetsRobert Jones Jr

The Book of Form and EmptinessRuth Ozeki

Razorblade tearsSA Cosby

Beautiful World, Where Are YouSally Rooney

China RoomSunjeev Sahota

All that She CarriedTiya Miles

Detransition, BabyTorrey Peters

The Other Black GirlZakiya Dalila Harris

The CommittedViet Thanh Nguyen

SilverviewJohn Le Carre

My Year AbroadChang Rae Lee

Agatha of Little NeonClaire Luchette

I love You But I've Chosen DarknessClaire Vaye Watkins

the MagicianColm Toibin

WaywardDana Spiotta

I wishedDennis Cooper

GhostsDolly Alderton

Everything I have is YoursEleanor Henderson

The Fourth ChildJessica Winter

CrossroadsJohnathan Franzen

A Calling for Charlie BarnesJoshua Ferris

IntimaciesKatie Kitamura

Klara and the SunKazuo Ishiguro

With TeethKristin Arnett

The Last Thing He Told MeLaura Dave

House of SticksLy Tran

Milk FedMelissa Broder

MisfitsMichela Coel

AftershocksNadia Owusu

NoraNuala O'Connor

Second PlaceRachel Cusk

The Other Black GirlZakiya

Detransition, BabyTorrey Peters

Somebody's DaughterAshley C Ford

All That She CarriedTiya Miles

CrossroadsJnathan Franzen

Klara and the SunKazuo Ishiguro

MatrixLauren Groff

All novels featured in the CEOWORLD magazine are independently selected by our editors. Happy reading!

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