With two years under our belt now seems like a good time to start making arbitrary lists about the best novels of the decade. Here is my top 10 from 2020-2021 and I’ll update it accordingly as time progresses and new ones come out.

A Running List of the Best Novels of the 2020s

Updated January 2022

#10 – Interior Chinatown

by Charles Yu (2020)

Read it if: You’re looking for a sizzling send-up of race in Hollywood and the film industry.

Movie Adaptation Dream Team

Director – Charlie Kaufman

Starring:

Simu Liu as Willis Wu

#9 – Ruthie Fear

by Maxim Loskutoff (2020)

Read it if: You want a wistful and fantastical tale of the New West. 

Movie Adaptation Dream Team

Director – Benh Zeitlin

Starring:

Suzanna Son as Ruthie Fear
Nicolas Cage as Rutherford Fear

#8 – The Smash-Up

by Ali Benjamin (2021)

Read it if: You’re interested in a waggish satire of post-Obama era suburban liberal families. 

Movie Adaptation Dream Team

Director – Noah Baumbach

Starring:

Jesse Pleamons as Ethan
Ann Hathaway as Zenobia 
Brooklynn Prince as Alex
Zendaya as Maddy

#7 – Barn 8

by Deb Olin Unferth (2020)

Read it if: You like a good anti-animal cruelty caper. 

Movie Adaptation Dream Team

Director – Gillian Robespierre

Starring:

Jenny Slate as Janey Flores
AliMelissa McCarthy as Cleveland Smith

#6 – Milk Fed

by Melissa Broder (2021)

Read it if: Your sexual desires profoundly confuse you but you kind of like it.

Movie Adaptation Dream Team

Director – Emma Seligman

Starring:

Rachel Sennott as Rachel 
Nikki Garza as Miriam 

#5 – We Ride Upon Sticks

by Quan Barry (2020)

Read it if: You’re looking for a modern and supernatural spin on the rag-tag youth sports team drama. 

Movie Adaptation Dream Team

Director – Crystal Moselle

Starring:

Olivia Rodrigo as Abby Putnam
Elsie Fisher as Jen Fiorenza
Finn Wolfhard as Boy Cory
Willow Smith as Girl Cory

#4 – The Plot

by Jean Hanff Korelitz (2021)

Read it if: You like plot. Great plot. Not even kidding. 

Movie Adaptation Dream Team

Director – Joel and Ethan Coen

Starring:

Michael Pena as Jacob Finch Bonner
Jimmy Tatro as Evan Parker
Rosamund Pike as Anna

#3 – No One is Talking About This

by Patricia Lockwood (2021)

Read it if: You need a break from it all when the all is heavy.

Movie Adaptation Dream Team

Director – Gaspar Noé

Starring:

Kristen Stewart as Narrator

#2 – The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett (2020)

Read it if: You’re drawn to sprawling and entrancing tales of family, identity, society. 

Movie Adaptation Dream Team

Director – Steve McQueen

Starring:

Ruth Negga as Desiree Vignes/Stella Vignes
Demi Singleton as Young Jude
Dominique Fishback as Adult Jude 
Ludacris as Alphonse Decuir
Mahershala Ali as Early Jones 
Kingston Farady as Reese Carter
Bradley Cooper as Blake Sanders

#1 – Apeirogon

by Colum McCann (2020)

Read it if: You want to be moved. A truly profound and soul-stirring novel about conflict and peace, family, love, life, and loss; Apeirogon masterfully weaves together the story of two families left unwhole by the Israel-Palestine conflict. Based on the real-life stories of Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin, McCann tells the story in 1001 chapters over 500 pages, reminding us of the moments in life that can be both fleet and forever.

Movie Adaptation Dream Team

Director – Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi

Starring:

Alon Abutbul as Rami Elhanan
Ali Suliman as Bassam Aramin

Slam Zuckert is a municipal bureaucrat emeritus. He sees a lot of movies and reads a lot of books and sometimes writes about them. His favorite movie is There Will Be Blood, his favorite mathematician is Georg Cantor, and his least favorite mathematician is Leopold Kronecker.