At the start of the year, many of you will likely have had a list of books to get through this year, perhaps including a fantasy or a recent Hunger Games instalment. However, many books worth our time have been released since 2020.
At the beginning of the decade, Barack Obama released his memoir, and Maggie O’Farrell published her original take on William Shakespeare’s family. Here is a list of the top books of the decade so far, as ranked by Goodreads.
10. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
This creative love story by Gabrielle Zevin explores the decades-long friendship between Sam Masur and Sadie Green, both now video game designers who first met as children and later reunite in college. When they decide to collaborate on a video game, they are met with massive success, but with that comes huge tests. The novel has themes of identity, love, loss, and the power of human connection.
(Image: Amazon)
9. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Bonnie Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry follows an excellent chemist, Elizabeth Zott, as she navigates a male-dominated 1960s America while juggling her career with motherhood. After she is fired from her lab, her career is turned around and she unexpectedly becomes a beloved cooking show host where she uses her scientific knowledge to challenge societal expectations and empower women. The story explores themes of feminism, resilience, and the power of found families.
(Image: Soundcloud)
8. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke focuses on a man named Piranesi who lives in a vast, labyrinthine House filled with statues and tides, where he is for the most part alone, except for his visitor Other, who goes to him twice a week. Piranesi spends his time documenting his world in journals, focusing on its strange beauty and the rhythms of the tides and clouds. But as Piranesi explores, he discovers evidence of another presence in the House, leading him to question his own reality and identity.
(Image: TOAST)
6. Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1) by Rebecca Yarros
Rebecca Yarros’ first instalment of adult romance fantasy, The Empryean trilogy, follows the journey of Violet Sorrengail, after she is forced by her mother, General Sorrengail, to join the Basgiath War College and become a dragon rider in the kingdom of Navarre. The Empyrean series has taken over the decade to date, with Yarros books becoming hugely popular and set to be turned into a series by Amazon Prime.
(Image: Amazon)