#10 Superb Books Of The 00s That Are Nonetheless Nice – Destructoid
The 2000s gave us the Shrek films and a ton of nu-metal bands, however I believe the last decade managed to redeem itself with its literature.
It’s exhausting to say what the canon will appear like 100 years from now, however I’m keen to guess a number of of those books handle to face the check of time. Whether or not you’re on the lookout for a nostalgic re-read or making an attempt to return for one thing you missed, right here’s a guide that also holds up from annually of the aughts.
Choosing a favourite guide is an unattainable process, but when I needed to do it, I’d decide Home of Leaves. The debut novel from Mark Z. Danielewski remains to be arguably his finest work, and it’s really not like some other guide you’ll encounter in your life. Home of Leaves is a component essential movie evaluation, half drug diary, and half horror story. The majority of the novel follows a household whose lives are torn aside after they uncover their home has an infinite labyrinth of darkish hallways within it, however their story is de facto solely the start of the fear.
American Gods is a sprawling fantasy novel written by Neil Gaiman. The story follows an ex-convict named Shadow who, after being launched from jail, will get a job as a bodyguard. The one downside is that Shadow doesn’t know his new boss is secretly the god Odin and that a complete vary of mystical and mythological figures are struggling for energy all throughout America. Shadow quickly finds himself preventing for his life as he struggles to determine the character of the plot he’s been pulled into.
Jeffrey Eugenides’ transferring novel is a coming-of-age story about Cal (Calliope) Stephanides, who was born intersex and raised as a woman. Cal’s story truly begins lengthy earlier than their beginning, nevertheless, and the novel travels again to 1922 to elucidate how Cal’s grandfather immigrated to the US. Middlesex is an exceptional instance of an intergenerational story, nevertheless it additionally has one of the memorable protagonists of the aughts.
The one factor you actually need to find out about Oryx and Crake to comprehend it’s price studying is that it was written by Margaret Atwood. The guide is definitely the start of a trilogy a couple of post-apocalyptic world and the tip of humanity. In typical Atwood trend, Oryx and Crake is a good learn for anybody who loves entertaining style fiction, however there’s additionally one thing right here for individuals who need a deeper examination of themes like love, gender, and the risks of medical know-how.
How I Reside Now is a post-apocalyptic younger grownup novel by Meg Rosoff that was tailored right into a 2013 film starring Saoirse Ronan because the protagonist, Daisy. Simply as a 3rd world warfare is starting to interrupt out, Daisy is shipped away to reside along with her aunt within the UK. There, she falls in love with a boy named Edmond, however earlier than their relationship can take off, the nation collapses, and troopers seize the property the place Daisy’s aunt lives, forcing her to battle for her personal survival in any respect prices.
With By no means Let Me Go, writer Kazuo Ishiguro crafted one of the emotionally devastating sci-fi novels of all time. The novel is ready in an alternate model of the Nineteen Nineties, the place human clones are mass-produced and harvested for his or her organs. The protagonist is Kathy, a girl who spent her childhood at a boarding faculty for clones and grew as much as be a caretaker offering a type of hospice care to clones who’re saved alive till they’ve donated so many organs they’ll’t survive. Like the perfect sci-fi, By no means Let Me Go places the characters on the forefront, and after studying the guide, you received’t have the ability to overlook them.
Enjoyable House is the one comedian on this checklist, nevertheless it greater than earns its spot. Drawn and written by Alison Bechdel, the guide was printed in 2006 and have become a smash success. Enjoyable House is a memoir about Bechdel’s childhood and relationship along with her father that additionally doubles as a narrative about her coming to phrases along with her personal gender and sexuality. The guide is equal components transferring and hilarious, which is strictly why it labored so nicely when it was tailored right into a Broadway musical in 2015.
Khaled Hosseini is finest recognized for writing The Kite Runner, however I’d argue that A Thousand Splendid Suns is an excellent higher novel. The guide is ready within the metropolis of Herat and follows two ladies, Miriam and Laila, struggling to seek out their place on this planet. As a younger girl, Miriam is compelled to marry a a lot older man named Rasheed. greater than a decade later, Rasheed additionally marries Laila, their younger neighbor. The 2 ladies are introduced collectively unwillingly, however their relationship modifications their lives without end.
The Starvation Video games is emblematic of the fascination the 2000s had with dystopian fiction. Loads of the dystopian novels launched throughout that decade don’t maintain up, however surprisingly, The Starvation Video games actually does. Say what you need concerning the sequels, however Suzanne Collins’s unique imaginative and prescient of a TV-obsessed world being dominated by a violent fascist authorities feels each bit as prescient as we speak because it did almost 20 years in the past.
Kathryn Stockett’s The Assist made such an affect when it was first printed in 2009 that two years later, we bought a movie adaptation starring Viola Davis, Olivia Spencer, and Emma Stone. The novel is ready in Jackson, Mississippi, within the Nineteen Sixties and follows three ladies from totally different walks of life. Aibileen and Minny are maids who work for rich white households, and Eugenia “Skeeter” is an aspiring author who begins wanting into the disappearance of one other maid named Constantine and makes some surprising discoveries.
