What's the best book written in this millennium? ?

Question

I've kinda been sitting and waiting for the last eight years for a book that would obviously be the first masterpiece of the 21st century, but it doesn't seem to have happened yet.

Maybe The Kite Runner? Or March? Against the Day?

What do you think?

EDIT: Even MENTIONING Twilight or Harry Potter in this thread will cause me severe physical pain, due to a rare mysterious medical condition I've had since birth. So please don't.

Answer 1

I'd love to say that it's Lunar Park by Ellis, but that book only makes perfect sense when compared to his body of previous work.  It was great though.

It's going to be a long time before we can make any definitive statements, I think.  Especially giving that Post-Modernism seems to be trying to evolve into something else.  I think we could probably right now make a couple guesses about who's going to write it though.  Maybe DeLillo, or even Ellis - perhaps McCarthy.

And since I'm stuck in McCarthy mode for the evening, I think I'd cast my vote with The Road.  That's probably the most important novel that's been written thus for this millennium - for it's social commentary and it's literary value/achievement (I can't decide which word to use.).

And that's rare, perhaps clear thinking, for me.  I like my transgressive authors, and am a DeLillo maniac, but that book has had a reverberating effect in me.  It seems to rise to the surface every couple weeks and remind me that I just read a magnificent, important novel.  It's achieved a fairly popular status too, probably with some thanks to the magnificent film adaption of No Country, but it's already being added to the curriculum of American Lit classes at my school.  A rare double whammy for a novel to be accepted popularly and academically in the same time frame, you must admit, and it speaks highly of the book's impact on the psyches of individuals and the culture at the moment.  

So I'm voting for The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

(But Lunar Park by Ellis is fricken' great!  :)

{nod of the hat to Zoemstof}

Answer 2

Written since 2000?  "Blasphemy" by Douglas Preston or "Cadillac Beach" by Tim Dorsey.

Answer 3

I'm certainly not the one to decide what the first masterpiece of the 21st century is, but I might have to agree that it hasn't happened yet.  That doesn't mean some great books haven't been written and published over the past 8 years, it just means that the books I've read from the past 8 years didn't quite live up to the standards of a "masterpiece."

Granted, maybe I'm not the best to judge this.  For certain, and for perhaps obvious reasons, I actually don't read many modern books.  I just finished an Edgar Rice Burroughs book that was published in 1923, and I really enjoyed it.  And I'm now finishing up a go-through of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, after which I plan to read some more Edgar Rice Burroughs or something along those lines.

As for modern authors, my favorite might be Dean Koontz.  Although, I haven't read too many of his books yet (I recently started reading his works), and I actually may not have even read any of Koontz's books written in this millenium.  I'll admit that I really do enjoy Koontz's books, and he may be one of the best suspense authors I've ever read, but I still probably wouldn't say his works are "masterpieces" (but again, maybe he did write something in this millenium that is absolutely amazing but that I just haven't gotten my hands on yet)...I'll also offer you only a little bit of physical pain while I'm on the topic of modern authors/books and say that I have read the Harry Potter books, and I did enjoy them for their entertainment.  Alongside that, I can't deny that HP did become a phenomenon.  But in the realm of literature, those aren't "masterpieces" that I would compare to authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and Jane Austen.  That wasn't too painful, was it?

So, after that long ramble of mine, I guess the bottom line is that I'm not really a good judge in this area, given that I mostly read books much older than myself.  But even then, I don't really think that the first masterpiece of this millenium has been written yet, but who's to say...

Best wishes!

Answer 4

well even though it causes you severe physical pain, you have to admit harry potter has topped the list seeing how kids actually slept outside bookstores for it, and JK rowling is now one of the richest persons of the world, sorry dude but its fact... I think the types of books you read are more for adults (not implying anything to do with erotica lol) and you probally are... I think people (teenagers and kids and young adults) nowadays only like to read books that carry on for more than two books. but im gonna try reading the books you 'older' people read (sorry if I affended you, or caused you severe physical pain =]  )

Answer 5

Oh... Can I choose four? It's such a long time...

1. The Lord of the Rings - Tolkien

2. Great Expectations - Dickens

3. On the Road - Kerouac

4. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - Joyce  

Answer 6

Hmmmm..... The Kite Runner perhaps. I haven't read any of the others you mentioned. I agree there is a lack of great books these days, I mean there's really good ones, but no masterpieces as you said.

Hehe, if anyone actually thinks Twilight is the best book in this millennium  then I deeply pity them.....haha.

Answer 7

before i read the rest of this question i instantly thought The Kite Runner.

it was incredible.

i shed so many tears because of that book.

it almost changed the way i viewed the world. honestly the best book i've ever read.  

Answer 8

Either The Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns. Both books moved me very much.

Answer 9

I have to throw a good word in for The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. It was philosophical enough and vague enough, I think, to be a very important book for a very long time.

Answer 10

try the year the gypsies came or the lovely bones if you loved the kite runner. i also love matthew reilly, malorie blackman, etc. try the year

and do you mean this millennium as in the 2000's? because i don't think you can get better than shakespeare, bronte, austen, dickens, thackery etc. if you are refering to the last 100 odd year :P

unfortunately, for me personally, my favorites would have to be both the books you have requested not to be mentioned :D

sorry, as an edit i just saw you did say the 21st century.

Answer 11

For me it's a tie between 1984 by George Orwell and The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

Answer 12

My choice is Dune by Frank Herbert.