You ever look back at a decade of reading and realize how much slipped past you? The 2010s were weird. We were all supposed to be drowning in screens, yet some of the most stubbornly human books of the last twenty years showed up between 2010 and 2020.
I keep a messy shelf of "best books of 2010 to 2020" that I actually reread, not just the ones that won prizes. And honestly, that shelf tells a better story than any year-end list.
Here's the thing — picking the best books from a whole decade isn't about crowning winners. It's about remembering what cracked something open in us.
What Is a Decade's Worth of "Best Books"
When people say best books of 2010 to 2020, they usually mean the titles that mattered — the ones that got passed around, argued over, and quietly changed how a lot of us see things. But "best" is slippery. Worth adding: a book that won the Booker might leave you cold. A self-published memoir might wreck you in the best way Turns out it matters..
The short version is: this was a decade where fiction got looser, nonfiction got sharper, and debut voices from everywhere started actually getting shelf space. We saw climate anxiety show up in novels. That said, we saw essay collections become protest signs. We saw poetry sell out bookstores again — who expected that in 2014?
Not Just the Award Winners
Look, the prizes matter. But the real best books of the 2010s include the ones your friend texted you about at midnight. They get books into libraries. The ones you lent and never got back Most people skip this — try not to..
Genre Stopped Apologizing
One big shift: literary fiction and genre fiction stopped pretending they hated each other. Even so, a sci-fi novel could be the most human thing you read. Worth adding: a crime thriller could be about grief. That blur made the decade's reading better.
Why These Books Still Matter
Why does any of this matter in 2024? Because the books from 2010 to 2020 are basically a time capsule of how we thought we were doing. They caught us mid-scroll, mid-crisis, mid-identity-argument Worth keeping that in mind..
Most people skip the context and just want a list. But the context is the point. A novel like The Underground Railroad (2016) hits differently when you remember the conversations about race and history happening that year. A book like Sapiens (2011) shaped how a generation talked about humans and power Less friction, more output..
And here's what most people miss: the best books of that decade didn't just reflect the world. They trained us to read the world. Slowly. With more doubt Took long enough..
How to Actually Find the Best Books of 2010 to 2020
If you want to build your own reading list from those ten years, don't start with a single "top 100" post. Start with angles.
Step 1: Pick Your Lane (Then Leave It)
Start where you are. On top of that, begin with the Booker and Pulitzer shortlists from 2010–2020. But then wander. This leads to like literary fiction? Look at the National Book Award nonfiction winners. Like nonfiction? The best stuff often lives one shelf over.
Step 2: Use the "Three Friends" Rule
If three people you trust mention the same book from that decade, it goes on the list. Not because it's objectively great — because it's doing something in the culture. That's how I found Educated (2018) and The Song of Achilles (2011), both of which I almost skipped Simple as that..
Step 3: Read at Least One Thing You Disagree With
Turns out, the decade's most useful books were sometimes the ones I argued with. Consider this: Hillbilly Elegy (2016) is a good example. On the flip side, loved or hated, it shaped a conversation. Reading it taught me more than avoiding it would have.
Step 4: Track Themes, Not Just Titles
Notice what kept showing up: migration, memory, technology, body autonomy, climate. The best books of 2010 to 2020 often clustered around those. A theme gives your reading a spine.
Step 5: Revisit, Don't Just Collect
I know it sounds simple — but it's easy to miss. Worth adding: a book you bounced off in 2013 might land completely differently in 2021. The decade's books deserve a second pass.
Common Mistakes People Make With Decade Lists
Honestly, this is the part most guides get wrong. They treat "best books of 2010 to 2020" like a fixed canon. It isn't.
One mistake: only reading what won. Prize committees have blind spots. Big ones. Another mistake: ignoring translations. Some of the decade's best came from Korea, Nigeria, Chile, and Japan — and got buried under English-language hype.
And look, don't trust any list that claims objectivity. And there isn't any. So naturally, a list with no biases is a list with no point of view. The good lists sound like a person, not a algorithm.
Another miss: people forget the middle of the decade. In practice, 2010–2013 and 2017–2020 get all the attention. But 2014–2016 had Station Eleven, The Paying Guests, and Between the World and Me. Quietly huge It's one of those things that adds up..
Practical Tips for Reading the 2010s Well
Here's what actually works if you want to dig into this decade without drowning.
- Keep a "maybe" pile. Don't force a book because it's "important." Let it wait. The best books of 2010 to 2020 will still be there.
- Mix formats. I read some on paper, some as audio. Becoming (2018) on audio is a different experience than on page. Use that.
- Talk about them. Book group, group chat, whatever. The decade's books were built for argument.
- Notice your own drift. If you only read one kind of story, you're missing the decade. I caught myself doing this with climate fiction — avoided it, then The Overstory (2018) shut me up.
- Write one line after each book. Not a review. Just: "this mattered because ___." You'll thank yourself later.
Real talk — the goal isn't to finish a list. It's to find the few books from those years that you'll press into someone's hands.
FAQ
What is widely considered the best book of the 2010s? There's no single answer, but The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead and A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara come up constantly. Both polarized readers, which is usually a sign a book actually did something Most people skip this — try not to..
Are there good nonfiction books from 2010 to 2020? Tons. Sapiens (2011), Educated (2018), Becoming (2018), and Between the World and Me (2015) are starters. The nonfiction from that decade often read like novels and hit like protests.
Did any debut novels from that decade stand out? Yes — The Song of Achilles (2011) by Madeline Miller, Convenience Store Woman (2016, English 2018) by Sayaka Murata, and Such a Fun Age (2019) by Kiley Reid all arrived as debuts and stuck Easy to understand, harder to ignore..
Why are 2010–2020 book lists so different from each other? Because the decade was long, fragmented, and global. What mattered in India in 2012 isn't what mattered in the US in 2019. Good lists admit that. Bad ones pretend otherwise Simple, but easy to overlook..
Should I read these books in order? No. Read by mood or theme. The decade isn't a series. It's a pile of conversations happening at different volumes.
The best books of 2010 to 2020 aren't going anywhere, and neither are the arguments they started — so you might as well pull one off the shelf and see which side of the conversation you land on.
