Top 50 'Best Books of the 21st Century' Selected by Kyobo Bookstore MD

Selected Works Published Between 2000 and 2024
One Book Introduced Weekly Until July

Kyobo Bookstore is hosting a special event called ‘21st Century Classics 50,’ where MDs select the representative books of this era. The selection covers books published from 2000 to 2024, highlighting works that represent the first 25 years of the 21st century. The event was inspired by the ‘100 Best Books of the 21st Century’ announced by The New York Times last year.

The books were chosen by Kyobo Bookstore’s MDs from various fields, considering both literary quality and popularity. The event will run for about seven months, from January to July 2025. Among the total 50 books, 25 novels will be introduced weekly from January to June. The MDs will provide continuous reading guidance to readers, including personally written recommendations. The themes and selected books for the remaining 25 titles will be revealed all at once in July.

The books introduced from January to the present are as follows: ▲ My Brilliant Friend (Elena Ferrante, 2011) is a coming-of-age novel centered on the friendship between two girls, Lenu and Lila, set in a small town in Naples, Italy, after World War II. The work explores human relationships through delicate psychological descriptions and portrays growth amid changing times.

▲ Paper Menagerie (Ken Liu, 2016) is a collection of short stories that won the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards. It uses scientific imagination to fill gaps in reality, deeply exploring human emotions and relationships, offering readers a fresh perspective.

▲ Normal People (Sally Rooney, 2018) is a novel depicting the anxieties and confusions of youth through the relationship between high school students Connell and Marianne. It delicately expresses their growth as they repeatedly experience disconnection and connection, influencing each other.

▲ Ready Player One (Ernest Cline, 2011) is a novel set in a virtual reality world in 2045, featuring a unique narrative structure based on 1980s pop culture. It raises questions about technological advancement and human happiness and is regarded as presenting a new paradigm in the science fiction genre.

▲ Summer Is Long Gone (Masashi Matsuie, 2012) tells the story of employees at Murai Architectural Office working together at a summer villa, exploring the harmony between architecture and life. The work combines an emotional writing style with profound themes, delivering a gentle resonance to readers.

During the event, a reading certification event will be held where participants can write out and verify memorable sentences from the works by hand to enter a drawing for e-vouchers.

A Kyobo Bookstore representative stated, “Through this ‘21st Century Classics 50’ event, we hope readers will discover books that will establish themselves as new classics of this era,” adding, “We will continue to expand communication with readers and strive to foster a richer reading culture.”