Whether you studied for a Literature degree at university or not, chances are you feel a strange pressure to read what scholars refer to as canonical texts.
Comprised of authors who have been deemed by history to have universal, philosophical relevance – the Western literary canon isn’t actually as vast and wide-ranging as a contemporary reader might hope.
While filled to the brim with numerous historical texts which can certainly be studied with a fine-toothed comb, the sheer number of books published in the UK alone year-on-year makes keeping up with ground-breaking contemporary books feel like a thankless task.
New literary talents are constantly emerging, making reconciling an interest in literature both old and new incredibly overwhelming. In the UK alone, the year 2020 saw 186,000 new ISBNs registered. Time afforded by lockdowns aside, this is still more pages than the average human brain can fathom reading in a lifetime.
Yet what constitutes ‘good’ literature anyway, and whose job is it to decide what’s worth reading? The inherently subjective nature of both fiction and non-fiction texts makes searching for that next juicy read even more impossible.
We don’t mean to discourage you from sinking your teeth into a fantastic novel – far from it. However, we sincerely recognise the immense sense of pressure many readers feel to pick up an old stuffy novel which doesn’t suit their modern sensibilities. Likewise, combing through the millions of contemporary books on offer can be eye-wateringly difficult – especially when it seems as though the price of books is constantly rising.
That’s why we’ve curated a selection of incredible reads, spanning from hot-off-the-press launches and novels which have come to define 21st-century readership. Spending our hard-earned cash on a book we can’t bring ourselves to finish? No, thank you. However, we would suggest purchasing a local library card or an Audible subscription if you find that this is far too often the case. You can thank us later.
Historical classics aside, these modern novels have reached unfathomable levels of popularity. We’re talking about the kind of novel which, though it stands wonderfully alone, regular bookshop dwellers are constantly asking when and if there might just be a sequel.
Keep scrolling for a round-up of some of the best modern, contemporary novels to add to your bustling bookshelves.
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Wandering Souls by Cecile Pin
Published in paperback in January 2024, Cecile Pin’s debut novel has already been met with rave reviews. Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023, this heart-breaking piece of contemporary literature begins just after the last American troops leave Vietnam.
A trio of siblings, separated from the rest of their family and utterly alone in the world, navigate a series of perilous journeys which see them take refuge in camps and resettlement centres until they find themselves in Thatcher-era Britain.
In a poignant, sweeping narrative that oscillates between the world of the living and the dead, this haunting story nevertheless tells the tale of unmoored Vietnamese children in the UK with an emphasis on heritage and hope.
Buy now £8.49, Waterstones
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
It’s hard to imagine that an entire decade has passed since 2014. It’s even harder to imagine that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah has been with us for that long. The award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun manages to craft a timeless narrative which follows protagonist Ifemelu from her early adolescence in Nigeria to her adulthood in America, and a move back to Nigeria later in life.
An epic treatise on the fallacy of Western utopias and the struggle to maintain a sense of cultural identity in an increasingly globalised world, Adichie writes of what it means to be Black in modern America with guts, humour and heart-wrenching romance.
Buy now £9.19, Amazon
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
This cult-favourite author’s surrealist odyssey follows two characters who never meet, yet whose bizarrely parallel tales send them each on individual journeys of self-discovery. The young Kafka Tamura is a runaway teen seeking to escape an Oedipal curse, while Satoru Nakata is an elderly cat whisperer. Exploring themes of language and communication, the subconscious mind, fate and dislocation, Murakami’s 2005 novel is a magical realism mystery ride and a 21st-century must-read.
Buy now £9.99, Waterstones
Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors
Instantly devourable, Coco Mellors’ debut novel explores the breakdown of a relationship that was doomed from the start. Effortlessly beautiful, young and unbearably talented artist Cleo marries a much older, much richer and incredibly charming Frank – whom she meets on a stairwell following a New York party.
An exploration of the effects of intense, spontaneous romantic entanglement – not just on respective lovers, but on the family and friends they gain and lose along the way – Mellors constructs a biting novel which effortlessly charges through concepts of identity, derealisation, mental illness and human connection with silky-smooth ease.
Buy now £8.49, Waterstones
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The one-word reviews which adorn the cover of Yanagihara’s best-selling A Little Life truly say it all. ‘Devastating,’ ‘Astonishing’, and ‘Extraordinary’ are certainly apt adjectives to employ for such a masterful novel, which tends to leave readers in floods of tears. As such, we wouldn’t recommend it if you’re not in the mood for a good old sob.
It’s a 700-page epic following the lives of four recent college graduates who settle in New York, and sees Yanagihara ask – to what end can a human being suffer before it is too much? A story of remarkable endurance, love and friendship, A Little Life is not for the faint-hearted but is most definitely a must-read.
Buy now £9.74, Amazon
Piranesi by Susanna Clark
From the best-selling author of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clark’s Piranesi is a mystical, contemporary marvel which explores a narrative and structure so unique that it is almost unfathomable just how Clark has conjured it into being.
Our titular protagonist Piranesi has always lived in the House. He is a scientist, who each day records the marvels of his celestial home – its endless labyrinthine halls and staircases leading to nowhere, its changing ocean tides and half-submerged colossal statues, its generous fruits and marvellous creatures. But when scratched-out messages begin to appear in faraway halls, Piranesi takes it upon himself to discover what might be hiding beyond his heavenly marble walls.
Buy now £6.29, Amazon
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
A modern novel for lovers of historical fiction, Hamnet is the story of an 11-year-old boy taken by the plague. Hamnet is the late son of a rather famous playwright, and O’Farrell’s book is ultimately a tale of unwavering grief, and how the untimely loss of a child and brother haunts a family. The boy’s father channels his guilt and devastation into a tragedy for stage which he calls Hamlet, in a desperate attempt to heal the unbearable cracks in his family.
Buy now £8.99, Amazon
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The lives of a blind French girl named Marie-Laure and a German boy named Werner collide in occupied France following the devastation of World War II. The brilliant daughter of a man in charge of precious exhibits at the Museum of Natural History, and a son forced to join the Hitler Youth until he discovers a hidden talent through a broken radio – Doerr masterfully weaves the narratives of two parallel stories destined to overlap.
Buy now £8.99, Amazon
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
A story of unwavering female friendship, Elena and Lila grow up together in a poor, violent suburb on the outskirts of Naples in the 1950s. Their seemingly juxtaposing personalities come to a head when it is discovered that the rebellious Lila turns out to be a veritable childhood prodigy. As they grow older, their paths diverge when Elena’s father is able to pay for her further education – while Lila is left behind. Ferrante creates a beautiful portrait of two incredible women, posed against the backdrop of a tumultuous, ever-changing city.
Buy now £6.99, Amazon
Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Most young adults born in the mid-to-late 90s consider Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses to be their first foray into dystopian fiction. Attempting to kindle love in a segregated world, where crosses live a life of privilege and noughts exist solely to serve them – Sephy and Callum must fight against all the institutions that threaten to destroy them.
Buy now £8.27, Amazon
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
When a highly intelligent chemist is offered the starring role in the USA’s favourite cooking show, Supper at Six, she takes it upon herself to offer the average American woman a tad more than some simple instructions on how to perfectly roast a chicken. Set in the 1960s, Elizabeth Zott dares to challenge patriarchal society through her experience as a scientist, as well as her natural-born charisma, humour and sheer intellect.
Buy now £5.00, Amazon
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Donna Tartt’s The Secret History isn’t your average murder mystery – for we know who is killed, and who the killers are, within the first few pages of this dark tale. The narrator of this inverted piece of crime fiction, Richard Papen, transfers to an elite liberal arts college in Vermont to escape his disinterested and abusive family in California.
Papen finds himself enamoured by a small group of seemingly perfect, erudite Greek students who are taught in secretive tutorials by an eccentric professor. Desperate to enter into the folds of the seemingly impenetrable group, Papen manages to convince the faculty to switch majors – a decision which would turn out to be both deadly and damning.
Buy now £9.19, Amazon
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
This best-seller is about a 36-year-old woman named Keiko who has never had a boyfriend and has worked in the same convenience store for 18 years. A novel that will have you bowled over with laughter while clutching your heart in sheer awe, Murata’s Convenience Store Woman is a story of self-love and acceptance without any of the sappy language which usually surrounds such grandiose themes.
Buy now £6.99, Amazon
