The 21st century is far from over, but it’s never too early to make reading lists! This is the opinion of the prestigious New York Timeswhich published its updated list of the 100 most important books of this century at the end of 2024. An international ranking, which combines works from the four corners of the world. And great news: two French novels are in the ranking. Two books that we owe to women.
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37th place for “Les Années” by Annie Ernaux
The novelist, named Nobel Prize for Literature 2022, enters the ranking with her book The Yearspublished in 2008. Impersonal autobiography » by the author, the book has won multiple awards, including the French Language Prize and the Marguerite Duras Prize. Annie Ernaux recounts memories based on “ photos, memories left by events, words and things », as detailed by the publisher Gallimard. Hailed by critics, the work has undergone several reissues and has been translated into several languages for publication throughout the world.
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-“Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi in 48th place
In a completely different genre, we find a little further down in the classification of New York Times the comic book series by Marjane Satrapi. The Franco-Iranian author recounts, over the course of 4 volumes published between 2000 and 2003, her childhood in Iran, the Islamic revolution that the country is experiencing and the arrival of her family in Europe. Huge success in bookstores, Persepolis sold a million copies in France and the saga has been translated into many languages. Marjane Satrapi made an animated feature film from her works in 2007. A multi-award winning film, notably at the Cannes Film Festival.
Which book is in first place in the ranking?
It is the Italian novelist Elena Ferrante who occupies the very first place on this list, with her literary saga The wonderful friend. Three volumes followed the first book of the same name, published in 2011. Never awarded an award, the initial novel and its three sequels were adapted for the small screen. American journalist Isabel Wilkerson takes second place in the ranking with her book The Warmth of Other Sunsin which she traces the Great African-American Migration, which led millions of African-Americans established in the southern United States to settle in other regions. Volume 1 of Advisea historical literary saga by Irish novelist Hilary Mantel, occupies third place in the ranking.
