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Books

All-Time High Scores
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
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All-Time High Scores: The Best-Reviewed Books

The following tables lists the all-time highest-scoring books in our database. The higher a Metascore for a book (on a 0-100 scale), the better the overall reviews for that book were.

Note that our database currently dates back to mid-2004, when we first began coverage of books. Eventually, we will begin supplementing our database with older titles as well. Note also that a book must have a minimum of seven reviews to qualify for inclusion on these lists.


Fiction

1 Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky 2006 95
2 Little Scarlet by Walter Mosley 2004 93
3 The Road by Cormac McCarthy 2006 90
4 The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos 2006 90
5 The Circus In Winter by Cathy Day 2004 90
6 Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh 2006 89
7 Beasts Of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala 2005 89
8 In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar 2007 89
9 The Line Of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst 2004 89
10 The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis 2006 88
11 Runaway by Alice Munro 2004 88
12 The People's Act Of Love by James Meek 2006 88
13 Ice Haven by Daniel Clowes 2005 88
14 Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith 2004 87
15 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 2004 87
16 The March by E.L. Doctorow 2005 87
17 Europe Central by William T. Vollmann 2005 87
18 Harbor by Lorraine Adams 2004 87
19 Heir To The Glimmering World by Cynthia Ozick 2004 86
20 The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly 2005 86
21 The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich 2005 85
22 The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud 2006 85
23 After This by Alice McDermott 2006 85
24 Veronica by Mary Gaitskill 2005 85
25 Twilight Of The Superheroes by Deborah Eisenberg 2006 85
26 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami 2006 85
27 Intuition by Allegra Goodman 2006 84
28 The Accidental by Ali Smith 2006 83
29 An Unfinished Season by Ward Just 2004 83
30 Between Two Rivers by Nicholas Rinaldi 2004 83
31 The In-Between World Of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji 2004 83
32 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke 2004 83
33 Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell 2004 82
34 Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris 2007 82
35 The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard 2005 82
36 The Night Watch by Sarah Waters 2006 82
37 Little Black Book Of Stories by A.S. Byatt 2004 81
38 Crossing California by Adam Langer 2004 81
39 When The Nines Roll Over by David Benioff 2004 81
40 The Last Of Her Kind by Sigrid Nunez 2006 81
41 The Master by Colm Tóibín 2004 81
42 California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker 2004 81
43 The Closers by Michael Connelly 2005 81
44 Black Swan Green by David Mitchell 2006 81
45 The Lemon Table by Julian Barnes 2004 80
46 Everyman by Philip Roth 2006 80
47 Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman 2005 80
48 Christine Falls by Benjamin Black 2007 80
49 The Amalgamation Polka by Stephen Wright 2006 80
50 The Testing Of Luther Albright by MacKenzie Bezos 2005 80
51 The Plot Against America by Philip Roth 2004 80
52 Old Boys by Charles McCarry 2004 80
53 The Year Is '42 by Nella Bielski 2004 79
54 Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami 2005 79
55 The System Of The World by Neal Stephenson 2004 79
56 Havoc, In Its Third Year by Ronan Bennett 2004 79
57 Drama City by George Pelecanos 2005 79
58 Case Histories by Kate Atkinson 2004 79
59 Dark Voyage by Alan Furst 2004 79
60 On Beauty by Zadie Smith 2005 79
61 An Evening Of Long Goodbyes by Paul Murray 2004 79
62 Sweet Land Stories by E.L. Doctorow 2004 79
63 Arthur & George by Julian Barnes 2006 79
64 Paula Spencer by Roddy Doyle 2006 79
65 The View From Castle Rock by Alice Munro 2006 79
66 Remainder by Tom McCarthy 2007 79
67 Saturday by Ian McEwan 2005 78
68 Natasha by David Bezmozgis 2004 78
69 Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow 2005 78
70 Cinnamon Kiss by Walter Mosley 2005 78
71 The Tyrant's Novel by Thomas Keneally 2004 78
72 War Trash by Ha Jin 2004 78
73 The Preservationist by David Maine 2004 78
74 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 2005 78
75 In The Company Of The Courtesan by Sarah Dunant 2006 78
76 Special Topics In Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl 2006 78
77 Nice Big American Baby by Judy Budnitz 2005 78
78 The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin 2004 78
79 The Inner Circle by T. Coraghessan Boyle 2004 77
80 Snow by Orhan Pamuk 2004 77
81 Paradise by A. L. Kennedy 2005 77
82 Dancing In The Dark by Caryl Phillips 2005 77
83 Collected Stories by Carol Shields 2005 77
84 Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince [Book 6] by J.K. Rowling 2005 77
85 Finn by Jon Clinch 2007 77
86 Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay 2004 77
87 Four Souls by Louise Erdrich 2004 77
88 You Remind Me Of Me by Dan Chaon 2004 77
89 Transmission by Hari Kunzru 2004 77
90 Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap 2005 77
91 Human Capital by Stephen Amidon 2004 77
92 Zorro by Isabel Allende 2005 76
93 The Echo Maker by Richard Powers 2006 76
94 Digging To America by Anne Tyler 2006 75
95 The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon 2007 75
96 Maps For Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam 2005 75
97 Envy by Kathryn Harrison 2005 75
98 The Dream Life Of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin 2006 75
99 A Family Daughter by Maile Meloy 2006 75
100 March by Geraldine Brooks 2005 75

 

Nonfiction

1 Arc Of Justice by Kevin Boyle 2004 94
2 A Tale Of Love And Darkness by Amos Oz 2004 94
3 Armageddon by Max Hastings 2004 93
4 Epileptic by David B. 2005 92
5 Public Enemies by Bryan Burrough 2004 92
6 Nightingales by Gillian Gill 2004 90
7 A Woman In Berlin by Anonymous 2005 89
8 Matisse The Master by Hilary Spurling 2005 89
9 Chronicles by Bob Dylan 2004 88
10 The Irresponsible Self by James Wood 2004 88
11 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) by Jon Stewart And The Writers Of The Daily Show 2004 88
12 Perilous Times by Geoffrey R. Stone 2004 88
13 Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson 2004 88
14 Quicksands by Sybille Bedford 2005 88
15 de Kooning by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan 2004 88
16 The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright 2006 88
17 American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin 2005 87
18 John James Audubon by Richard Rhodes 2004 87
19 The Lady And The Panda by Vicki Constantine Croke 2005 86
20 Heat by Bill Buford 2006 86
21 Thomas Hardy by Claire Tomalin 2007 86
22 Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim by David Sedaris 2004 85
23 Courtroom 302 by Steve Bogira 2005 85
24 Alexis de Tocqueville by Hugh Brogan 2007 85
25 Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee 2007 85
26 The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion 2005 84
27 A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah 2007 84
28 Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi 2004 84
29 His Excellency by Joseph J. Ellis 2004 84
30 Maximum City by Suketu Mehta 2004 83
31 George Balanchine by Robert Gottlieb 2004 83
32 Einstein by Walter Isaacson 2007 83
33 The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer 2005 83
34 Bury The Chains by Adam Hochschild 2005 82
35 Running On Empty by Peter G. Peterson 2004 82
36 The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins 2004 82
37 The Bill from My Father by Bernard Cooper 2007 82
38 Postwar by Tony Judt 2005 82
39 At Canaan's Edge by Taylor Branch 2006 81
40 Team Of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin 2005 81
41 Can't Stop Won't Stop by Jeff Chang 2005 81
42 Wodehouse by Robert McCrum 2004 81
43 Melville by Andrew Delbanco 2005 81
44 Vermeer In Bosnia by Lawrence Weschler 2004 81
45 Margot Fonteyn by Meredith Daneman 2004 80
46 1776 by David McCullough 2005 80
47 Every Man A Speculator by Steve Fraser 2005 80
48 Wish I Could Be There by Allen Shawn 2007 80
49 The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr 2005 79
50 How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman 2007 79
51 Namath by Mark Kriegel 2004 79
52 Ghosting by Jennie Erdal 2005 79
53 Pol Pot by Philip Short 2005 78
54 A Great Improvisation by Stacy Schiff 2005 78
55 What's The Matter With Kansas? by Thomas Frank 2004 78
56 Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett 2004 78
57 Edmund Wilson by Lewis M. Dabney 2005 78
58 Leonardo da Vinci by Charles Nicholl 2004 78
59 The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery 2006 78
60 Perfect Soldiers by Terry McDermott 2005 78
61 The Assassins' Gate by George Packer 2005 77
62 Rising '44 by Norman Davies 2004 77
63 Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert 2006 77
64 I Didn't Do It For You by Michela Wrong 2005 77
65 The Fall Of Baghdad by Jon Lee Anderson 2004 77
66 The Accidental Masterpiece by Michael Kimmelman 2005 77
67 Nixon and Mao by Margaret MacMillan 2007 77
68 Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali 2007 77
69 A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger 2006 76
70 The Cold War by John Lewis Gaddis 2005 75
71 Girl Sleuth by Melanie Rehak 2005 75
72 Them by Francine du Plessix Gray 2005 75
73 The Bloodless Revolution by Tristram Stuart 2007 75
74 The Human Touch by Michael Frayn 2007 75
75 Orson Welles by Simon Callow 2006 75
76 So You Wanna Be A Rock & Roll Star by Jacob Slichter 2004 75
77 Will In The World by Stephen Greenblatt 2004 75
78 The Truth About The Drug Companies by Marcia Angell 2004 75
79 Another Bullshit Night In Suck City by Nick Flynn 2004 75
80 The Myth Of Solid Ground by David L. Ulin 2004 75
81 Coast Of Dreams by Kevin Starr 2004 75
82 Amazonia by James Marcus 2004 75
83 The Wreckers by Bella Bathurst 2005 75
84 The Perfectionist by Rudolph Chelminski 2005 75
85 The Disappointment Artist by Jonathan Lethem 2005 75
86 Lucrezia Borgia by Sarah Bradford 2004 75
87 V. S. Pritchett by Jeremy Treglown 2005 75
88 Bicycle by David Herlihy 2004 75
89 Big Bang by Simon Singh 2005 75
90 Two Lives by Vikram Seth 2005 74
91 The Orientalist by Tom Reiss 2005 74
92 February House by Sherill Tippins 2005 74
93 Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk 2005 73
94 The Life And Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson 2006 73
95 The Genius Factory by David Plotz 2005 73
96 Garbage Land by Elizabeth Royte 2005 73
97 One Matchless Time by Jay Parini 2004 73
98 Exuberance by Kay Redfield Jamison 2004 73
99 Collapse by Jared Diamond 2004 73
100 Jerome Robbins by Deborah Jowitt 2004 73

 

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