10 most influential books of 2000-2009 (courtsey Chicago Tribune)
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (2000) by J.K. Rowling. The fourth installment in Rowling's cataclysmically popular and utterly enchanting series was the first to be published in this decade. The chronicles of a boy wizard and his world are built to last.
"White Teeth" (2000) by Zadie Smith. Linguistically splendiferous, this engaging novel shatters ethnic categories and narrow prejudices -- and ushered in a global lit.
"Twilight" (2005) by Stephenie Meyer. Along with its evil spawn -- er, I mean sequels -- this dully written series smashed records at the bookstore and at the box office. Vampires may live forever, but these books won't.
"Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" (2003) by Lynne Truss. Grumpy grammarians had their day in the sun with this book and its many imitators.
"The Tipping Point" (2000) by Malcolm Gladwell. The runaway success of this book and others by the same author ignited a mini-genre: the anecdote elevated to a business truism.
"The Da Vinci Code" (2003) by Dan Brown. Lord help us.
"Be Near Me" (2006) by Andrew O'Hagan. The anti-"Da Vinci Code": a beautiful, tragic, provocative novel about faith and loss.
"The God Delusion" (2006) by Richard Dawkins. Militant atheism found its leader in this brilliant British academic, who turns his withering scorn upon religious believers.
"Wintergirls" (2009) by Laurie Halse Anderson. Young adult literature came of age with Anderson, who taps into teenage fears and hopes with heartfelt precision.0
"Oryx and Crake" (2003) by Margaret Atwood. Apocalyptic lit, a new genre, found its bleakly bewitching oracle.
