Tier Ranking All the Contemporary Books I’ve Read

Today I bring you part 3 of my series where I tier rank all the books I’ve read by genre! Today’s genre is contemporary. I’ve had a pretty wild journey with this genre. When I was just getting back into reading after my high school days, YA contemporary was all that I read and it really sucked me back in and made me remember that I loved reading so I owe a lot to the genre. In recent years, I haven’t been reading it as much and I don’t know if this means I’ve outgrown the genre or what. I also have a lot of trouble deciding between what is contemporary, romance, or literary fiction so if you find that there’s book here that’s missing even though you know I’ve read it before, it’s probably in my romance tier rank list or an upcoming literary fiction one. Anyway, let’s get to the contemporary books!

BAD

• Thirteen Reasons Why: It blew my mind when I first read it but now I see its flaws and aside from all the “problematic” elements, it’s really not very well-written
• High Fidelity: Completely forgot that I even read this and what it’s even about, clearly unmemorable
• All the Bright Places: Also enjoyed when I first read it but now I think it’s not very healthy
• Sea: Annoying main character, but at least it was set in my home country of Indonesia

MEH

• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: Narrator was funny but ultimately thought the book was a bit pointless
• Ask the Passengers: Didn’t really resonate with me
• Fangirl: I honestly thought it was pretty boring
• I Was Here: Have mostly forgotten what this was about but I think there was an interesting mystery element in there
• The Way I Used to Be: I understand how important and impactful this book was to many people but I found it difficult to attach to, and I also know that this was kind of the point of the book but still.
• We Are the Ants: This could have been a case of me having outgrown YA contemporary by the time I read this book but I really didn’t care for it and it really didn’t resonate with me.
• The Female of the Species: Felt like this book didn’t really accomplish whatever it wanted to say about feminism or rape culture
• A Quiet Kind of Thunder: Not as powerful as I would have liked
• The Spectacular Now: Totally pointless, the main character hardly went through any character development at all
• Paper Towns: Great friendships in the book but too much manic pixie dream girl for me
• Teen Idol: I read this way back in my childhood and I barely remember anything about it but I think I probably enjoyed it
• P. S. I Love You: I might have been too young when I read this because I found it quite boring

GOOD

• The Princess Diaries: This was honestly my Twilight and I have a lot of fond memories of the series, even if Mia was kind of annoying sometimes
• Made You Up: I thought it had a good portrayal of schizophrenia and I really connected with it
• A List of Cages: A sweet friendship story, though I did feel like the tone of the book kept changing
• The Rest of Us Just Live Here: Interesting premise and interesting narrator, great portrayal of anxiety or OCD
• If I Stay: SUPER interesting premise and I was totally hooked
• Speak: A classic story about sexual assault, but there are better ones out there in my opinion
• Avalon High: Also read ages ago but I remember really enjoying this contemporary retelling of the Arthur legend
• Before I Fall: SUPER interesting premise and I was totally hooked

GREAT

• The Beginning of Everything: I honestly don’t know what it is about this book because it’s really quite an average YA contemporary story, but it’s really stuck with me for some reason
• Since You’ve Been Gone: A fun summery read about friendship with a splash of romance
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower: A powerful read although not one that I adore as much as everyone else does
• This is Where It Ends: A gripping story following a school shooting
• The Hate U Give: Extremely important and has great characters, but also didn’t enjoy it as much as everyone else
• Always Never Yours: Something about this main character really resonated with me at the time
• Turtles All the Way Down: Fantastic and heartbreaking portrayal of anxiety, John Green’s most down-to-earth story
• Looking for Alaska: Completely blew my mind when I was younger and I’m still feeling the shockwaves to this day

DEMI-GOD

• Why We Broke Up: This was such a unique book that actually details a relationship breaking up, like the exact opposite of a romance book. Super interesting and really struck a chord in me.
• Forgive Me Leonard Peacock: A difficult and harrowing look at someone who is thinking about shooting his ex-best friend. Really great portrayal of a responsible adult as well.
• Love Letters to the Dead: Very reminiscent of Perks of Being a Wallflower and deserves so much more love
• Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda: Such an adorable and wholesome book and one that I devoured almost in an entire sitting, which is very rare for me
• Long Way Down: My first book written in verse and it was a very powerful read about gun violence

GOD

• Faking Normal: This is one of the best stories about sexual assault I’ve read and it’s really stuck with me all these years later, characters are also extremely compelling
• Violent Ends: The most interesting and powerful book I’ve ever read about school shootings that cover a wide range of perspectives, every single short story is also very well-written
• Girl Made of Stars: Yet another book about sexual assault but one that takes on a very different point of view and offers interesting discussions about the gray areas and nuances of such a situation

So those were all of the contemporary books I’ve read! I would say it’s quite top-heavy and I’m glad there isn’t anything in the trash tier. I really do enjoy contemporaries, especially the hard-hitting ones as you can see. I find that some of them are really powerful and they deserve to be considered literary fiction because I think they can have a lot of literary merit and impact on young people’s lives. This reminds me that I really need to get back into the genre! What are some of your favorite contemporaries and do you agree with my list?

Cheers and happy reading!