6 Forgotten Books From The 2010s That Deserve To Be Rediscovered

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Every year, millions of books are published. And while this means book lovers will rarely ever run out of things to read, it also means that it's that much easier to forget the brilliant stories that made an impact when they first came out. It's just so easy for titles that were once deemed phenomenal and a cornerstone of literature to simply vanish from the daily conversation. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's a shame to leave some reading experiences in the past. 

That's why we've stepped away from what's hot right now and are aiming our readers' attention to the 2010s. Since we tackled forgotten books from the early 2000s that deserve to be rediscovered, we thought it was only right to revisit the next decade. But narrowing down our list wasn't easy.

With countless books becoming film or TV series adaptations, like Liane Moriarty's "Big Little Lies" and Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl," the competition for readers' attentions was fierce. But we played the difficult choosing game and narrowed it down. From a heart-wrenching love story about two terminally ill teenagers to a jarring nonfiction about a Black woman whose cells were stolen and used to change the course of modern medicine, choose your next read from these six forgotten books of the 2010s that deserve to be rediscovered.

We're starting this list off with the nonfiction read "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. Published in 2010, Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, the woman behind the HeLa cells. While the cells themselves are often referred to as 'a lasting contribution to biomedical research' by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the reality of obtaining those cells was far more complicated, tragic, and unethical.

The author wanted everyone to know the human behind all of the scientific labels. Before the release of this book, the HeLa cells were faceless clinical tools that built a multi-billion-dollar empire. This book deserves to resurface over and over again because it raises uncomfortable questions about dignity, bioethics, race, corporate accountability, and the corrupted dark side of medical research. 

The book was so impactful that HBO adapted it into a film starring Oprah Winfrey in 2017, and brought further awareness of Lacks' stolen legacy. A Goodreads reviewer gave the book four stars and shared, "This was a really good book that leaves one with more questions than it answers, especially at this moment with the explosion in investment and growth in health/biotech." This is a book that will have readers feeling uneasy about just how little control we may have over our own biological data. 

Where do we begin with "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green? Despite reading the book more than a decade ago, our writer believes this is a YA book that even adults can enjoy and learn a thing or two from. This book is so much more than a tragic love story about two terminally ill teenagers — it's full of existential philosophy and raw human honesty. 

The story is told from the perspective of 16-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster, who is a bit cynical and hates nonsense. Although she doesn't know it when she first meets him, Augustus Waters will change her life. Their relationship quickly blossoms into endless discussions about life and what it truly means to live, mixed with some dark humor. This is a 2010s title you'll want to read if you've been feeling like you've been living on autopilot with no sense of purpose. 

Despite having more than five million ratings on Goodreads, it manages to maintain above a 4-star average rating, and one 5-star Goodreads reviewer summed up the essence of the book perfectly, writing, "I don't think I've ever cried so much, laughed so much, just over all enjoyed a book as much as I have while reading 'The Fault in Our Stars.' Everything that goes on is serious, heartbreaking and eye opening but John Green does an amazing job at, literally, making you laugh out loud. Even when you're suffering."

It's hard to imagine a list of books from a particular decade without one Pulitzer Prize winner, so we opted to introduce (or reintroduce) everyone to "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. As the winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, this book was praised for its complex character development and profound narrative depth. It explores themes of grief, the impact of loss, and coming of age under the suffocating weight of involuntary solitude and unresolved trauma. 

Theo was lucky to survive an explosion at the New York art museum that killed his mother. And at just 13, he lives with guilt, grief, and a devastating secret, possessing a priceless Dutch Golden Age painting his mother loved that will change the trajectory of his life. Tartt will take you on the adventure of a lifetime that spans over a decade, all while uncovering what it means to lose everything you love and find a reason to continue living. 

Readers rave about Tartt's ability to breathe life into characters. Author Jeffrey Keeten said on Goodreads, "Donna Tartt is a master of language, but she really excels when she is composing people. This description of Theo's mother manifested her before me as if she were flesh and blood in the room with me." Beyond the beautiful character descriptions, this Pulitzer Prize-winning epic is the perfect blend of literary fiction, mystery, and a coming-of-age journey. 

If you only have time for one book on this list, let it be "When Breath Becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi. After watching a documentary clip about Paul Kalanithi on YouTube, our writer went out, bought this book, and read it in one sitting. A little over 200 pages, this nonfiction book is about the fragility of life and the deeply moving journey to find meaning and peace in the face of death. 

Just as Dr. Paul Kalanithi was about to complete his residency in neurosurgery at Stanford Medicine, his life was upended by a Stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis. Is this book about his cancer diagnosis? Sure, in many ways it is. But at its core, it's a brilliant man's deepest inner thoughts on what it means to live a life full of purpose when you're left with a time limit. Kalanithi was a doctor, but he was also a loving son, a devoted husband, a new dad, and a man with a lot of passions who loved literature, philosophy, and the complexities of the human mind. 

A 5-star Goodreads reviewer warned readers to approach this book with the right mindset, and our writer couldn't agree more. This book shouldn't be on your TBR as a tragic motivational tool. Instead, it deserves your time because a 'talented, inspiring man has incredibly important things to say derived from his own experiences, and it's important to listen and learn from them.'

The next book on this list is "The Great Believers" by Rebecca Makkai, published in 2018. The novel is an LGBTQ+ drama and work of historical fiction, capturing the desolation of the '80s AIDS crisis in Chicago with heartbreaking intimacy. The New York Times Book Review praised Makkai's work as 'an absorbing and emotionally riveting story about what it's like to live during times of crisis.' The book was even selected as one of the best books of the 21st century by the New York Times. 

The narrative is split between two timelines, one during the Chicago AIDS crisis in the '80s and another in the aftermath in Paris in 2015. The book tracks the fallout of a modern plague and the lingering psychological aftermath on the survivors who have no choice but to live and piece together the broken fragments of their lives. 

Even decades after its initial praise, Makkai's work remains a book many readers feel deserves a reread every once in a while. A 5-star reviewer gave an updated review in 2026 after a second read, saying, "Second read: It was just as heartbreaking and meaningful the second time through. I'm running a book discussion on it in a few weeks and wanted to revisit. I think I'll be coming back to this book every couple of years..." This is a work that shouldn't be forgotten and an LGBTQ+ book that you should add to your TBR.

When "Miracle Creek" by Angie Kim was published in 2019, it was overshadowed by other literary masterpieces released that same year, like "The Testaments" by Margaret Atwood. However, that doesn't mean this thriller about an immigrant family is any less deserving of rediscovery. This is a complex whodunnit for readers who love legal drama mixed with psychological depth. Beyond the whodunnit, this story looks at answering the why behind the sacrifices of caregiving and the price of keeping secrets to protect the ones you love. 

While some may describe her as exhausted, Elizabeth was a devoted mother. Then a tragic explosion takes her one and only son's life, and all of a sudden, she's the prime suspect in his murder. This story takes place during the trial, where every witness might have a hidden motive to lie. This thriller will have you wondering just how far a parent would go to protect their child. 

A 5-star Goodreads reviewer wrote, "This book is about lies, big lies, little lies, and the belief that it's ok to lie because telling the truth can't bring back the dead, that maybe the person accused of murder might not have murdered anyone but she had thoughts of wishing her son dead at times ... with no relief in sight from care taking a helpless 'forever' child that will outlive them." They're right. This book will force you to sit with truths, lies, and everything in between.

When it came to preparing our list of forgotten books from the 2010s that deserve to be rediscovered, we wanted to define the word "forgotten" before diving in. In a world where culture is driven by how viral something is, "forgotten" doesn't mean a book has completely vanished from print or lacks merit. Instead, we decided "forgotten books" should be defined as exceptional literary works that have simply been crowded out by the infinite books being published year after year.

Once we had that definition in mind, we moved forward with our research. Whether it was from personal reading experience or not, we sought out titles that had been published between 2010 and 2019 that made lasting impressions on readers, but have been overlooked as years have passed. Our picks consist of fiction and nonfiction reads that would easily stand on their own merit if released today. 

With so many books on our radar, it was hard to narrow this list down to six books. That's where reader reviews became our deciding compass. While we looked at star ratings, we also loved seeing titles that received updated reviews from avid readers who were rereading the book years after its release. It's proof that, although it may not be talked about as often, the story has a timeless pull that manages to attract readers back to it.