from Flavorwire.com, an apology of sorts:

Last week, we published a list of 10 essential books of the past 25 years. It was one of our most popular posts of all time, as well as one of our most contentious, racking up over 100 comments. Much of the argument has focused on the list’s lack of diversity: of the 10 books, eight were written by white men.
Since best-of lists can’t help but be subjective and flawed, and because there have been so many game-changing books by women and people of color in the past 25 years, we’ve put together an alternate top 10 list.

their list:

Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
Khaled Husseini, The Kite Runner (2003)
Donna Tartt, The Secret History (1992)
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985)
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (2005)
Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things (1997)
Roberto Bolaño, 2666 (2004)
Chang-rae Lee, Native Speaker (1995)
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis (2000)
Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1985)