latest bestseller books 2021

Booklist Queen

This post may contain affiliate links which earn me a commission at no additional cost to you.

The New York Times Fiction Bestseller List 2021

Go beyond just the current list of New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2021 to discover every bestselling book listed on the NYT Bestseller List in 2021.

Since 1931, The New York Times has been publishing a weekly list of bestselling books. Since then, becoming a New York Times bestseller has become a dream for virtually every writer.

When I first started reading adult fiction, one of the first places I went for book recommendations was the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers. I wanted to know what books were the most widely read, and start with those.

However, scrolling through the list week by week on The New York Times website is rather annoying. I just wanted all the bestselling fiction books gathered together in one place.

When I couldn’t find it, I decided to create it.

Here are all the New York Times fiction bestsellers from 2021. Instead of just the current best seller list , which you can find all over the place, I’ve compiled a list of every book that has appeared on the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers list in 2021 for Hardcover Fiction. 

Note: The week count in this list stops on the last week of 2021. Visit the 2022 Bestseller List if you want to find out which books kept ranking into the next year.

Since this is a bit of a sprawling post, feel free to jump to the section that most interests you or take your time scrolling through the complete list of New York Times fiction best sellers.

Quick Links

• #1 Fiction Best Sellers of 2021
• Heavyweights (10+ Weeks)
• Fan Favorites (5+ Weeks)
• Honorable Mention (2+ Weeks)
• One Hit Wonders

Don’t Miss a Thing

#1 New York Times Fiction Best Sellers of 2021

Where the Crawdads Sing

Delia owens.

(133 Weeks) For years, Kya Clark has survived alone in the marshes of the North Carolina coast. Dubbed “The Marsh Girl” by the locals, she was abandoned by her family and has been raised by nature itself. Now, as she comes of age, she begins to yearn for something more than her loneliness – maybe even a connection with the locals.

Publication Date: 14 August 2018 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Vanishing Half

Brit bennett.

(50 Weeks) Growing up in a small black community in the Deep South, the Vignes sisters run away at age sixteen. Though identical twins, their lives end in completely different paths. One returns to live in their hometown while the other secretly passes as white. Bennett explores more than race, as she contemplates how the past affects future generations when their daughters’ lives intersect.

Publication Date: 2 June 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

American Dirt

Jeanine cummins.

(35 Weeks) In Mexico, bookstore owner Lydia is charmed to meet Javier, a man who shares her taste in books, only to find he is the local drug lord. When her husband exposes Javier’s secrets, the wrath of the cartel falls upon her family. Lydia and her son Luca must flee from his wrath – all the way to American soil.

Publication Date: 21 January 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Last Thing He Told Me

(30 Weeks) Before Owen Michaels disappeared, he smuggled a note to his new wife Hannah: Protect her . Hannah knows he’s referring to his sixteen-year-old daughter Bailey, but Bailey doesn’t want anything to do with Hannah. As Owen’s boss gets arrested and the FBI come knocking, Hannah and Bailey must come together to discover Owen’s secrets.

Publication Date: 4 May 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Four Winds

Kristin hannah.

(27 Weeks) In the Texas panhandle in 1934, severe drought plagues the land. With crops failing, dust storms whip up, leaving the farmers fighting for survival. In the perilous times of the Great Depression, Elsa Martinelli must decide whether to stay and fight for her land or head west to California which offers her family a better life.

Publication Date: 2 February 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Guest list

(25 Weeks) On a remote Irish island, the perfect wedding turns deadly in this thrilling mystery. The high profile wedding between a television star and a magazine publisher is supposed to be the perfect event. Yet once the guests arrive, past conflicts come into play and someone turns up dead. Was it the bride? The best man? The wedding planner?

Anxious People

Fredrik backman.

(24 Weeks) After a failed bank robbery, a banker robber on the run accidentally ends up with a room full of hostages at an open house. After letting all of the hostages go, the police storm the apartment, only to find it empty. Now the police must interview the dysfunctional group to figure out what exactly happened. Backman purposely plays on your assumptions and uses an unusual narration style that gives the story an allegorical feel.

Publication Date: 8 September 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Nicholas Sparks

(22 Weeks) After being injured in a bombing in Afghanistan, a Navy doctor settles at his late grandfather’s cabin in North Carolina. While recuperating from his wounds, Trevor Benson never expects to find love, but he can’t fight the attraction he feels to deputy sheriff Natalie Masterson. However, Natalie remains distant, and a sullen teenage girl might be more connected to Trevor’s grandfather’s death than any suspected.

Publication Date: 29 September 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

If It Bleeds

Stephen king.

(20 Weeks ) A collection of four novellas. In “If It Bleeds,” a standalone sequel to The Outsider , a bomb at a middle school prompts an investigation into the lead reporter by Holly Gibney. Other stories include “Mr. Harriagan’s Phone,” “The Life of Chuck,” and “Rat.”

Publication Date: 21 April 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

A Time for Mercy

John grisham.

(19 Weeks) John Grisham returns you to Clanton, Mississipi, the setting of his debut novel A Time to Kill . After appearing in the novel Sycamore Row , lawyer Jake Brigance is back, this time defending a teenager accused of killing a local deputy. With demand rising for a swift guilty verdict and the death penalty, Brigance realizes the town is against him as he pleads for mercy along with justice.

Publication Date: 13 October 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Billy Summers

(18 Weeks) From the master of fiction comes a new novel about a good guy in a bad job. Sniper for hire Billy Summers is picky about his jobs. The decorated Iraq war veteran only accepts hits on men who are truly evil. Before getting out of the game, Billy decides to accept one last job when everything goes wrong.

Publication Date: 3 August 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The President’s Daughter

Bill clinton and james patterson.

(13 Weeks) Former President Bill Clinton and master storyteller James Patterson collaborate for a second time on a summer political thriller. When Former US President Matthew Keating’s daughter is abducted by a madman, he uses the skills he learned as a Navy SEAL to set out on a one-man mission to get her back, while the entire world watches in real time.

Publication Date: 7 June 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Evening and the Morning

Ken follett.

(12 Weeks) Thirty years after publishing The Pillars of the Earth , Ken Follett has written a prequel revealing the events that led up to his epic work. At the end of the Dark Ages in England, one man’s determination to make his abbey the center of learning changes the lives of a boatbuilder, a noblewoman, and the monk in unexpected ways.

Publication Date: 15 September 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Ready Player Two

Ernest cline.

(12 Weeks) Ernest Cline returns with a sequel to his science fiction bestseller, Ready Player One . After winning James Halliday’s contest, Wade Watts finds another easter egg hidden in Halliday’s vaults – a technological advance leagues ahead of the OASIS. Wade and his friends must solve this new riddle in a plot eerily reminiscent of the first book. And, yes, Wil Wheaton is narrating the audiobook.

Publication Date: 24 November 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Hill We Climb

Amanda gorman.

(12 Weeks) In 2021, Amanda Gorman became the youngest presidential inaugural poet in US history when she read her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at President Biden’s inauguration. A special edition hardcover copy of her inaugural poem with a foreword by Oprah Winfrey.

Publication Date: 30 March 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

(12 Weeks) At 17, Samuel Sooleyman gets the chance of a lifetime: a trip to America with his South Sudanese teammates to play basketball in front of college scouts. While there, war breaks out across South Sudan, ransacking his village and killing his father. When he is offered a scholarship to play at North Carolina Central, Samuel uses his raw talent and determination to succeed, desperately hoping to bring his family to America.

Publication Date: 27 April 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Paper Palace

Miranda cowley heller.

(12 Weeks) On a July morning, Elle wakes up at The Paper Palace, her family’s summer home, with an enormous choice facing her. The previous night, she had sex with her childhood best friend Jonas while their spouses chatted in the kitchen. Now Elle must decide between the perfectly happy married life she has made with Peter or the life that could have been with Jonas if tragedy hadn’t struck.

Publication Date: 6 July 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

(11 Weeks) As a troubled teenager, Maggie Dawes was sent to live with her aunt in a remote North Carolina beach town. Her life is changed forever when she met Bryce Trickett, a handsome local teen who taught her to love the island and introduced her to photography before he heads off to West Point. Now a renowned travel photographer, Maggie recounts the story of her first love to her young assistant after Maggie is diagnosed with a crippling illness.

Publication Date: 28 September 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Sentinel

Lee child and andrew child.

(10 Weeks) In the 25th Jack Reacher novel, Lee Child teams up with his younger brother Andrew. When Jack Reacher intervenes in an ambush in Tennessee, he meets an unassuming IT manager. Recently fired from his job after a cyberattack, Rusty Rutherford just wants to clear his name. Instead, they stumble upon a much larger conspiracy.

Publication Date: 27 October 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Golden Girl

Elin hilderbrand.

(10 Weeks) On a brilliant June day, author Vivian Howe is killed in a hit-and-run car accident. She finds herself in the Beyond, where she is allowed to view one last summer and is granted three “nudges” to those she left behind. The mother of three must choose how she will help her three children, as they struggle with adulthood and discover secrets she had kept buried. Elin Hilderbrand is known for writing some of the best beach reads, so you won’t want to miss her latest book.

Publication Date: 1 June 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Lincoln Highway

Amor towles.

(10 Weeks) After spending a year at a prison work farm for involuntary manslaughter, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson returns to his Nebraska hometown. With his mother gone and his father recently deceased, Emmett plans to pick up his eight-year-old brother and head West. But his plans are derailed when two friends from the work farm suddenly appear with a scheme of their own.

Publication Date: 5 October 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Apples Never Fall

Liane moriarty.

(9 Weeks) It should be the golden years for Stan and Joy Delaney now that they’ve sold their tennis academy and settled into retirement, so why aren’t they happy? When they welcome a bleeding stranger into their home, her arrival begins a cascade of events. Now Joy is missing, and the four grown Delaney children wonder if their father might have done it. Liane Moriarty’s books always make for exciting reads, so you’ll want to keep your eye out for her latest novel this fall.

Publication Date: 14 September 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Judge’s List

(8 Weeks) After taking on a criminal syndicate that was paying off a federal judge in The Whistler , Florida Board of Judicial Conduct investigator Lacy Stoltz returns in Grisham’s latest thriller. In her latest case, the crimes are even worse than before. Instead of taking bribes, a corrupt judge is taking lives with his own hit list.

Publication Date: 19 October 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Fortune and Glory

Janet evanovich.

(8 Weeks) The 27th Stephanie Plum novel. After Grandma Mazur’s new husband dies, he leaves her the key to his massive fortune. As Stephanie and her grandma search for the treasure, they realize they aren’t the only ones looking. Stephanie’s old nemesis from Little Havana is hot on the trail. Can Stephanie outwit her? And will she finally decide between Joe Morelli and Ranger?

Publication Date: 10 November 2020 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

State of Terror

Hillary rodham clinton and louise penny.

(7 Weeks) Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton teams up with acclaimed mystery novelist Louise Penny in one of the most-anticipated best new thriller books of Fall 2021. Years of American withdrawal from the world stage have left a power vacuum that its enemies have been more than happy to fill. After a series of terrorist attacks, novice Secretary of State Ellen Adams, under the administration of her rival, must unravel a deadly global conspiracy.

Publication Date: 12 October 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

A Gambling Man

David baldacci.

(7 Weeks) Fresh out of prison, WWII veteran Aloysius Archer heads to California for a head start in the 1950s. On the way, he stops in Reno and picks up a fire-red convertible and an aspiring actress. When they arrive in Bay Town, Archer joins a well-known PI to investigate a blackmail case of an up-and-coming politician.

Publication Date: 20 April 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Law of Innocence

Michael connelly.

(7 Weeks) After a big courtroom win, Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller is pulled over by the police who find the body of a former client in his trunk. Unable to post bail, Haller must defend himself against murder charges from his jail cell while fending off enemies from the inside and out. Haller knows that it’s not enough to get a not guilty verdict. To be free of the charges, he must find out who really did it.

Beautiful World, Where Are You

Sally rooney.

(6 Weeks) Hitting the upper end of the new adult genre, Sally Rooney’s latest novel follows the lives of four single 30ish Irish protagonists as they try to find their way in life. On a whim, Alice, a novelist, invites Felix, a warehouse worker she just met, to travel to Rome with her. Meanwhile, while recovering from a breakup, Alice’s best friend Eileen begins flirting with Simon, a childhood friend.

Publication Date: 7 September 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Life After Death

Sister souljah.

(6 Weeks) In the sequel to The Coldest Winter Ever , Winter Santiago is out of prison and ready to take her to get her revenge, reclaim her father’s status, and reunite with Midnight. But Winter’s business partner Simone is also out for revenge, and Winter is her main target.

Publication Date: 2 March 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

A Court of Silver Flames

Sarah j. maas.

(6 Weeks) The fifth book in Maas’s bestselling fantasy series, A Court of Thorns and Roses . Haunted by the horrors of the previous war, Nesta’s temper is constantly on edge, and no one seems to bother her more than Cassian. When the human queens threaten the fragile peace, she must work with Cassian to save the kingdom.

Publication Date: 16 February 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Harlan Coben

(6 Weeks) Twenty years ago, a rich heiress was abducted. Although she escaped, her captors were never found or the family’s items recovered. When his suitcase is found at a murder scene, Windsor Horne Lockwood III, “Win” to his friends, becomes entangled in an investigation into two cold cases where the suspect may have also been involved in domestic terrorism.

Publication Date: 16 March 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Cellist

Daniel silva.

(6 Weeks) In his twenty-third novel, Gabriel Allon investigates the death of Viktor Orlov, his friend who was once the richest man in Russia. A crusader against the Russian regime, Orlov was killed by a nerve agent in his heavily-guarded London apartment. MI6 believes an investigative reporter is a Russian assassin, but Allon finds the truth is much darker than anyone knows.

Publication Date: 13 July 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Stranger in the Lifeboat

Mitch albom.

(6 Weeks) How would you react if you called for help from God and He answered? In Albom’s new Christian novel, a group of shipwrecked strangers pulls a man from the sea. He claims to be “The Lord” and can save them, but only if they all believe in him.

Publication Date: 2 November 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

A Slow Fire Burning

Paula hawkins.

(5 Weeks) When a young man is murdered on a London houseboat, police investigate three women: his one-night stand Laura, his grieving aunt Carla, and his nosy neighbor Miriam. Even though Miriam spotted Laura leaving the houseboat that night covered in blood, she is loath to say anything. For Miriam knows exactly what it’s like to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Publication Date: 31 August 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Madness of Crowds

Louise penny.

(5 Weeks) As New Year’s Eve approaches, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is surprised when he is requested to serve as security for a lecture by a visiting statistics professor. When he looks into Professor Abigail Robinson, Gamache is shocked by her views and begs for the lecture to be canceled. Accusing him of academic censorship, the university refuses, and as the professor’s ideas start to seep across Three Pines, Gamache must deal with a murder and the spreading madness.

Publication Date: 24 August 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

While Justice Sleeps

Stacey abrams.

(5 Weeks) Young law clerk Avery Keene is trying to balance her work with legendary Justice Howard Wynn with her troubled family life. When Justice Wynn falls into a coma, Avery is surprised to learn she is named his legal guardian and power of attorney. As politicians vie to replace the ailing judge, Avery learns that Justice Wynn was researching a dangerous merger that involves a conspiracy at the highest levels of government.

Publication Date: 11 May 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Russian

James patterson and james o. born.

(5 Weeks) In the thirteenth book in the series, Detective Michael Bennett connects a series of murders of young women in New York City to similar cases in San Francisco and Atlanta. Detective Bennett must do his best to solve the case without falling into the killer’s trap – all while preparing for his wedding to Mary Catherine.

Publication Date: 25 January 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Star Wars: Light of the Jedi

Charles soule.

(4 Weeks) Two hundred years before the events of The Phantom Menace, the High Republic is at its peak. Peace flourishes under the rule of the Senate and the watchful eye of the Jedi. When a hyperspace catastrophe with sinister roots tears a ship apart, the shrapnel threatens an entire system and the Jedi are pushed to their limits.

Publication Date: 5 January 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

John Sandford

(4 Weeks) In the 31st book of his popular Prey series, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers join forces to solve a maritime mystery. While off-duty, a Coast Guardsman notices a suspicious boat pick up a diver in the middle of the ocean, he knows something fishy is happening. When the Coast Guard responds, three men are killed and the FBI is called in to investigate their murders.

Publication Date: 13 April 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Nora Roberts

(4 Weeks) Following in the footsteps of her mother’s celebrity fitness brand, Adrian has established her own line of successful yoga and workout videos. When threatening notes in rhyme start to appear, Adrian can dismiss it as easily as her mother. Moving back to Maryland, Adrian reconnects with her childhood crush at the same time a series of murders rocks her world.

Publication Date: 25 May 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

(4 Weeks) Scott Horvath, America’s top spy, has a decision before him. Retire with his beautiful girlfriend in Norway or return. When he sees a man step out of a taxi in Oslo, a man he killed years ago, Horvath’s past comes back to haunt him and sends him on a path all the way to the Artic Circle.

Publication Date: 20 July 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone

Diana gabaldon.

(3 Weeks) In the 9th Outlander book, a reunited Claire and Jamie face being torn asunder again as the American Revolution approaches their North Carolina home. After finally being reunited with their daughter Brianna and her family, the family is worried as the tensions of the colonists grow and the perils of the 1700s seem less safe than they thought.

Publication Date: 23 November 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Call Us What We Carry

In 2021, Amanda Gorman became the youngest presidential inaugural poet in US history when she read her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” at President Biden’s inauguration. In her expanded collection, Amanda Gorman becomes a new voice in American poetry.

Publication Date: 7 December 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Save for Later

Heavyweights (10+ Weeks on the NYT Bestseller List)

The Midnight Library

(53 Weeks) In the Midnight Library, there are two books – one book for the life you’ve lived and one for the one you could have lived. Nora Seed must decide which book to choose from. What if she had made different choices? Would her life truly have been better?

Publication Date: 29 September 2020 Amazon | Goodreads |  More Info

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

V. e. schwab.

(43 Weeks) To escape a forced marriage, Addie LaRue makes a bargain with the devil in 1714. She gets to live forever, but the catch is she will be forgotten by everyone she meets. After 300 years, Addie has become resigned to her fate until she meets a young man who remembers her name.

Publication Date: 6 October 2020 Amazon | Goodreads |  More Info

Project Hail Mary

(16 Weeks) In a last-ditch effort to save Earth from an extinction-level event, a group of astronauts is sent on a desperate mission in a cobbled-together spacecraft. But when Ryland Grace wakes up, he has no memory of his mission or why the rest of the crew is dead. The sole survivor, he must take on an impossible task with no margin for failure.

Malibu Rising

Taylor jenkins reid.

(16 Weeks) In 1983, four famous siblings throw an epic summer party at their Malibu mansion. Secrets come out, the party gets out of control, and a fire will burn it all down by dawn. Malibu Rising is a gorgeous family drama that surpasses a simple beach read. The story of the Riva children abandoned by their famous rockstar father is heartbreakingly sad and yet still hopeful. The characters come alive as each sibling ponders if they can escape their parents’ fates.

Publication Date: 01 June 2021 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Cloud Cuckoo Land

Anthony doerr.

(11 Weeks) From the author of All the Light We Cannot See comes an ambitious work of literary fiction. Doerr’s novel toggles between three timelines – the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, present-day Idaho, and interstellar ship far in the future. Each piece explores the power of stories as a fictional ancient Greek comedy weaves throughout the entire book. The awe-inspiring power of the written word that Doerr evokes in every sentence will be appreciated by literary fiction lovers.

Fan Favorites (5+ Weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List)

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

(9 Weeks) An “Artificial Friend” named Klara is purchased to serve as a companion to an ailing 14-year-old girl.

Deadly Cross by James Patterson

Amazon | Goodreads

(8 Weeks) The 28th book in the Alex Cross series. An investigation of a double homicide of the ex-wife of the Vice President and sends Alex Cross to Alabama to investigate.

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

(7 Weeks) An aspiring historian in London finds a clue that might put to rest unsolved apothecary murders from 200 years ago.

Daylight by David Baldacci

(7 Weeks) The F.B.I. agent Atlee Pine’s search for her kidnapped twin sister overlaps with a military investigator’s hunt for someone involved in a global conspiracy.  

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

(7 Weeks) Ray Carney, a family man who sells furniture on 125th Street, gets a new clientele made up of vicious and unsavory characters.

That Summer by Jennifer Weiner

(6 Weeks) Daisy Shoemaker receives emails intended for a woman leading a more glamorous life and finds there was more to this accident.

The Awakening by Nora Roberts

(6 Weeks) The first book in the Dragon Heart Legacy series. Breen Kelly travels through a portal in Ireland to a land of faeries and mermaids.

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

(6 Weeks) Elin Warner must find her estranged brother’s fiancée, who goes missing as a storm approaches a hotel that was once a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps.

Neighbors by Danielle Steel

(5 Weeks) A Hollywood recluse’s perspective changes when she invites her neighbors into her mansion after an earthquake.

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker

(5 Weeks) Trouble might start for the chief of police and a self-proclaimed outlaw teen when a man is released from prison.

21st Birthday by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

(5 Weeks) The 21st book in the Women’s Murder Club series. New evidence changes the investigation of a missing mother.

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

(5 Weeks) Tension unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of New York City book publishing.

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

(5 Weeks) A Black woman who becomes one of the most powerful people in the art and book world is forced to hide her true identity.

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz

(5 Weeks) Will the secrets Emily shares with Kristen about violent incidents in the past ruin her life?

The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly

(5 Weeks) A death on New Year’s Eve, an unsolved murder and a hunt for serial rapists bring Bosch and Ballard back together.

Honorable Mention (2-4 Weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List)

One Hit Wonders (1 Week on the New York Times Best Seller List)

• The 2020 New York Times Fiction Bestsellers
• 50 Amazing Five Star Books
• The Top 50 Books of the Last Decade

Find anything you save across the site in your account

The Best Books We Read in 2021

By The New Yorker

“ De Gaulle ,” by Julian Jackson

New Yorker writers reflect on the year’s highs and lows.

This superb biography of the former French leader brilliantly explores how he managed to dominate his country’s political life for decades. Jackson’s account of De Gaulle’s youth and conservative milieu only enhances one’s respect for De Gaulle’s stand, in 1940, against the Vichy government, and his account of De Gaulle’s war years in London makes clear why Churchill and Roosevelt found him almost impossible to deal with. The second half of the book—which deals with De Gaulle’s return to power during the conflict in Algeria, and his somewhat autocratic presidency—is even more compelling; together the two halves form as good an argument as one can make for believing that a single individual can alter the course of history. But Jackson, with sublime prose and a sure grasp of the politics and personalities of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Republics, never allows that argument to overshadow De Gaulle’s extremely difficult and domineering personality, and why it never entirely fit the democracy he helped rescue and then presided over. —Isaac Chotiner

“ Segu: A Novel ,” by Maryse Condé

In a year that began with an attempted coup, it was good to remember that zealotry and factionalism have menaced every society—and often make for excellent storytelling, too. Maryse Condé’s 1984 novel “Segu” opens in the ruthlessly competitive capital of the eighteenth-century Bambara Empire, in present-day Mali, where the ruling mansa uneasily monitors the rise of Islam and the mysterious arrival of white explorers. Griots sing the exploits of a noble family, the Traores, whose sons are destined to suffer every consequence of modernity’s upheavals. Condé, who was born in Guadeloupe but spent years in West Africa, is the great novelist of the Afro-Atlantic world, and “Segu,” her masterpiece, is the mother of diaspora epics. The novel follows the Traores as they are scattered across the globe, from Moroccan universities to Brazilian sugarcane fields, pulled every which way by their ambitions, lusts, and religious yearnings. Condé excels at evoking the tensions of a world in flux, whether it’s the ambivalence of a man torn between his family gods and Islam’s cosmopolitanism or the cynicism of a wealthy mixed woman who sells slaves on the coast of Senegal. Despite its magisterial scope, “Segu” is also warm and gossipy, and completely devoid of the sentimental attachment to heritage that turns too many family sagas into ancestral stations of the cross. Condé has a wicked sense of humor that doesn’t play favorites, especially with her mostly male protagonists, whose naïve adventurism and absent-minded cruelty (especially toward women) profoundly shape the history that eludes their grasp. —Julian Lucas

“ Upper Bohemia: A Memoir ,” by Hayden Herrera

I came upon this recent memoir while browsing the shelves at the Brooklyn Public Library, and was immediately drawn in by its cover: a black-and-white photograph of two young girls, perched out the back window of a sports car, whose ruffled blouses and blond hair suggested a kind of patrician free-spiritedness. Herrera is known for her biographies of artists such as Frida Kahlo and Arshile Gorky, but in “Upper Bohemia” she turns to the story of her own family, a high-Wasp clan as privileged as it was screwed up. During the nineteen-forties and fifties, Herrera and her older sister Blair were shunted, willy-nilly, between their divorced parents, both of whom were possessed of great looks, flighty temperaments, and intense narcissism. Her mother and father—each married five times—often disregarded the girls, treating them as considerably less significant than their own artistic or sexual fulfillment, whose pursuit took them through urbane, artsy circles in Cape Cod and New York, Mexico City and Cambridge. Herrera tells a fascinating cultural history of a particular milieu, but what is most affecting is her ability to channel, in sensate detail, the life of a lonely child trying to make sense of the world around her. Her tone carries a measure of detachment, but I often found it immensely moving. “Blair and I had not spent much time with our mother since the fall of 1948 when, after putting us on a train to go to boarding school in Vermont, she drove to Mexico to get a divorce,” she writes. “Whenever our mother did turn up, she brought presents from Mexico, animals made of clay or embroidered blouses for Blair and me. She always made everything sound wonderful. She was like sunshine. Blair and I moved toward her like two Icaruses, but we never touched her golden rays.” This is a beautiful book. —Naomi Fry

“ Long Live the Post Horn! ,” by Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund

Vigdis Hjorth’s “Long Live the Post Horn!”—a swift, darkly funny novel about existential despair, collective commitment, and the Norwegian postal service—buoyed me during this strange, roiling year. Ellinor, the novel’s narrator, is a thirty-five-year-old public-relations consultant whose projects and relationships are characterized by a bleak, steady detachment. When her colleague Dag leaves town, Ellinor grudgingly inherits one of his clients: Postkom, the Norwegian Post and Communications Union, which wants to fight an E.U. directive that would usher in competition from the private sector. For Ellinor, the project begins creakily; gradually, she gets swept up. What results is a personal awakening of sorts—a newfound desire to live, connect, and communicate—and a genuinely gripping treatment of bureaucratic tedium. “Long Live the Post Horn!” is rich with political and philosophical inquiries, and gentle with their delivery. They arrive in the form of dissociative diary entries, awkward Christmas gift exchanges, and the world’s loneliest description of a sex toy (“he had bought the most popular model online, the one with the highest ratings”). There’s also a long yarn told by a postal worker, which makes for a wonderful, near-mythic embedded narrative. “What exactly did ‘real’ mean?” Ellinor wonders, experiencing a crisis of authenticity while desperately trying to produce P.R. copy for the Real Thing, an American restaurant chain. “Was the man behind the Real Thing himself the real thing, I wondered? I googled him; he looked like every other capitalist.” Expansive and mundane—this novel was, for me, sheer joy. —Anna Wiener

“ Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History ,” by Lea Ypi

Some people feel free to imagine their lives unbounded by history. Lea Ypi did not have that luxury. Born in 1979 in Albania, then one of the most sealed-off countries in the Communist bloc, she had little reason to question her love for Stalin until the day, in 1990, that she went to hug his statue and found that protesters had decapitated it. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, the edifice of Albanian socialism collapsed, too. Even more disorienting was the fact that Ypi’s parents turned out never to have believed in it—they’d just talked a good line to prevent their dissident, bourgeois backgrounds from tainting her prospects. Ypi’s new book, “Free,” out in the U.K. and to be published stateside in January, is a tart and tender childhood memoir. But it’s also a work of social criticism, and a meditation on how to live with purpose in a world where history, far from having ended, seems energized by disinformation. Ypi, a political theorist at the London School of Economics, is interested in how categories of thought—“proletariat,” for instance—were replaced by reductive rallying cries like “freedom.” “When freedom finally arrived, it was like a dish served frozen,” she writes. “We chewed little, swallowed fast and remained hungry.” Her parents became leaders in the new democratic opposition but lost their savings to a shady investment scheme, and when the country devolved into civil war, in 1997, her formidable mother had to leave for Italy, where she worked cleaning houses. When Ypi studied abroad, her leftist friends didn’t want to hear about her experience: their socialism would be done right, and Albania’s was best forgotten. But Ypi is not in the business of forgetting—neither the repression of the system she grew up in nor the harshness of capitalism. Her book is a quick read, but, like Marx’s spectre haunting Europe, it stays with you. —Margaret Talbot

“ Harrow: A Novel ,” by Joy Williams

I have already written at length about the wonder of Joy Williams’s most recent novel , “Harrow.” But I feel compelled to re-state my case. The book is set in a world that climate change has transformed into a grave, and it’s dense with wild oddity, mystical intelligence, and with a keenness and beauty that start at the sentence level but sink down to the book’s core. “Harrow” tracks a teen-ager named Khristen across the desert, where she eventually meets up with a sort of “terrorist hospice” of retirees determined to avenge the earth. Her companion, Jeffrey, is either a ten-year-old with an alcoholic mother or the Judge of the Underworld. Williams, the real Judge of the Underworld, moonlights here as a theologist, animal-rights activist, mad oracle, social historian, and philosopher of language. Her comic set pieces—e.g., a birthday party in which the hastily provisioned cake depicts a replica, in icing, of Goya’s “Saturn Devouring His Son”—unlock tears, and her elegies wrest out laughter, if only because it’s absurd to find such pleasure in a study of devastation. When the book was over, I missed the awful, cleansing darkness of its eyes upon me. —Katy Waldman

“ A Mad Love: An Introduction to Opera ,” by Vivien Schweitzer

My late grandfather spent most of his weekends holed up in his study—a sunken room, adorned with a ratty Chesterfield sofa and posters from various international chess championships—listening to opera. As a child, I found this practice impenetrable. I didn’t understand the languages blaring out of his record player, and I wasn’t old enough to grasp the rhapsodic emotion inherent in the form. Opera is about Big Feelings; it radiates youth, yet it remains a passion that most people age into. (Perhaps that has something to do with the cost of a Met ticket.) Then the pandemic hit, and suddenly all I wanted to do was listen to Maria Callas, whose unhinged arias clicked into place as the soundtrack for my anxious, pacing mind. My grandfather was no longer around to discuss my fixation, but, fortunately, I found Vivien Schweitzer’s 2018 book, “A Mad Love,” which is a sparkling cultural history of opera’s greatest composers and their obsessive brains. Beginning with Monteverdi and barrelling through to Philip Glass, the book is about the blood and sweat that goes into writing an opera (an often lunatic effort, it seems), and about the feverish attachment fans have to the resulting work. I found myself tearing through it in the bathtub, delighted not just to inhale the gossipy backstories of the “Ring” cycle and “La Traviata” but to join the society of opera nuts of which my grandfather was a card-carrying member. I finally understood what he was listening for on those Sunday afternoons: anguish, joy, love, betrayal. —Rachel Syme

“ Not One Day ,” by Anne Garréta, translated by Emma Ramadan

It is a peculiar feeling, reading a book that seems to have been written for you but wasn’t. The friend who recommended the Oulipian writer Anne Garréta’s “Not One Day” must have known that I would find this merger of intimacy and anonymity irresistible. While recovering from an accident that has left her body immobile, the book’s narrator, a nomadic literature professor, decides that she will write about the women she has desired. Each woman will be identified by a letter of the alphabet; to each letter, she will devote five hours a day for precisely one month. She knows that narrating desire requires discipline—and she finds that desire always, always exceeds it. Letters are skipped and jumbled, so that the table of contents reads, “B, X, E, K, L, D, H, N, Y, C, I, Z.” The narrator takes a long break from the project and, when she comes back to it, one of the stories she writes is fiction. Slowly, the categories that keep desire and its creation of “our little selves” in check—self and other, past and present, man and woman, heterosexual and homosexual, solipsistic alienation and shared passion—get wonderfully and terrifyingly muddled. Instead of a confession written in the familiar “alphabet of desire,” we glimpse the making of a whole new language. I could smother the book with adoration—it is aching and maddening, intelligent and wildly sexy. But it would be simpler to say that reading it is like meeting someone new and feeling the world come undone. Here is a book that insists that the desire for fiction, for its mimicry and its mirage, is indistinguishable from the desire for another person. —Merve Emre

“ Tom Stoppard: A Life ,” by Hermione Lee

For a time this year, Lee’s newest biography just seemed to be around , and during a couple weeks when I was ostensibly reading other things, I found myself opening it in odd moments—over breakfast, waiting for the pasta pot to boil—until I realized that I’d worked my way through the whole thing. The biography is nearly nine hundred pages, so my experience of it as a side pleasure, a lark, is a testament to Lee’s craft. Much of Stoppard’s history is widely known: his passage from peripatetic refugee youth to Bristol newspaperman and radio-drama hack, and then, with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” to fame and fortune as a witty playwright. What Lee adds is detail, particularly around interesting career turns, plus a big serving of her own admiration. (Not entirely to its credit, I think, this is the sort of biography that everyone dreams of having written about them; our protagonist is always brilliant, invariably a delight. Stoppard, on reading it, was apparently moved to clarify that he was “not as nice as people think.”) What Stoppard contributes is an air of whimsy on the ride up his great tower of success. There is pleasant cohesion to his body of work, with its blend of bookish intellection and breezy verbal humor. Off the page, it becomes clear, he pairs casual social climbing with the cheery pursuit of material ease, often courtesy of Hollywood. He has maintained a stream of scriptwriting work, on projects such as the Indiana Jones franchise, and his constant efforts to boondoggle more luxury out of what’s offered him—his budget must be increased to accommodate a high-end hotel suite, he tells a studio, “because I prefer not to sleep and work in the same room”—are among the smaller charms of this book. Lee’s biography is ultimately such a pleasure, though, because it is a writer’s book: full of respect for the thrill of the craft, able to keep the progress of the life and the work aloft in the right balance. To read it is to be excited about the act of literature all over again. —Nathan Heller

“ Novel 11, Book 18 ,” by Dag Solstad, translated by Sverre Lyngstad

I first encountered “Novel 11, Book 18,” by the great Norwegian novelist Dag Solstad, on a bright, warm day, on a walk with some friends who were visiting from out of town. Buzzed on the weather and the handsome paperback cover—deep green on cream—and, above all, on the nearness of my friends, I bought it. It was almost funny, then, to discover how relentlessly bleak the book is. Published in 1992, but released in the United States this year, by New Directions, with an English translation by Sverre Lyngstad, it tells the story of Bjørn Hansen, a mild-mannered civil servant who has left his wife and son in pursuit of his lover, Turid Lammers. The change of life means a change of locale: Hansen leaves Oslo and settles in Kongsberg, a small, airless town where he soon joins an amateur theatre troupe, of which Turid is widely considered the most talented performer and a kind of spiritual leader. In probably the best and darkest bit of situational comedy that I read all year, Hansen tries to persuade the troupe—usually a vehicle for light musicals—to put on a production of Henrik Ibsen’s play “The Wild Duck.” He wins out, but the show is a terrible flop—and, worse in Hansen’s eyes, Turid gives a cynical, crowd-pleasing performance that inoculates her, and only her, from the more general disapproval of the audience. The relationship is soon over. Solstad tells the story in deceptively simple sentences that repeat themselves in a fugal fashion, gathering new and ever sadder aspects of meaning as they recur. Hansen, wading through the disappointing wash of his life—he’s having the worst midlife crisis imaginable—eventually cooks up a scheme of revenge that’s so sad and absurd it’s almost slapstick. The book’s generic title implies that tiny tragedies like Hansen’s are happening everywhere, all the time, as a simple cost of being alive. For Solstad, what feels like a reprieve—sun and intimacy, the company of friends—is just another step on a tightrope that stretches across the void. Maybe save this one for summer. —Vinson Cunningham

“ Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes ,” by Claire Wilcox

Among the books that most surprised and most moved me this year was “Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes,” a memoir by Claire Wilcox. Wilcox is senior curator of fashion at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and she writes about clothing with an intoxicating specificity: century-old gowns are made from “narrow lengths of the finest Japanese silk, hand-stitched together and then pleated into rills like the delicate underside of a field mushroom.” But this fragmentary, dreamlike book is not about fashion as it is often understood. There is no industry gossip, no analysis of trends. Rather, Wilcox uses her encounters with objects—the bags of lace in the museum’s collection, the pair of purple velvet trousers she borrowed from a charismatic friend—to explore themes of love and loss, birth and bereavement, family and tribe. The book, which is as skillful and oblique in its structure as the precious gowns she describes, is stitched together with loving care from narrative scraps and images, ultimately revealing how materiality and memory operate on one another, so that the sensation of holding a button in her fingers brings Wilcox back to her earliest memory of fastening her mother’s cardigan: “buttoning and unbuttoning her all the way up, and then all the way down again.” —Rebecca Mead

“ Sabbath’s Theater ,” by Philip Roth

Over the course of the pandemic, the actor John Turturro and I have been adapting Roth’s novel for the stage, so I’ve read the book probably twenty times now. I have been astonished again and again. It’s never the adulterous urinating or alte kaker underwear-sniffing that shock me. It’s Roth’s singular capacity for conjuring death—its promises, its terrors, its reliability, and the relentless ache that it leaves behind. There are times when Roth approaches the subject with a cosmic lightheartedness: “Exactly how present are you, Ma? Are you only here or are you everywhere?” Mickey Sabbath, the aging, insatiable puppeteer, asks his dead mother’s ghost. “Do you know only what you knew when you were living, or do you now know everything, or is ‘knowing’ no longer an issue?” When it pertains to Drenka, Sabbath’s Croatian mistress—his “sidekicker,” as she puts it—death is tinged with so much yearning that it’s almost too much to bear, for both Sabbath and the reader (this one, anyway). “Got used to the oxygen prong in her nose. Got used to the drainage bag pinned to the bed,” Sabbath thinks, recalling the last of many nights he spent at her hospital bedside. “Cancer too widespread for surgery. I’d got used to that, too.” For all of Sabbath’s lubricious opportunism, Drenka is his one love. “We can live with widespread and we can live with tears; night after night, we can live with all of it, as long as it doesn’t stop.” But it does, of course. It always stops. Though not, in this book, for Sabbath, Roth’s most unrepentantly diabolical hero, despite his relentless flirtation with suicide: “He could not fucking die. How could he leave? How could he go? Everything he hated was here.” —Ariel Levy

“ Warmth ,” by Daniel Sherrell

In “Warmth,” the writer and organizer Daniel Sherrell’s bracing début memoir , he refers to climate change as “the Problem”—the horrifying, galvanizing fact that should cause all sentient people to lose sleep, to shout themselves hoarse, to reorient their lives in fundamental ways. And yet, apart from a small minority, most people seem content to listen to the string ensemble on the deck of the Titanic, shushing anyone who tries to interrupt the music. To be clear, this is my harsh indictment, not Sherrell’s. For an unabashed climate alarmist, he is mostly compassionate to the quietists, in part because, like all Americans, he used to be one. Sherrell was born in 1990. His father, an oceanographer, took long research trips to the polar ice caps. Of all people, the Sherrells understood what an emergency climate change was—and yet their household was a normal one, in the sense that the Problem didn’t come up much. “Even when all the evidence was there before us,” Sherrell writes, “it was difficult to name.” The book is marketed as a climate-grief memoir, and it certainly is that, but what came through for me, even more clearly than the grief, was a kind of existential irony: not only are we apparently unable to solve the Problem, we can’t even seem to find an honest way to talk about it. Most Americans claim to believe the science; the science says that, unless we make drastic changes, the future will be cataclysmic; and yet, Sherrell observes, “it still sounded uncouth, even a little ridiculous, to spell this all out in conversation.” This is the way the world ends: not with a bang, and not even with much of a whimper. “Warmth,” written in the form of a letter to a child that Sherrell may or may not conceive, is not a thesis-y sort of book. But, if it has a central claim, it’s that the activist chestnut “Don’t mourn, organize!” is a facile mantra, a false choice. Why not both? —Andrew Marantz

“ Brothers and Keepers ,” by John Edgar Wideman

John Edgar Wideman was teaching at the University of Wyoming in the mid-seventies when, one day, his brother, Robert, showed up in town unannounced. Wideman had a young family and a steady job as a writer and an academic. Robert was on a more tumultuous path; he was on the run after a botched robbery back home, in Pittsburgh, had ended with one of his accomplices shooting a man, who later died from his injuries. Published in 1984, “Brothers and Keepers” is Wideman’s attempt to reckon with their diverging lives, and with the bond that they will never relinquish. He sifts through episodes from their childhood, searching for overlooked turning points. No single genre can tell such a complex story. Sometimes, the book is about the deprivations of the criminal-justice system, as Wideman describes in granular detail his visits to the prison where Robert serves a life term. (Robert would pursue education himself in prison, and, in 2019, his sentence was commuted.) At other times, the book feels surreal and fantastical, as Wideman entertains the possibility that their lives might have taken them elsewhere. And there are moments of austerity and dread, as he contemplates the ethics of turning his brother into a character. I often find that memoirs flatten the degree to which “the personal is political” is an idea rife with contradictions. What makes “Brothers and Keepers” so absorbing is that Wideman feels love but not sympathy—not for his brother, and certainly not for himself. —Hua Hsu

2021 in Review

• Richard Brody on the best movies .
• Doreen St. Félix on essential TV shows .
• Ian Crouch on the funniest jokes .
• Amanda Petrusich on the best music .
• Alex Ross on notable performances and recordings .
• Michael Schulman on the greatest onscreen and onstage performances .
• Kyle Chayka on the year in vibes .
• Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker .

By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

By Jennifer Wilson

By Alex Ross

60+ Books You Need to Read in 2021

How many of these new releases are in your reading list?

Every product on this page was chosen by a Harper's BAZAAR editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

For readers, 2021 has been poised to be all the more exciting, with new releases from the likes of Kazuo Ishiguro and Lauren Groff—not to mention many can’t-miss debuts—on the horizon. If you’re still putting together your Goodreads wish list for the year, make sure to consider some of these anticipated titles.

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

Some people say that all stories are about either love or war. Set against the backdrop of early 20th-century Korea, Kim’s epic debut novel is about both. As children, an orphan boy and a girl sold by her family to a courtesan school form a deep friendship—but as they grow older and get swept up in the fight for Korean independence, the two must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice for one another.

Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique

7 years after releasing her debut novel, Land of Love and Drowning , Yanique is back with a sweeping new novel for the ages—a multigenerational love story spanning New York City, Ghana, and the Virgin Islands across decades.

Harper The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

When a National Book Award-nominated poet decides to venture into fiction, it’s an understatement to say that the bar is set pretty high. Even so, it seems Jeffers has cleared that bar with ease: the acclaimed writer’s debut novel follows the story of one American family from early white settlers’ appropriation of Native lands, through the African slave trade and Civil War, all the way into today’s tumultuous times.

G.P. Putnam's Sons The Turnout by Megan Abbott

From gymnastics to cheerleading, Abbott is a master at exploring the sinister underbelly of stereotypically feminine pursuits, and her latest—a psycho-thriller about a family-run ballet school whose ecosystem is upended by the arrival of a stranger—is no exception.

Berkley The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

Hoang’s latest romance puts readers through the wringer, but the happy ending is well worth it. After accidentally going viral, violinist Anna Sun should be celebrating her success; instead, she’s wrestling with burnout. When her boyfriend suggests they see other people, Anna sees it as a chance to figure out who she is apart from others’ expectations of her—but at what cost?

I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins

In Watkins’ hotly anticipated new novel, a writer struggling from postpartum depression boards a flight to a professional engagement in Reno that turns into a rambling journey of reckoning. A mother separated from the demands of motherhood, she plumbs the depths of her past and traverses the Mojave in search of an ever-elusive sense of closure.

Palmares by Gayle Jones

After 20 years of silence, Toni Morrison’s protégée returns this fall with the story of Almeyda, an enslaved Black girl who flees the plantations of Brazil and escapes to a fugitive settlement called Palmares – a safe haven for Black Brazilians fleeing captivity. Of course, reaching Palmares marks only the beginning of Almeyda’s journey. Soon after, she sets off across colonial Brazil in search of her lost husband.

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

Let’s face it: there’s something kind of sinister about the Alexas and Siris and Google Home Maxes of the world. We’ve entrusted them with our homes, our families, and our most private information, all in hopes that they’ll make our lives a bit easier—but at what cost? Moreno explores the answer to that question in this gripping thriller, which follows a widower tormented by the smart speaker his late wife left behind.

The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

Card-carrying members of Bachelor Nation, look alive! Cochrun’s swoon-worthy debut follows a producer on a Bachelor -esque reality show whose idealistic view of romance gets upended when he starts to develop feelings for the show’s lead, a handsome—and very awkward—tech genius who’s taken the job to rehabilitate his image.

Misfits: A Personal Manifesto by Michaela Coel

When it premiered on HBO last year at the height of the pandemic, Coel’s groundbreaking series I May Destroy You may indeed have destroyed more than a few viewers—but it saved a lot of them, too. This fall, the writer embraces that legacy with her new book, which serves as an impassioned ode to never fitting in.

Flatiron Books Tell Me How to Be by Neel Patel

If you like stories about families coming to terms with long-held secrets, Patel’s self-assured debut should be on your radar. As the one-year anniversary of her husband’s death approaches, seemingly perfect Renu questions whether she chose the wrong life; in Los Angeles, her commitment-phobic son Akash is still waiting for his to begin. When Akash returns to Illinois to help Renu sell the family house, both mother and son come face to face with their past regrets.

What Storm, What Thunder by Myriam J.A. Chancy

An ensemble cast of Haitians must contend with the aftermath of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Clancy’s unmissable first novel, which has already earned praise from writers such as Edwidge Danticat and Zinzi Clemmons. Across Port-au-Prince—Haiti’s capital—produce sellers, NGO architects, and wealthy expats alike navigate the fallout from the disaster.

Fight Night by Miriam Toews

Fight Club for girls, this isn’t. The bestselling Women Talking author’s new book follows three generations of women—irrepressible Grandma, her nine-year-old granddaughter Swiv, and Swiv’s pregnant mother—as they fight to survive in Toronto.

Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed edited by Saraciea J. Fennell

With a standout roster of authors that includes Naima Coster, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed is the kind of anthology we’d gladly wait all year for. In fifteen works of poetry and essays—from tales of the supernatural to takedowns of anti-Blackness—this collection offers something for just about every kind of reader.

Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu

Growing up biracial between New Jersey and Upstate New York, Willa Chen got used to never fitting in. But when she begins nannying for the Adriens, a wealthy white family living in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood, Willa suddenly becomes acutely aware of all the things she never had as a girl. Winsome and tender, Wu’s debut novel is about a girl who must confront her out-of-place childhood in her search for a solid sense of self.

God of Mercy by Okezie Nwoka

Forget what you think you know about the divine and let Nwoka’s bewitching novel introduce you to the Igbo village of Ichulu—home to Ijeoma, a girl who can fly. As the people of Ichulu and the surrounding villages wrestle with their gods, Ijeoma is forced into exile, where she must reckon with her growing powers while navigating a hostile world.

Grand Central Publishing Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir by Kat Chow

A veteran journalist and podcaster (she co-founded NPR’s Code Switch ), Chow turns her incisive gaze inward for her first book. Chronicling the aftereffects of her mother’s unexpected death from cancer, Chow’s memoir traces her extended family’s path across the globe to draw a startlingly intimate portrait of grief.

Atria Books The Shimmering State by Meredith Westgate

What if you could access the memories of those around you? That’s the premise of Westgate’s dystopian first novel, which follows Lucien and Sophie to a Los Angeles rehab center dedicated to treating abusers of a powerful new drug called Memoroxin. The two have no memory of each other, but are inexplicably drawn to one another all the same, in this Eternal Sunshine

for a new era.

The President and the Frog by Carolina de Robertis

De Robertis has carved out a niche for herself as a writer of playful, inventive novels that challenge our understanding of society, and her latest is no exception. A journalist visits a former Latin-American president in the lush gardens of the president’s modest home to discuss his life and legacy. Once a revolutionary who was jailed for inciting insurrection, the former president claims to have survived solitary confinement with the help of an unexpected companion: a deeply philosophical frog.

We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza

Ever since they met as children, Black TV anchor Riley and her white best friend Jen have been closer than sisters. Even as adults, they can’t imagine anything ever coming between them—until Jen’s police officer husband shoots an unarmed Black teenager, and Riley is tasked with covering the story. Bestselling author Piazza and debut novelist Pride join forces for this deeply urgent novel about a heartbreakingly American phenomenon.

Keely Weiss is a writer and filmmaker. She has lived in Los Angeles, New York, and Virginia and has a cat named after Perry Mason.

Art, Books & Music

The Craft Prize That Became a Runaway Hit

Charli XCX’s “360” Video Is Full of It Girls

A New Book Shows a Different Side of Kaia Gerber

Solange Honored at 2024 BAM Gala

Bazaar Book Chat April Pick: The Divorcées

Anderson .Paak Waited a Lifetime to Play Jazz Fest

An Ode to Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts Tour Tank Tops

Danielle Mckinney on Her New Show, “Quiet Storm”

All the Joe Alwyn Nods on Taylor Swift’s New Album

Taylor Swift Makes a Flirty Anthem for Exes

All Taylor Swift’s Songs About Matty Healy

The 100 Must-Read Books of 2021

The fiction, nonfiction and poetry that shifted our perspectives, uncovered essential truths and encouraged us forward Annabel Gutterman, Cady Lang, Arianna Rebolini and Lucas Wittmann

1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows

Acts of desperation, afterparties, aftershocks, all that she carried, all the frequent troubles of our days, america on fire, beautiful world, where are you, the book of form and emptiness, call us what we carry, the chosen and the beautiful, chronicles from the land of the happiest people on earth, cloud cuckoo land, the code breaker, the committed, the copenhagen trilogy, covered with night, crying in h mart, dear senthuran, detransition, baby, empire of pain, everyone knows your mother is a witch, the family roe, the final girl support group, finding the mother tree, four thousand weeks, the free world, great circle, harlem shuffle, hell of a book, how the word is passed, invisible child, the kissing bug, klara and the sun, the life of the mind, the lincoln highway, a little devil in america, the loneliest americans, the love songs of w.e.b. du bois, malibu rising, the man who lived underground, mike nichols: a life, milk blood heat, my darling from the lions, my monticello, my year abroad, no one is talking about this, oh william, on juneteenth, one friday in april, one last stop, orwell's roses, the other black girl, our country friends, a passage north, pilgrim bell, poet warrior, the promise, the prophets, razorblade tears, real estate, the removed, remote control, the rib king, second place, seeing ghosts, somebody's daughter, something new under the sun, the sum of us, the sunflower cast a spell to save us from the void, the sweetness of water, a swim in a pond in the rain, tastes like war, there’s no such thing as an easy job, under a white sky, until proven safe, while we were dating, white magic, who is maud dixon, who they was, who will pay reparations on my soul, you got anything stronger, you're history, by ai weiwei, by megan nolan, by anthony veasna so, by nadia owusu, by tiya miles, by rebecca donner, by elizabeth hinton, by sally rooney, by ruth ozeki, by amanda gorman, by sunjeev sahota, by wole soyinka, by anthony doerr, by walter isaacson, by viet thanh nguyen, by tove ditlevsen, by nicole eustace, by jonathan franzen, by michelle zauner, by akwaeke emezi, by torrey peters, by patrick radden keefe, by rivka galchen, by joshua prager, by grady hendrix, by suzanne simard, by oliver burkeman, by louis menand, by melissa febos, by maggie shipstead, by colson whitehead, by mieko kawakami, by jason mott, by clint smith, by katie kitamura, by andrea elliott, by daisy hernández, by kazuo ishiguro, by kaitlyn greenidge, by christine smallwood, by amor towles, by hanif abdurraqib, by jay caspian kang, by honorée fanonne jeffers, by taylor jenkins reid, by richard wright, by lauren groff, by mark harris, by dantiel w. moniz, by melissa broder.

by Rachel Long

By jocelyn nicole johnson, by chang-rae lee, by patricia lockwood, by elizabeth strout, by annette gordon-reed, by donald antrim, by casey mcquiston, by caleb azumah nelson, by rebecca solnit, by zakiya dalila harris, by gary shteyngart, by anuk arudpragasam, by kaveh akbar, by joy harjo, by larissa pham, by damon galgut, by robert jones, jr., by s.a. cosby, by deborah levy, by brandon hobson, by nnedi okorafor, by ladee hubbard, by chibundu onuzo, by rachel cusk, by kat chow, by kristen radtke, by john le carré, by sarah ruhl, by ashley c. ford, by alexandra kleeman, by rivers solomon, by heather mcghee, by jackie wang, by nathan harris, by george saunders, by grace m. cho, by percival everett, by kikuko tsumura, by tarana burke, by elizabeth kolbert, by geoff manaugh and nicola twilley, by jasmine guillory, by elissa washuta, by alexandra andrews, by gabriel krauze, by jesse mccarthy, by gabrielle union, by lesley chow.

This project is led by Lucy Feldman and Annabel Gutterman, with writing, reporting and additional editing by Eliza Berman, Kelly Conniff, Mariah Espada, Lori Fradkin, Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, Cady Lang, Nik Popli, Arianna Rebolini, Lucas Wittmann and Julia Zorthian; art and photography editing by Whitney Matewe and Jennifer Prandato; and production by Paulina Cachero and Nadia Suleman.

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

Amor Towles is releasing a new novel — and it's nothing like A Gentleman in Moscow

This fall, Amor Towles is going from Russia to... Nebraska. The acclaimed author — who worked in investing for more than 20 years before pivoting to full-time writing — solidified his position as a household name after the 2016 publication of A Gentleman in Moscow , which followed an aristocrat who is placed on house arrest in a Moscow hotel. EW is exclusively announcing his highly anticipated third novel, and we can promise it's not what you'd expect.

The Lincoln Highway , set to hit shelves Oct. 5, centers on a young man on his way home from a work farm where he's just completed a one-year sentence for manslaughter. His original plans of reuniting with his younger brother to drive west and build a new life are thwarted when he discovers that two of his friends from the farm have stowed away in his car.

"As a novelist, I like to mix it up," Towles says in a statement. "So, while Rules of Civility describes a year in the life of a 25-year-old woman who's about to climb the socio-economic ladder of New York, A Gentleman in Moscow spans three decades with a Russian aristocrat who's lost everything. My new novel, The Lincoln Highway, is about three 18-year-old boys and an 8-year-old boy on a journey from Nebraska to New York City in 1954 — the whole story lasting just 10 days."

Towles is still riding high from his last novel — Moscow spent 104 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list and has sold 2.4 million copies to date. His debut, Rules of Civility , is also a Times best-seller, and together the books have been translated into more than 30 languages. Both works offered readers a highly developed sense of place (late 1930s Manhattan and Bolshevik Russia), and the author hopes to draw his fans to this new work with yet another immersive experience.

"While I think The Lincoln Highway will offer readers many of the same satisfactions of my first two novels, I hope it will provide them not simply a new set of characters, settings, and themes, but a very different reading experience," says Towles.

Preorders of the book are available now ; stay tuned to EW for more info as release date approaches.

Related content:

• Get a first look at Leila Slimani's In the Country of Others
• The 15 most anticipated books of 2021

Related Articles

Want exclusive content, like free chapters, news, and sweepstakes? Register for the newsletter here!

By clicking 'Sign Up,' I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

James Patterson – Books

Recent releases, titles list.

MK’s Detective Club: The Poison Puzzle

Mystery, danger, intrigue–all in a day's work for MK's Detective Club! Don't miss the first book in this funny, smart, and action-packed new series from beloved #1 bestselling author James Patterson.   Living in the luxurious Arcanum building—with its interior… Read More

The 24th Hour

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! “Tough-but-tender cop Lindsay Boxer” (People) leads the Women’s Murder Club in the high-profile murder investigation of a billionaire San Francisco couple. As enemies lurk in the shadows, will Cindy, Claire, Yuki, and Lindsay still be standing when… Read More

The Murder Inn

It's the perfect getaway. But the past will always find you . . . When ex-cop Bill Robinson takes over The Inn by the Sea, all he wants is a quiet escape from the city. But when a crime boss… Read More

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians

Instant New York Times Bestseller!This “celebration of the world of books” (Kirkus) is “a real page turner!” (Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan) that "feels like a love letter" (USA Today) to booksellers and librarians—as told to the greatest storyteller of our time,… Read More

The #1 Lawyer

Biloxi’s best criminal defense attorney has never lost a case. Then his client’s beautiful wife is murdered, and America’s #1 lawyer suddenly becomes its #1 suspect.  Stafford Lee Penney is a small-town lawyer with a big-time reputation for winning every… Read More

“Turn. Up. The. Heat” (New York Times) with this psychological thriller. New York City detective Michael Bennett faces his most terrifying killer ever. It could be anyone. They could be anywhere. A killer uses fearsome precision to take out impossible… Read More

Missing Persons

In Afghanistan, a US pilot is shot down during a covert mission.  In New York, a mother is forced to flee with her two young children.  Finding the connection between the two will lead the Private team right into a… Read More

Holmes, Marple & Poe

Crime! Murder! Who are you going to call? In New York City, three intriguing, smart, and stylish private investigators open Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. Who are these detectives with famous names and mysterious, untraceable pasts? Brendan Holmes—The Brain: Identifies suspects… Read More

The Girl in the Castle

Beloved #1 bestselling author James Patterson delivers a thrilling novel about a teen caught between two worlds and the truths that could set her free—or trap her foreverMy name is Hannah Dory and I need you to believe me  … Read More

What Really Happens in Vegas

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas—until now. James Patterson shows the real Vegas in a dazzling journey through “lively tales of those who labor and dream in Sin City” (Kirkus). “Wild and wonderful…The magic of Sin City doesn’t just… Read More

Alex Cross Must Die

“One of the greatest fictional detectives of all time” (Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child) is in the sights of the Dead Hours Killer, a serial murderer on a ruthless mission. An airport killer targeting pilots expands his scope. Alex Cross Must… Read More

12 Months to Live

“Patterson and Lupica make a great team” (Carl Hiaasen) who get “deep into the lives of strong women” (Louise Penny) and Jane Smith is their greatest creation—a badass lawyer with a year to live. “Jane Smith is the best character… Read More

23 1/2 Lies

Enjoy three heart-racing thrillers from the New York Times bestselling master of suspense.23 1/2 LIES: Lindsay Boxer's estranged father is gunned down execution-style, and her investigation uncovers life-altering truths. (with Maxine Paetro)FALLEN RANGER: To Rory Yates, being a Texas Ranger means absolute… Read More

Lion & Lamb

Veena Lion and Cooper Lamb are rival PIs in Philadelphia in this “fun ride…the romance between Cooper and Veena is artfully handled…endearing characters including Cooper’s two preternaturally clever kids and his Rhodesian ridgeback puppy.” –Publishers Weekly​“Great storytelling…a spectacular murder case.” –Kirkus, starred… Read More

In this startling psychological thriller, a killer is targeting young women in New York City and is obsessed with Michael Bennett’s daughter. A killer is obsessed… with Detective Michael Bennett’s oldest daughter. Michael Bennett is obsessed…  with keeping his family safe.… Read More

Circle of Death

In this action-packed story from a New York Times bestselling author, a ruthless killer is seeking to overturn the world order—and our only hope is vigilante justice. Since Lamont Cranston—known to a select few as the Shadow—defeated Shiwan Khan and… Read More

Ali Cross: The Secret Detective

The #1 bestselling kid detective is back! Mysteries, crime-solving, homeroom—all in a day's work for Ali Cross.  Ali Cross has always looked up to his father, the famous detective Alex Cross. And after helping to solve two big cases, Ali… Read More

Private Moscow

In this action-packed thriller, an invitation from an old friend draws Private Investigative agency founder Jack Morgan into a deadly conspiracy.  On a cold January morning, Jack Morgan stands inside the New York Stock Exchange with his former US Marine… Read More

In this #1 New York Times bestseller, Alex Cross is gravely injured and only his partner and friend John Sampson can keep him safe . . . and get justice.   For the first time, John Sampson is on his… Read More

Treasure Hunters: The Greatest Treasure Hunt

In the finale of James Patterson’s bestselling series, the Kidds compete for fame and glory—but can they solve a mystery, restore their family name and uncover the biggest treasure yet? Bick, Beck, Storm, and Tommy Kidd have uncovered and rescued… Read More

The 23rd Midnight

In this #1 New York Times bestseller,an attention-seeking copycat from the Women’s Murder Club’s past is recreating murders by a famous killer—with devastating new twists. Detective Lindsay Boxer put serial killer Evan Burke in jail.    Reporter Cindy Thomas wrote… Read More

Minerva Keen's Detective Club

James Patterson has just created the most spine-tingling, creepy-crawling, giggle-producing kid’s detective club ever. That’s ever.   Living in the luxurious Arcanum building—with its interior balconies perfect for playing tag, an elevator like an iron birdcage, and quirky neighbors behind… Read More

Things I Wish I Told My Mother

An artist and her perfectionist mother unpack a lifetime of secrets while on vacation in Paris in this moving novel—perfect for fans of One Italian Summer. A mother and daughter on vacation in Paris unpack a lifetime of secrets and… Read More

Dog Diaries: Big Top Bonanza

This laugh-out-loud funny illustrated book in James Patterson’s New York Times bestselling series finds our favorite dog Junior on a high-flying circus adventure! Imagine my WAG-NIFICENT excitement when I found out the circus was coming to town! I’d do anything… Read More

From the bestselling author of The President Is Missing, an undercover CIA officer has seven days to save her country—and her family—from the world’s most dangerous double-agent.   Agent Amy Cornwall excels at working from the shadows—until a botched field operation… Read More

Elephant Goes Potty

New York Times bestselling author James Patterson captures the struggle—and delight!—of potty training in this irresistibly adorable book. Everyone seems to think that today is the BIG day for Ellie to go potty…everyone, except for Ellie. Her family can cheer… Read More

3 Days to Live

The people closest to you can be your most dangerous enemies in this heart-pounding collection of three thrillers from master of suspense and New York Times bestselling author James Patterson.3 Days to Live: A CIA-agent bride is on her European… Read More

Walk the Blue Line

From the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of Walk in My Combat Boots: true-life stories from the men and women who protect and serve our homes, families and communities.Protect These men and women are our eyes. Our ears. Our… Read More

Jacky Ha-Ha

In this #1 New York Times bestselling novel, get to know Jacky Ha-Ha, a funny class clown who loves to make people laugh—even when everything else in her life feels anything but silly. With her irresistible urge to tell a joke… Read More

Jacky Ha-Ha: My Life Is a Joke

In the #1 New York Times bestselling series, class clown Jacky Hart discovers she's a triple threat onstage–but will she have a chance to shine?    Jacky Hart has found a hidden talent in the performing arts, and she's a… Read More

The House of Wolves

Instant New York Times Bestseller! James Patterson and Mike Lupica are the thriller dream team! Jenny Wolf’s murdered father leaves her in charge of a billion-dollar empire—and a family more ruthless than Succession's Roys and Yellowstone’s Duttons.   The Wolfs, the most powerful… Read More

Hawk: City of the Dead

Hawk, the daughter of Maximum Ride, teams up with her mother to help save their beloved but dangerous city in this action-packed thriller. For Hawk, being a hero weighs heavily on her wings.  In the City of the Dead, life happens in… Read More

The Perfect Assassin

Prof. Brandt Savage—grandson of the legendary action hero—is forced into a top-secret training program where he discovers his true calling…as the perfect assassin.   Dr. Brandt Savage is on sabbatical from the University of Chicago. Instead of doing solo fieldwork… Read More

Middle School: Winter Blunderland

Sometimes middle school feels like a dangerous mission in the cold, unforgiving tundra. Sometimes it literally is. Will Rafe survive his most (frost)biting adventure yet?   Things heat up at Hills Village Middle School when Rafe gets an invitation from Dr. Daria Deerwin… Read More

Triple Cross

James Patterson's #1 bestselling hero Detective Alex Cross hunts down a serial killer who targets entire families—and who will next be coming for the Crosses.    A precise killer, he always moves under the cover of darkness, flawlessly triggering no… Read More

The Twelve Topsy-Turvy, Very Messy Days of Christmas

Move over, Dickens—America’s favorite storyteller has written a gift, “a delightful Christmas story to be shared by the whole family” (Kirkus), destined to become as treasured as A Christmas Carol.   At Christmastime, a family of three are missing someone dear to… Read More

Beloved #1 bestselling author James Patterson delivers a thrilling novel about a teen caught between two worlds and the truths that could set her free—or trap her forever My name is Hannah Dory and I need you to believe me… Read More

From the New York Times bestselling author of The President Is Missing, America has elected its most brilliant president ever, but he’s also a psychopath—and about to start a world war with our most dangerous enemy. US President Keegan Barrett… Read More

The Ninth Month

In this action-packed thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Midwife Murders, a mother-to-be sees the women in her social circle start to disappear—and she could be next . . . Emily Atkinson leads a complicated life… Read More

Diana, William, and Harry

Instant New York Times Bestseller! “She was the best mother in the world,” said Princes William and Harry at Diana’s 10-year memorial. “Entertaining and persuasive,” (Publishers Weekly) this is the first big book about the private Diana, the mother of two princes.“Royal fans… Read More

The Elephant Girl

AN INDIE NEXT PICK AND AN AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE MONTH!  #1 bestselling author James Patterson and award-winning author Ellen Banda-Aaku deliver an unforgettable story of a girl, an elephant, and their life-changing friendship—perfect for fans of The One and… Read More

Nothing could tear Detective Michael Bennett away from his new bride—except the murder of his partner and best friend—in this suspenseful thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling series. NYPD master homicide investigator Michael Bennett and top FBI abduction… Read More

Nura and the Immortal Palace

Aru Shah and the End of Time meets Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away in this mesmerizing portal fantasy that takes readers into the little-known world of Jinn.Nura longs for the simple pleasure of many things—to wear a beautiful red dupatta or to bite into… Read More

The #1 bestselling kid detective is back! Mysteries, crime-solving, homeroom—all in a day’s work for Ali Cross.  Ali Cross has always looked up to his father, the famous detective Alex Cross. And after helping to solve two big cases, Ali… Read More

In this companion to #1 New York Times bestseller The Black Book, Detective Billy Harney chases down a billionaire crime boss and a prison escape artist while a young girl's life hangs in the balance. As Chicago PD’s special-ops leader,… Read More

The Runaway's Diary

A page-turning graphic novel of sisters, secrets, and second chances. I’m running away. Not to a place—to a person.  Eleanor is happiest when she’s left alone to dream up elaborate stories. Sam is polished, fun, and popular. Still, the sisters… Read More

James Patterson by James Patterson

“It's quite a life, Patterson's, and this fizzing, funny, often deeply moving memoir is a perfect way to understand the dizzying world of a best-selling writer." —Daily Mail  “Damn near addictive. I loved it . . . that Patterson guy… Read More

Treasure Hunters: The Ultimate Quest

Dodge missiles, map undersea caves, outrun secret agents, and uncover the ultimate treasure? That’s a day in the life of the Kidds! The Kidd family is on an exciting new mission: use the augmented reality gear their parents created to uncover… Read More

In this thriller from a #1 New York Times bestselling author, SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer has guns on her mind and only twenty-two seconds until she loses her badge—or her life. SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer has guns on her mind.… Read More

Death of the Black Widow

She destroys the men she loves—and escapes every time. The most dangerous killer James Patterson has ever created is also his most seductive. On his first night with Detroit PD, Officer Walter O’Brien is called to a murder scene. A terrified… Read More

Dog Diaries: Dinosaur Disaster

Junior, the first dog author to top the New York Times bestseller list, leads the canine heist of the century to fetch the ultimate treasure: DINOSAUR BONES! We’re in luck, my person-pal, because we are going to see DINO-ROARS! Yes,… Read More

Dog Diaries: Doggy Doubleheader

The bestselling hits Dog Diaries: Mission ImPAWsible and Dog Diaries: Curse of the Mystery Mutt are together in one volume for the first time! First, you’ll read about the RUFF time Junior had when his pet humans went on a… Read More

Run, Rose, Run

From America’s most beloved superstar and #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson comes a thriller about a young singer-songwriter on the rise—and on the run—and determined to do whatever it takes to survive. Every song tells a story. … Read More

Art galleries and casinos, mansions and brothels, billionaires and thieves—only New York Times bestselling author James Patterson could create a triple-cross this decadent and suspenseful. Imagine everyone’s surprise when Carter von Oehson, a sophomore in Dr. Dylan Reinhart’s Abnormal Psychology… Read More

Middle School: It's a Zoo in Here!

Rafe feels like a caged lion at his summer job at the zoo–until a real lion desperately needs his help. Rafe Khatchadorian is days away from sweet, sweet summer freedom until bad grades threaten to land him in . .… Read More

The Horsewoman

This "hugely entertaining, riveting page-turner" (Louise Penny) follows the complicated relationship between mother and daughter as they face off in the Olympics—and into a ride they can barely control. Maggie Atwood and Becky McCabe, mother and daughter, both champion riders, vowed to… Read More

The Paris Detective

The most revered detective in Paris puts his skills to the test in three thrilling cases from the creator of Alex Cross and Detective Michael Bennett.French Kiss: Very handsome and charming French detective Luc Moncrief joined the NYPD for a fresh… Read More

The Defense Lawyer

From a master of true crime comes the story of the criminal lawyer who represented everybody from Manuel Noriega to John Gotti to Bernie Goetz—and won every single case. Known for his sharp mind, sharp suits, and bold courtroom strategies, Bronx-native Barry Slotnick is… Read More

Katt Loves Dogg

In this funny and paw-some story, lifelong rivals Molly and Oscar are forced to team up and brave the great outdoors and help their families before it’s too late. Wilderness adventurers and expert trackers Molly the katt and Oscar the… Read More

Girls of Fate and Fury

New York Times bestselling author Natasha Ngan delivers a stunningly beautiful, heartbreaking finale to the epic Girls of Paper and Fire series. "Don't struggle, Lei-zhi. It's time to take you back to the Hidden Palace. You're going home." The final pages of… Read More

City of the Dead

Fear No Evil

Caught in a web of assassins, Alex Cross enters the final battle with the all-knowing genius who has stalked him and his family for years. Dr. Alex Cross and Detective John Sampson venture into the rugged Montana wilderness—where they will… Read More

Published: 11 / 03 / 21

It should be a crime having this much fun solving a murder mystery! It’s opening night at the hottest show on Broadway. Half the audience is applauding wildly…and the other half is fleeing in terror. Has playwright Osmond Box done it again? Or has he done something far, far worse? A new audio drama brought to life by an all-star cast including John Lithgow, Bryce Dallas Howard, Peter Gallagher, and Aldis Hodge.

E.R. Nurses

They save our lives every day, and we’ve never heard their stories.  The life-or-death intensity of working on the front lines, from America’s greatest unsung heroes. “The compassion, the work ethic, and the selflessness of nurses … are given the respect… Read More

2 Sisters Detective Agency

From the world's #1 bestselling author comes a thrilling novel where a detective duo of sisters finds themselves in the crosshairs of a dangerous and lawless group. Attorney Rhonda Bird returns home after a long estrangement when she learns her… Read More

Kingdom of the Cursed

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series comes the sizzling, sweepingly romantic sequel to Kingdom of the Wicked. One sister. Two sinful princes. Infinite deception with a side of revenge . . . Welcome… Read More

The Jailhouse Lawyer

From James Patterson, the world's #1 bestselling author: a young lawyer takes on the judge who is destroying her hometown—and ends up in jail herself.In picture-perfect Erva, Alabama, the most serious crimes are misdemeanors. Speeding tickets. Shoplifting. Contempt of court.  Then… Read More

In this cinematic thriller from a New York Times bestselling author, two sisters must fight for their survival after a natural disaster in the Pacific Northwest. In the shadow of Mount Hood, sixteen-year-old Tennant is checking rabbit traps with her… Read More

World Champions! A Max Einstein Adventure

Max finally meets her hero, Albert Einstein, as she dashes across glaciers, visits the Great Barrier Reef, and flies a solar-powered jet in a race to stop Global Warming—before it’s too late for Planet Earth.World Champions . . .  GET OUTDOORS… Read More

Before Alex Cross, before Michael Bennett, before Jack Reacher, there was The Shadow! The world’s bestselling author, James Patterson, reimagines one of America’s iconic thriller heroes.Only two people know that 1930s society man Lamont Cranston has a secret identity as… Read More

It Ends in Fire

A James Patterson Presents novel Only those from the most powerful magical families can attend Blackwater Academy, but new student Alka has them fooled. Now it's time to take down the oppressive wizard ruling class from the inside.   Alka… Read More

Ali Cross: Like Father, Like Son

Alex Cross’s son Ali is an accomplished mystery-solver and #1 bestseller. A crime at a concert near his school sparks his newest investigation, and it gets dangerous fast. Sometimes it’s good to have a father in the detective business. ​ Ali… Read More

Daughter of Sparta

Don't miss the page-turning sequel, Blood of Troy! In this thrilling reimagining of ancient Greek mythology, a headstrong girl becomes the most powerful fighter her people have ever seen. Seventeen-year-old Daphne has spent her entire life honing her body and… Read More

The President's Daughter

A rocket ride of a thriller—the #1 New York Times bestselling blockbuster by President Bill Clinton and James Patterson, "the dream team" (Lee Child).All Presidents have nightmares. This one is about to come true.Every detail is accurate—because one of the… Read More

Burn It All Down

Take the ride of a lifetime with this mother/son buddy comedy James Patterson praises as “audacious, addictive, highly entertaining.”​ Eighteen-year-old aspiring comic Joey Rossi just found out his boyfriend has been cheating on him for the past ten months. But what… Read More

If Kids Could Drive

Rev up kids' imaginations with this wheely silly read-aloud book that puts them in the driver's seat, heading straight for big laughs! If kids could drive . . . what would the world be like? Roads would have roller coaster… Read More

21st Birthday

In this thrilling novel from a #1 New York Times bestselling author, Detective Lindsay Boxer takes a vow to protect a young woman from a serial killer long enough to see her twenty-first birthday. When young wife and mother Tara Burke… Read More

Best Nerds Forever

When a lifelong friendship just isn’t long enough, two friends connect from beyond the grave in this heartwarming ghost story from a New York Times bestselling author.One minute, Finn was biking home from school, and the next, he was run… Read More

Dog Diaries: Ruffing It

Junior, the first dog author to make the New York Times bestseller list, tells his latest howlarious tale of going off-leash in the wilderness.​Junior is so excited—his human family is going on vacation and this time they’re taking him with… Read More

The Red Book

Detective Billy Harney’s reputation as a dirty cop may be the only thing keeping Chicago clean in James Patterson’s most critically-acclaimed thriller since The Black Book.​For Detective Billy Harney, getting shot in the head, stalked by a state’s attorney, and accused… Read More

The Palm Beach Murders

James Patterson sets this bestselling thriller in Florida’s wealthiest zip code. Palm Beach doesn’t just have billionaires, yachts, and private planes—it also has the best murder plots money can buy. The Palm Beach Murders (previously published as Let's Play Make-Believe): Both… Read More

Scaredy Cat

Pasha & Poop, two adorable housecats take on Ebeneezer, the Grinch of all Cats. James Patterson’s funniest animal adventure since Katt vs. Dogg. When shelter cats Pasha and Poop move in with their new human family, they find themselves up… Read More

Walk in My Combat Boots

Discover “the stories America needs to hear” (Admiral William H. McRaven, US Navy (Ret.)) with these moving and powerful recollections of war, told by the men and women who lived them.Walk in my Combat Boots is a powerful collection crafted from hundreds… Read More

The Russian

When a serial killer crashes Detective Michael Bennett's wedding, he and his new partner uncover a gruesome string of cold-case homicides across the country.Weeks before NYPD Detective Michael Bennett is to marry his longtime love, Mary Catherine, an assassin announces… Read More

Middle School: Field Trip Fiasco

In this hilarious installment of the bestselling Middle School series, Rafe faces a cranky crocodile, a quirky campout, and a dastardly diamond plot in his most topsy-turvy adventure yet. Things have quieted down for lovable troublemaker Rafe Khatchadorian, and after… Read More

Till Murder Do Us Part

From the world's #1 bestselling author comes a collection of Discovery ID true crime stories where the bonds of matrimony and love can tear you brutally apart. Til Murder Do Us Part: Kathi Spiars can't believe she's found such a good… Read More

The Day the Kids Took Over

A James Patterson Presents Picture BookKids can imagine a world where they’re in charge — and ask the grown-ups for help when they need to — in this adorable and imaginative picture book.The kids have some excellent ideas: turning the… Read More

In this heart-stopping thriller, a brazen kidnapper targets the most lavish New York City wedding of the season—and takes "Here Comes the Bride" as an invitation.Reality star Erin Easton's "Wedding of the Century" may have a cable crew documenting every… Read More

The Last Days of John Lennon

Discover one of the greatest true crime stories in music history, as only James Patterson can tell it. With the Beatles, John Lennon surpasses his youthful dreams, achieving a level of superstardom that defies classification. “We were the best bloody… Read More

Deadly Cross

The murder of a glamorous DC socialite becomes Alex Cross’s deadliest case since Along Came a Spider.Kay Willingham led a life as glamorous as it was public—she was a gorgeous Georgetown socialite, philanthropist, and the ex-wife of the vice president. So… Read More

Murder of Innocence

Dive into two dark stories of crime and murder from a New York Times bestselling author, inspired by true crime horrors where murder isn't always the worst thing that can happen to you . . .Murder of Innocence: It's impossible… Read More

Dog Diaries: Curse of the Mystery Mutt

There’s a mystery mischief-maker on the loose in Hills Village! Can Junior solve the mystery before disaster strikes?   Junior is loving his life with the Khatchadorian family. But his idyllic life soon turns to terror when a mysterious individual… Read More

Kingdom of the Wicked

A James Patterson Presents Novel From the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series comes a new blockbuster series! Two sisters.One brutal murder. A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself… And an intoxicating… Read More

Three Women Disappear

Sarah, his personal chef. Anna, his wife. Serena, his maid. All three had access to a murder victim's home. And all three women are missing. Sarah, his personal chefAnna, his wifeSerena, his maidAccountant Anthony Costello has a talent for manipulating both… Read More

The Family That Cooks Together

The Zakarian sisters present the #1 national bestselling and definitive cooking guide for kids and parents who want to create joy in the kitchen and at the table! Madeline and Anna, daughters of Geoffrey Zakarian, use their experience growing up… Read More

Becoming Muhammad Ali

Two heavy-hitters in children’s literature deliver a critically acclaimed, bestselling biographical novel of cultural icon Muhammad Ali. ★ “This utterly delightful story about Ali’s childhood is a smash hit.”—School Library Journal (starred review) Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay… Read More

The Coast-to-Coast Murders

A detective and an FBI agent join forces on what seems like an open-and-shut case—but a new rash of killings sends them on a pulse-pounding race against time in this intense thriller.​Michael and Megan Fitzgerald are siblings who share a… Read More

Murder Thy Neighbor

As seen on ID, these two true-crime thrillers follow a neighbors' quarrel that turns violent and cyber-bullying that explodes in a double murder.Murder Thy Neighbor: Ann Hoover is a nice woman but she's come to hate her neighbor. Roy Kirk… Read More

Sweet Child o' Mine

"A rock…hit makes a tender love note from parent to child."—Kirkus ReviewsShe's got a smile that it seems to meReminds me of childhood memories…   The first and only picture-book interpretation of Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine" lyrics,… Read More

Max Einstein: Saves the Future

The world’s #1 bestselling author has teamed up with the world’s most famous genius to entertain, educate and inspire a generation of kids–with the first and only kids’ book series officially approved by the Albert Einstein Archives.   Albert Einstein… Read More

The Midwife Murders

In this psychological thriller, a missing patient raises concerns in a New York hospital, but as others start disappearing every dark possibility becomes more and more likely.To Senior Midwife Lucy Ryuan, pregnancy is not an unusual condition—it's her life's work.… Read More

Genius programmer Angela Hoot has always been at the top of her class, but now she's at the bottom of the FBI food chain—until her first case threatens everyone around her. ​Angela's graduate school days at MIT come to an abrupt… Read More

Cajun Justice

This explosive standalone thriller from the world’s #1 bestselling author follows ex-Secret Service agent Cain Lemaire as he uncovers dark secrets hidden beneath the Tokyo streets.The Bayou is a unique place to live and it provides a grit and passion… Read More

You're Next

When a girl with a troubled history of finding dead bodies investigates the murder of her ex, she uncovers a plot to put herself—and everyone she loves—on the list of who's next.   Flora Calhoun has a reputation for sticking… Read More

The Ugly Doodles

This hilarious and adorable picture book about creativity, fear of failure, and embracing your imperfections is perfect for kids and budding artists of all ages. After an inspiring visit to the local art museum, Raven Rembrandt is eager to create… Read More

In this dark dystopian tale, 17-year-old Hawk is growing up hard and fast in post-apocalyptic New York City—until a perilous destiny forces her to take flight and protect her home.Where is Maximum Ride?Ten years ago a girl with wings fought… Read More

The Summer House

When seven murder victims are found in a small town, the homicide investigation shakes a small-town sheriff to her core in James Patterson's tense thriller.Once a luxurious southern getaway on a rustic lake, then reduced to a dilapidated crash pad,… Read More

Top cop, devoted sister, and now Inmate 3329: even prison bars won’t stop Harriet Blue from seeking justice for the murder of her brother.Prison is a dangerous place for a former cop — as Harriet Blue is learning on a… Read More

Treasure Hunters: The Plunder Down Under

With their parents in trouble once again, the Kidds must traverse the Australian Outback, recover a pair of stolen gems, and defeat treasure-hunting pirates to save them! The Kidd family is on their way to Australia to find Lasseter’s Gold… Read More

The 20th Victim

Sergeant Lindsay Boxer tackles an ambitious case that spans San Francisco, L.A., and Chicago in this pulse-pounding thriller of “smart characters” and “shocking twists” (Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author).Three victims, three bullets, three cities. The shooters’ aim… Read More

Jacky Ha-Ha: A Graphic Novel

Adapted from James Patterson's #1 New York Times bestselling series, this hilarious and heartwarming graphic novel introduces Jacky Ha-Ha, a class clown who makes people laugh with her so they can't laugh at her!With her irresistible urge to tell a… Read More

The House of Kennedy

Now with an all-new bonus chapter—in the bestselling The House of Kennedy, “James Patterson applies his writerly skills to real-life history . . . re-telling the political clan’s rise and fall and rise again (and fall again) with novelistic style”… Read More

Sword in the Stars

In this epic sequel to Once & Future, Ari and her Rainbow knights must pull off a Holy Grail heist thousands of years in the past — without destroying their own destinies. Ari Helix may have won her battle against… Read More

From the world’s #1 bestselling author comes a story of revenge as a former SAS soldier is ready to settle into civilian life when he’s hired to solve the mysterious death of a daughter, diving into a seedy world that… Read More

Dog Diaries: Mission Impawsible

Grab your sunglasses and slather on the sunscreen! In this laugh-out-loud adventure for kids and animal lovers everywhere, summer is here and Junior is getting his very own doggy vacation. It’s me, Junior, back again with another tail-wagging tale of… Read More

Texas Outlaw

To Rory Yates being a Texas Ranger is about justice, but all of that changes when he is brought to a small southern town to help uncover the mysteries behind a local woman's death—only to discover corruption and lies. Texas Ranger… Read More

Amazon's Massive Book Sale Ends Tonight: Save Up to 80% on Best-Selling Novels, Memoirs and More

With these incredible deals at the Amazon Book Sale, now's the time to add some new titles to your bookshelf.

There's nothing like summer reading. Reading a new book beachside, poolside or during a summer trip is one of the best ways to soak up the sun, and Amazon — a retailer with bookstore origins — agrees.

To celebrate sunny days and page-turners, the inaugural  Amazon Book Sale  kicked off last week and is still live for one last day today, May 20. Don't miss your chance to find major markdowns on must-read books of the season. No matter what topics and genres you enjoy reading, chances are Amazon has a book you've been eyeing for your bookshelf on sale right now.

Shop the Amazon Book Sale

The top deals at Amazon's Book Sale include up to 50% off print bestsellers and up to 80% off Kindle ebooks. These discounts aren't just on a few books, but thousands, including trending #BookTok reads like It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover and popular celebrity memoirs like Britney Spears ' The Woman in Me .

Always on the go or prepping for a summer road trip? You can even save up to 80% on Audible's audiobooks. There are also deep discounts on Fire tablets and Kindle e-readers during the Amazon Book Sale, plus Amazon is giving customers three months of Kindle Unlimited for free.

Sign Up for Kindle Unlimited

Score savings on classic science fiction and fantasy books like J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings or Douglas Adams' The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . Find something new that you'll love for your book collection by taking advantage of savings on Amazon Books Editor's Picks like Emily Henry's Happy Place  and Taylor Jenkins Reid's Malibu Rising . The retailer even has markdowns on beloved children's books like The Velveteen Rabbit  and If You Give a Dog a Donut .

Fill the shelves of your home library — or the virtual shelves of your e-reader — by taking advantage of the Amazon Book Sale. Below, we've rounded up the best book deals to shop before they're gone tomorrow.

Best Deals at Amazon's Book Sale

'the woman in me'.

Britney Spears finally told her own story on her own terms. The book is an unprecedented look into the life of one of the world's most famous and beloved stars.

It Ends with Us: A Novel

Colleen Hoover's award-winning novel  It Ends With Us  is about a romance that is threatened when an old fling returns. Blake Lively  stars in the new movie adaptation that's slated to premiere in June 2024.

Call Me by Your Name

Call Me by Your Name  (adapted into a movie starring  Timothée Chalamet ) centers on a teenage boy who becomes fascinated with the American student spending the summer with his family in Northern Italy. What unfolds is a captivating tale that explores the fun of summer love, romance and self-discovery. 

Malibu Rising

From Daisy Jones and the Six  author Taylor Reid Jenkins, Malibu Rising tells the story of a famous family whose secrets may come to light during their annual end-of-summer party.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

A New York Times bestseller,  Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow  by Gabrielle Zevin tells the story of two friends from college who create a video game together that brings them fame, tragedy and a sort of immortality. 

The Golden Girls Cookbook: Cheesecakes and Cocktails!

There are few people who know more about cheesecakes than Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia. This cookbook is filled with tons of tasty cheesecake and cocktail recipes.

Tiny Beautiful Things

Author of the New York Times  best-selling book Wild , Cheryl Strayed has another novel that has been reimagined for the screen:  Tiny Beautiful Things. The story follows an advice columnist whose own life is falling apart. 

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer is the inspiration behind the Oscar-winning film, Oppenheime r. Learn all the extra details that didn't make it into the movie by reading this award-winning biography. 

"Happy Place" by Emily Henry

Happy Place by Emily Henry follows the story of a happy couple, Harriet and Wyn, who break up for a reason they won't discuss. Things get complicated when they must pretend to be together during a summer vacation.

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Human Arthur Dent is saved by a researcher for the Guide moments before Earth is demolished for a galactic freeway. Together, the two embark on fantastical journey through the stars in the classic novel  The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .

The Pioneer Woman Cooks―Super Easy!: 120 Shortcut Recipes

Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, is giving away her quick and delicious recipes for dinner, desserts, breakfast and more in this highly rated cookbook.

Red, White & Royal Blue

What happens when the Prince of England and the First Son of the United States fall in love? Find out in Casey McQuinston's  New York Times  best-selling book  Red, White & Royal Blue , a romantic comedy that follows a complicated and unexpected journey from disdain to friendship to love. This novel was also adapted for the screen.

The Lord of the Rings: Special Edition

The Lord of the Rings: Special Edition  is a must-have tome for any J.R.R. Tolkien fans. The hardcover edition features colorful illustrations and sketches from Tolkien himself, along with fold-out maps.

$250   $106

If You Give a Dog a Donut

From the author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie , Laura Numeroff's children's book explores what happens when you give a dog a donut.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

The beloved Broadway musical Wicked is based on a best-selling book by Gregory Maguire. This book is also the inspiration behind the movie starring Cynthia Erivo ,  Ariana Grande  and Michelle Yeoh  which hits theaters in November. 

Expiration Dates: A Novel

New York Times best-selling author Rebecca Serle released a heart-wrenching story about finding love that made Amazon's best books of March. 

The Velveteen Rabbit

In this classic children's story a charming stuffed bunny rabbit appears to become real to those around it.

For even more savings on best-selling products, check out our ultimate guide to all the  best Amazon deals  on tech, fashion, beauty, home and more to shop today.

Updates on Celebrity News, TV, Fashion and More!

RELATED CONTENT:

The 20 Best Reads for Upcoming Travels: Discover New Books for Summer

Whoopi Goldberg on How She's Been Able to Stay Sober, Her New Memoir

Entertainment

Rebel Wilson's New Memoir 'Rebel Rising' Is 30% Off Right Now

RuPaul Releases New Memoir, 'The House of Hidden Meanings'

Dive Deeper Into the World of 'Dune' With These Best-Selling Books

Rebel Wilson, RuPaul and More Must-Read Celebrity Memoirs of 2024

'All You Need Is Love': The New Book About The Beatles Is On Sale Now

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Books We Love

20 new books hitting shelves this summer that our critics can't wait to read.

Meghan Collins Sullivan

June is around the corner, meaning summer is almost here! As we look forward to travel and staycations, plane rides and trips to the beach, we've asked our book critics for some advice: What upcoming fiction and nonfiction are they most looking forward to reading?

Their picks range from memoirs to sci-fi and fantasy to translations, love stories and everything in between. Here's a look:

Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope

I was hooked when I first saw the gorgeous cover for Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope. But the novel's premise put it at the top of my summer reading list. Penelope is known for unforgettable characters, world-building, beautiful writing and robust storytelling. Her latest work, inspired by actual events — the drowned Black towns of the American South — promises a magical, mythical and powerful tale of a young woman's quest to save her town. A historical fantasy must-read. (June 4) — Denny Bryce

Buy Featured Book

Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?

• Independent Bookstores

The Future Was Color by Patrick Nathan

The Future Was Color by Patrick Nathan has everything I look for in a book: a unique and startling voice, a queer protagonist and a deep understanding of a particular time and place. George — once György — is a gay Hungarian immigrant working as a screenwriter in McCarthy-era Hollywood, occasionally fantasizing about his officemate, Jack. When a once-famous actress named Madeline invites George to stay and write at her spacious Malibu house, she won't take no for an answer — and so George finds himself in a hedonistic milieu where pleasure, politics and strong personalities intermingle. (June 4) — Ilana Masad

Mirrored Heavens: Between Earth & Sky, Book 3 by Rebecca Roanhorse

Rebecca Roanhorse is one of my auto-read authors — and one major reason is because of her fire Between Earth and Sky series. That trilogy comes to a stunning, fevered conclusion with Mirrored Heavens . All of the characters you love, hate and love to hate will converge on the city of Tova. Get ready for an epic battle between ancient gods, their human avatars and the mortals caught in between. (June 4) — Alex Brown

Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Under Water by Amorina Kingdon

You may know about 52 Blue , whose vocalizations likely go unheard by some other whales; it captured worldwide sympathy and became a pop-culture metaphor. But did you know all whale song is critically disrupted by ships? If that gets you wondering, keep an eye out for Sing Like Fish , which promises to illuminate the fragile symphony of the deep. (June 4) — Genevieve Valentine

Consent: A Memoir by Jill Ciment

I look forward to reading Jill Ciment's Consent and to the discussions it's sure to provoke. In this follow-up memoir to Half a Life, Ciment reconsiders what she wrote 25 years ago about her teenage affair and marriage to her art teacher, 30 years her senior. Half a Life was written before the #MeToo movement, and before her husband died at the age of 93 after 45 years of marriage. Consent promises a fuller picture. (June 11) — Heller McAlpin

Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton

As we continue to experience the frenzy of Harlem Renaissance celebrations, commemorations and historical resonance, Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton is the perfect addition to the litany of works set in this artistic period this year. It examines the intense and frequently degenerating relationship between patrons and artists during this intellectual and cultural movement. In this dual-timeline gothic thriller, a modern writer discovers a family heirloom painting by a Harlem Renaissance artist, which connects her family to a mysterious past. This historical novel is one I'm eager to read because it deftly exposes the layers of creative ownership, especially when race and wealth are involved. (June 11) — Keishel Williams

Horror Movie: A Novel by Paul Tremblay

Paul Tremblay is one of the most entertaining and innovative voices in contemporary fiction regardless of genre. Horror Movie , a story about a cursed movie that never came out and is about to get a remake, is a love letter to horror novels and horror movies, as well as a tense narrative that will redefine the cursed film subgenre. Tremblay is one of the modern masters of horror, and this new novel promises to be packed with the author's distinctive voice, knack for ambiguity and intrigue, and superb atmosphere. (June 11) — Gabino Iglesias

Cue The Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum

Every so often there's a nonfiction title I covet like it's the next installment in my favorite mystery series. This summer it's Cue the Sun! Based on in-depth interviews with more than 300 sources from every aspect of the production process, this book is a cultural history of the genre that ate American entertainment, from New Yorker critic Emily Nussbaum. It combines the appeal of a page-turning thriller and the heft of serious scholarship. Juicy and thoughtful, it's a must-read for anyone interested in television or popular culture. (June 25) — Carole V. Bell

The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen

In this return to the delightfully wacky world established in one of my personal top-five romance novels of all time, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy , Megan Bannen takes on the friends to lovers trope with a combination of madcap joie de vivre and the exhausted practicality of a mom who's had enough. Also, there are dragons! (July 2) — Caitlyn Paxson

The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş

I am eagerly awaiting Ayşegül Savaş' The Anthropologists . Born in Istanbul, Savaş has lived in England, Denmark and the U.S. also and now resides in France; in this novel she takes up themes of cultural migration through focus on a young couple seeking an apartment in a foreign city. I'm intrigued to discover how Savaş gifts her characters with an anthropological lens of exploration. (July 9) — Barbara J. King

Elevator in Saigon by Thuân, translated by Nguyen An Lý

Elevator in Saigon is a literal and structural exquisite corpse , capturing Vietnam's eventful period from 1954 to 2004. Mimicking an elevator's movement, the novel heightens our yearning for romance and mystery, while unflinchingly exposing such narrative shaft. Channeling Marguerite Duras and Patrick Modiano, the book also offers a dead-on tour of a society cunningly leaping from one ideological mode to the next. As if challenging Rick's parting words to Ilsa in Casablanca , Thuận's sophomore novel in English implies that geopolitical debacles might have been mitigated if personal relations were held in more elevated regard than "a hill of beans." (July 9) — Thúy Đinh

Goodnight Tokyo by Atsuhiro Yoshida, translated by Haydn Trowell

Atsuhiro Yoshida's Goodnight Tokyo begins with a film company procurer who's tasked with finding fresh kumquats for a production. From there, interlinked tales of Tokyo residents unspool in unpredictable directions. Characters range from a cabdriver to a star of a detective TV series who might be an actual detective. Readers will be reminded of Jim Jarmusch's 1991 movie Night on Earth , which also takes place in the wee hours of the morning and threads together the stories of strangers. (July 9) — Leland Cheuk

Navola: A novel by Paolo Bacigalupi

I love when a beloved author — especially one known mostly for a certain type of book — throws us a daring curveball. Navola is exactly such a pitch. Paolo Bacigalupi, who has won pretty much every major award in the science-fiction field with his climate-conscious dystopianism, is veering hard left with his new novel. It doesn't take place in the future, and it isn't a cautionary tale. Instead, it's a hefty tome of high fantasy set in a dreamed-up world akin to Renaissance Florence. Only with, you guessed it, dragons. But also high finance, political intrigue, and de' Medici-esque opulence. Bacigalupi is one of today's most gripping spinners of speculative fiction, and I can't wait to dive into this surprising magical foray. (July 9) — Jason Heller

The Lucky Ones: A Memoir by Zara Chowdhary

In 2002, two train carriages were set on fire in Gujarat, India. Within three weeks, more than 2,000 Muslims were murdered in response by Hindu mobs. By the end of the year, more than 50,000 Muslims became refugees in their own country. The Lucky Ones is a unique memoir in English of this largest-ever massacre in independent India . It is also about a communal crisis bringing a fractured family together. A must-read in our warring world today. (July 16) — Jenny Bhatt

Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist by Jasmin Graham

Author Jasmin Graham is a marine biologist specializing in smalltooth sawfish and hammerhead sharks. Who are the real sharks in this story? Graham had to face the sharp-teethed truths of academia, while creating a world of curiosity and discovery around the complex lives of sharks. To combat the racism she encountered in academia, Graham created an "ocean of her own" to become an independent scientist and a champion of social justice, a journey she unspools in this new memoir. (July 16) — Martha Ann Toll

Liars by Sarah Manguso

I have long been a fan of Sarah Manguso's crystalline prose, from her fragmented illness memoir The Two Kinds of Decay to her tightly constrained 2022 novel Very Cold People . Her second novel , Liars , marries restraint with rage — in it, Manguso traces the full arc of a 15-year relationship between Jane, a successful writer, and John, a dilettante artist-cum-techie, in aphoristic vignettes. The result is a furious, propulsive meditation on wifehood, motherhood and artistic ambition. (July 23) — Kristen Martin

The Horse: A Novel by Willy Vlautin

Musician and Lean on Pete author Willy Vlautin captures the American West like few other writers. His prose is always excellent, his characters always beautifully drawn, and that promises to be the case with his next novel, about an isolated Nevada man in his 60s who is visited by a blind horse that refuses to leave. (July 30) — Michael Schaub

Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up With the Universe by Ken Krimstein

Art and science collide in Ken Krimstein's new graphic biography . In this book, the author of the brilliant and whimsical The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt similarly translates careful research into scenic, emotive comics — in this case tracking the potential effects of an adventitious meeting in Prague between two geniuses on the cusp of world-changing discoveries. (Aug. 20) — Tahneer Oksman

Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

I'd probably be interested in a new biography of Audre Lorde if it focused on the eating habits of the brilliant thinker, poet, feminist and activist. But biographer Alexis Pauline Gumbs promises to more than exceed that bar. An award-winning poet, writer, feminist and activist in her own right, Gumbs is among the first researchers to delve into Lorde's manuscript archives. The resulting book highlights the late author's commitment to interrogating what it means to survive on this planet — and how Lorde's radical understanding of ecology can guide us today. (Aug. 20) — Ericka Taylor

Et Cetera: An Illustrated Guide to Latin Phrases by Maia Lee-Chin, illustrated by Marta Bertello

To those claiming Latin is dead, I say res ipsa loquitur — the thing speaks for itself — in children's cartoons , Hollywood cartoons and enduring epics . As a fan of both Mr. Peabody and the Muses, the idea of combining Maia Lee-Chin's thoughtful scholarship and Marta Bertello's dynamic artistry is captivating. Their new book reimagines the world of Latin's invention and tops my summer reading list. (Aug. 27) — Marcela Davison Avilés

• summer books

Best Books of 2023

Browse the Amazon Editors’ favorite biographies and memoirs , history , mystery , romance , science fiction and fantasy , children’s books , and more.

Featured in Best Books of 2023

• Top 100: Print Books
• Top 100: Kindle Books
• Celebrity Picks
• Editors' Holiday Gift Picks

Best of the Year by Category

• Biographies & Memoirs
• Business & Leadership
• Children's Books
• Cookbooks, Food & Wine
• Literature & Fiction
• Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
• Science Fiction & Fantasy
• Teens & Young Adult

More to Explore

• Best Books of the Month
• 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime
• Amazon Book Review
• Kindle eBooks
• Best Books from 2018-2023

Connect with Us

• Amazon Books on Facebook
• Amazon Books on Twitter
• Amazon Books on Instagram

Best Books of 2022

Best Books of 2021

Best Books of 2020

The Amazon Books’ Editorial team reads more than a thousand books annually to inform our Best Books of the Month and Year lists. Each month we pick incredible reads that delight, inform, and intrigue, across popular categories like fiction , nonfiction , mystery , history , sci-fi , romance , children’s , and more. We champion books we love, and that we think will resonate with every type of reader. At the end of the year, we look back at our monthly picks, and also consider other titles, before casting our ballots—ultimately agreeing on our Best Books of the Year. You may recognize some of your favorite authors and best-selling books, and we’ll also help you discover some hidden gems and debuts. No matter what you like to read, you’ll find something to add to your TBR list—and plenty to give as holiday gifts .

The books included in the Best Books program are hand-selected by the Amazon Books’ Editorial team, and are not influenced by sales, paid placements, or publishers. Our team reads broadly and deeply, and we’re passionate about uniting readers of all ages and tastes with their next favorite reads, helping our customers find terrific gifts for book lovers, and shining a spotlight on the best books by exceptional authors of all stripes.

Yes! We publish daily on the Amazon Book Review , including author interviews , celebrity recommendations , ideas on what to read next, and our Best Books of the Month and Year lists . If you’re interested in receiving weekly updates from the Amazon editors, subscribe to our newsletter HERE to stay in the know of everything happening in the world of books.

Explore your favorite topics below:

Best Business and Leadership Books of 2023

Best childrens' books of 2023, best cookbooks of 2023, best history books of 2023, best literary fiction books of 2023, best mystery thriller books of 2023, best nonfiction books of 2023, best romance books of 2023, best science books of 2023, best scifi and fantasy books of 2023, best debut authors' books of 2023, best books for babies to 2 year olds, best books for 3 year to 5 year olds, best books for 6 year to 8 year olds, best books for 9 year to 12 year olds, best young adult books of 2023, best holiday gift books.

Last updated: Nov 15, 2023

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

PRIME MEMBERS

Free shipping for prime members on woot.

Woot! customers who are Amazon Prime members can enjoy special shipping benefits on Woot!, including:

• Free Standard shipping on Woot! orders
• Free Express shipping on Shirt.Woot orders

Amazon Prime membership required. See individual offer pages for shipping details and restrictions. Not valid for international shipping addresses.

Get started by logging in with Amazon or try a 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime *

* Re-login required on Woot! for benefits to take effect

Apple 14.2" MacBook Pro - Apple M1 Pro 8-Core CPU, 14-Core GPU, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD Storage (Late 2021 - Z15J0021W)

Hurry only 1 left!

Want more great deals? Sign up for our Daily Digest emails!

Key Features:

• 14.2" LED-backlit Liquid Retina XDR display, 3024x1964 resolution, 254ppi, 1000 nits sustained brightness, 1600 nits peak
• Apple M1 Pro processor, 8-cores, 3.2 GHz
• 14-core GPU and 16-core Neural Engine
• 512GB SSD storage
• 32GB onboard memory
• Integrated 1080p FaceTime HD webcam
• Backlit Magic Keyboard
• Touch ID sensor
• Force Touch Trackpad
• 802.11ax Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 5.0
• (3) Thunderbolt 4 ports; (1) HDMI 2.0; SD card reader, 3.5mm headphone jack

Shipping Note: Shipping to Alaska, Hawaii, APO addresses, or PO Boxes is not available for this item.

Warranty : 1 Year Apple Warranty

In the box:

(1) Apple 14.2" MacBook Pro with M1 Pro Chip (1) Apple USB-C Power Adapter & Charging Cable

Sales Stats

Purchaser experience.

• 0% first woot
• 0% second woot
• 100% < 10 woots
• 0% < 25 woots
• 0% ≥ 25 woots

Purchaser Seniority

• 0% joined today
• 0% one week old
• 0% one month old
• 100% one year old
• 0% > one year old

Quantity Breakdown

• 100% bought 1
• 0% bought 2

Percentage of Sales Per Hour

Woots by state, best sellers.

The New York Times Best Sellers - May 26, 2024

Authoritatively ranked lists of books sold in the united states, sorted by format and genre..

This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only.

• Combined Print & E-Book Fiction

New this week

THE 24TH HOUR

by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

The 24th book in the Women’s Murder Club series. A high-society killer could spell trouble for members of the club.

• Apple Books
• Barnes and Noble
• Books-A-Million

14 weeks on the list

by Kristin Hannah

In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.

3 weeks on the list

FUNNY STORY

by Emily Henry

After their exes run off together, Daphne and Miles form a friendship and concoct a plan involving misleading photos.

THIS SUMMER WILL BE DIFFERENT

by Carley Fortune

Lucy returns to Prince Edward Island, where she finds it difficult to stay away from her best friend’s younger brother.

5 weeks on the list

A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES

by Sarah J. Maas

After killing a wolf in the woods, Feyre is taken from her home and placed inside the world of the Fae.

• Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction

2 weeks on the list

THE DEMON OF UNREST

by Erik Larson

The author of “The Splendid and the Vile” portrays the months between the election of Abraham Lincoln and the beginning of the Civil War.

YOU NEVER KNOW

by Tom Selleck with Ellis Henican

The actor charts his journey from his California childhood to success in Hollywood.

THE END OF EVERYTHING

by Victor Davis Hanson

The author of “The Dying Citizen” and “The Case for Trump” looks at how some societies obliterate their foes.

BITS AND PIECES

by Whoopi Goldberg

The EGOT winner shares personal stories about her mother and older brother and the struggles they faced.

7 weeks on the list

THE ANXIOUS GENERATION

by Jonathan Haidt

A co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind” looks at the mental health impacts that a phone-based life has on children.

• Hardcover Fiction

FIVE BROKEN BLADES

by Mai Corland

Five dangerous liars must trust one another enough to kill the God King Joon.

LONG ISLAND

by Colm Tóibín

In 1976, an Irish woman who lives surrounded by her husband’s Italian American family is told he impregnated another woman.

Advertisement

• Hardcover Nonfiction
• Paperback Trade Fiction

KING OF SLOTH

by Ana Huang

The fourth book in the Kings of Sin series. A tragedy forces a billionaire heir and his publicist to confront their feelings for each other.

A COURT OF MIST AND FURY

The second book in the Court of Thorns and Roses series. Feyre gains the powers of the High Fae and a greater evil emerges.

10 weeks on the list

HAPPY PLACE

A former couple pretend to be together for the sake of their friends during their annual getaway in Maine.

• Paperback Nonfiction

290 weeks on the list

THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE

by Bessel van der Kolk

How trauma affects the body and mind, and innovative treatments for recovery.

THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES

Essays and drawings by the author of “The Joy Luck Club” and “The Bonesetter's Daughter,” which depict a search for peace through birding.

4 weeks on the list

THE LIGHT WE CARRY

by Michelle Obama

The former first lady shares personal stories and the tools she uses to deal with difficult situations.

167 weeks on the list

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

by David Grann

The story of a murder spree in 1920s Oklahoma that targeted Osage Indians, whose lands contained oil. The fledgling F.B.I. intervened, ineffectively.

32 weeks on the list

THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR ON PALESTINE

by Rashid Khalidi

An account of the history of settler colonialism and resistance, based on untapped archival materials and reports.

• Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous

233 weeks on the list

ATOMIC HABITS

by James Clear

by Jen Psaki

THE NEW MENOPAUSE

by Mary Claire Haver

6 weeks on the list

THERE ARE MOMS WAY WORSE THAN YOU

by Glenn Boozan. Illustrated by Priscilla Witte

THE ALGEBRA OF WEALTH

by Scott Galloway

• Children’s Middle Grade Hardcover

442 weeks on the list

by R.J. Palacio

A boy with a facial deformity starts school. (Ages 8 to 12)

198 weeks on the list

THE COMPLETE COOKBOOK FOR YOUNG CHEFS

by America's Test Kitchen Kids

Over 100 kid-tested recipes from America's Test Kitchen. (Ages 8 and up)

256 weeks on the list

by Alan Gratz

Three children in three different conflicts look for safe haven. (Ages 9 to 12)

The friends Frank and Stanley give a vivid account of the Pearl Harbor attack. (Ages 8 to 12)

73 weeks on the list

by Katherine Applegate. Illustrated by Charles Santoso

After a shark attack, Odder recuperates at the aquarium with the scientists who raised her. (Ages 8 to 12)

• Children’s Picture Books

MAY YOU LOVE AND BE LOVED

by Cleo Wade

Well wishes for the future. (Ages 3 to 6)

WHY A SON NEEDS A MOM

by Gregory E. Lang. Illustrated by Gail Yerrill

The special bond between mother and son. (Ages 4 to 7)

19 weeks on the list

BECAUSE I HAD A TEACHER

by Kobi Yamada. Illustrated by Natalie Russell

An ode to teachers. (Ages 4 to 7)

HOW TO CATCH A MAMASAURUS

by Alice Walstead. Illustrated by Andy Elkerton

A celebration of all that mothers do. (Ages 4 to 10)

WHY A DAUGHTER NEEDS A MOM

by Gregory E. Lang. Illustrated by Sydney Hanson

The special bond between mother and daughter. (Ages 4 to 8)

• Children’s & Young Adult Series

26 weeks on the list

THE ONE AND ONLY

by Katherine Applegate

The stories of Ivan, Bob and Ruby. (Ages 8 to 12)

791 weeks on the list

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID

written and illustrated by Jeff Kinney

The travails and challenges of adolescence. (Ages 9 to 12)

137 weeks on the list

A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER

by Holly Jackson

Pippa Fitz-Amobi solves murderous crimes. (Ages 14 and up)

154 weeks on the list

WHO WAS/IS . . . ?

by Jim Gigliotti and others; various illustrators

Biographies unlock legendary lives. (Ages 8 to 11)

724 weeks on the list

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS

by Rick Riordan

A boy battles mythological monsters. (Ages 9 to 12)

• Young Adult Hardcover

27 weeks on the list

by Lauren Roberts

Forbidden love is in the air when Paedyn, an Ordinary, and Kai, an Elite, become romantically involved. (Ages 14 and up)

Adena is on her own in Loot, after Paedyn is selected for the Purging Trials. (Ages 14 and up)

SWEET NIGHTMARE

by Tracy Wolff

Clementine would love to leave Calder Academy, the boarding school for rogue paranormals, but her mother, the headmaster, will not have it. (Ages 14 to 17)

THE REAPPEARANCE OF RACHEL PRICE

Annabel Price's mother was presumed dead, until she reappears during the filming of a documentary about her disappearance. (Ages 14 to 17)

BLOOD AT THE ROOT

by LaDarrion Williams

Malik enrolls in Caiman University, a magical historically Black college, and hones his abilities. (Ages 14 to 17)

Weekly Best Sellers Lists

Monthly best sellers lists.