Skip to content
BEST
BOOKS
of the year
Years
Recognitions
Categories
Method
Find a book
↘
Menu
＋
Explore archive
Years
Recognitions
Categories
Latest year
Methodology
Sources
Opening the archive
Best of 2012
20
Step through
Search titles and authors
2012
Prize
Genre
Filters
1
List
Filters
Clear all
Year
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
Prize
Booker Prize
Edgar Award for Best Novel
Hugo Award for Best Novel
International Booker Prize
John Newbery Medal
National Book Award for Fiction
National Book Award for Nonfiction
National Book Award for Poetry
National Book Award for Young People's Literature
Nebula Award for Best Novel
NPR Books We Love
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
Randolph Caldecott Medal
The New York Times — 10 Best Books
Women’s Prize for Fiction
Genre
Fiction & literature
Graphic novels
Literary fiction
Mystery & crime
Nonfiction
Picture books
Poetry
Science fiction & fantasy
Translated fiction
Young readers
Show 20 books
Open the full page
→
1
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Katherine Boo · 2012 · 2 honors
2
Bring Up the Bodies
Hilary Mantel · 2012 · 2 honors
3
2312
Kim Stanley Robinson · 2012 · 1 honor
4
A Ball for Daisy
Chris Raschka · 2012 · 1 honor
5
A Hologram for the King
Dave Eggers · 2012 · 1 honor
6
Among Others
Jo Walton · 2012 · 1 honor
7
Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations
David Ferry · 2012 · 1 honor
8
Building Stories
Chris Ware · 2012 · 1 honor
9
Dead End in Norvelt
Jack Gantos · 2012 · 1 honor
10
Far From the Tree
Andrew Solomon · 2012 · 1 honor
11
Goblin Secrets
William Alexander · 2012 · 1 honor
12
Gone
Mo Hayder · 2012 · 1 honor
13
NW
Zadie Smith · 2012 · 1 honor
14
The Passage of Power
Robert A. Caro · 2012 · 1 honor
15
The Patriarch
David Nasaw · 2012 · 1 honor
16
The Round House
Louise Erdrich · 2012 · 1 honor
17
The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller · 2012 · 1 honor
18
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
Stephen Greenblatt · 2012 · 1 honor
19
The Yellow Birds
Kevin Powers · 2012 · 1 honor
20
Why Does the World Exist? An Existential Detective Story
Jim Holt · 2012 · 1 honor