Best Books of the Year
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Year consensus · 2021

The Most Recommended Books of 2021

We counted 5,914 entries from 142 sources in 2021. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe appeared on 28, 5 more than any other book.

A source counts once per book, whatever the result: a win, a shortlist place, or a list pick. We show books named by 3 or more sources. 2021 is the award or list year, not the publication year.

28 sources

  1. Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe

23 sources

  1. Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

22 sources

  1. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

21 sources

  1. No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

20 sources

  1. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

18 sources

  1. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

17 sources

  1. How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith

  2. Matrix by Lauren Groff

16 sources

  1. A Little Devil in America: Notes In Praise Of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

  2. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

  3. Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

15 sources

  1. Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

  2. Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

  3. Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert

14 sources

  1. All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles

13 sources

  1. Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So

  2. Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

12 sources

  1. Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

  2. Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

11 sources

  1. Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

  2. Bewilderment by Richard Powers

  3. From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo

  4. My Monticello: Fiction by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

  5. Second Place by Rachel Cusk

  6. The 1619 Project: Born on the Water by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson

  7. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

  8. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

  9. Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford and Floyd Cooper

10 sources

  1. Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

  2. Seek You by Kristen Radtke

  3. Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

  4. The Promise by Damon Galgut

  5. The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel

  6. The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

9 sources

  1. A Ghost In the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

  2. Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

  3. Fuzz by Mary Roach

  4. Harrow by Joy Williams

  5. Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

  6. The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

  7. Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

  8. Watercress by Andrea Wang and Jason Chin

  9. Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

8 sources

  1. Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

  2. Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard

  3. Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

  4. I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness: A Novel by Claire Vaye Watkins

  5. Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

  6. Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott

  7. My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

  8. Nina: A Story of Nina Simone by Traci N. Todd

  9. On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed

  10. One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

  11. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

  12. Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon

  13. Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon

  14. The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson

  15. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade

  16. The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present by Paul McCartney

7 sources

  1. A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia

  2. A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

  3. Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

  4. Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu

  5. All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler by Rebecca Donner

  6. Assembly by Natasha Brown

  7. In Memory of Memory: A Romance by Maria Stepanova

  8. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

  9. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

  10. People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn

  11. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

  12. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

  13. The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen

  14. The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

  15. The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe

  16. The Magician by Colm Tóibín

  17. The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.

  18. The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee

  19. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

  20. The Turnout: A Novel by Megan Abbott

  21. Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff

  22. Too Small Tola by Atinuke

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

  24. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut

6 sources

  1. A Thousand Times You Lose Your Treasure by Hoa Nguyen

  2. All Thirteen by Christina Soontornvat

  3. Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

  4. Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby

  5. Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

  6. How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

  7. Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen

  8. Legacy by Nikki Grimes

  9. Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford

  10. Me (Moth) by Amber McBride

  11. Milo Imagines the World by Matt de la Peña

  12. No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull

  13. On Freedom by Maggie Nelson

  14. Orwell's Roses by Rebecca Solnit

  15. Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome

  16. Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

  17. Silverview by John le Carré

  18. Smile by Sarah Ruhl

  19. The Big Bath House by Kyo Maclear

  20. The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

  21. The Dangers of Smoking In Bed: Stories by Mariana Enriquez

  22. The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

  23. The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War by Louis Menand

  24. The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

  25. The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor

  26. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

  27. Wayward by Dana Spiotta

  28. What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

5 sources

  1. 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows by Ai Weiwei

  2. A Lot Like Adiós by Alexis Daria

  3. A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

  4. Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

  5. America on Fire by Elizabeth Hinton

  6. Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad

  7. Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood by Kwame Mbalia

  8. Bolla by Pajtim Statovci

  9. Borders by Thomas King and Natasha Donovan

  10. Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South by Winfred Rembert and Erin I. Kelly

  11. Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka

  12. Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

  13. Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America by Nicole Eustace

  14. Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

  15. Fight Night by Miriam Toews

  16. Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor

  17. Girlhood by Melissa Febos

  18. Himawari House by Harmony Becker

  19. Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer

  20. Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest by Phoebe Wahl

  21. Luster by Raven Leilani

  22. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

  23. Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz

  24. Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

  25. On the Trapline by David A. Robertson and Julie Flett

  26. Outlawed: A Novel by Anna North

  27. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

  28. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

  29. Root Magic by Eden Royce

  30. Starfish by Lisa Fipps

  31. Stone Fruit by Lee Lai

  32. The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

  33. The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen

  34. The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

  35. The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

  36. The Genius Under the Table: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain by Eugene Yelchin

  37. The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

  38. The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore

  39. The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family by Joshua Cohen

  40. The Night Walk by Marie Dorléans

  41. The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

  42. The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice With Art by Cynthia Levinson

  43. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

  44. The Removed by Brandon Hobson

  45. The Right To Sex by Amia Srinivasan

  46. The Trees by Percival Everett

  47. The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernández

  48. There is Nothing for You Here by Fiona Hill

  49. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

  50. Unbound by Tarana Burke

  51. Winter Recipes From the Collective: Poems by Louise Glück

  52. Wishes by Mượn Thị Văn

4 sources

  1. A Blood Condition by Kayo Chingonyi

  2. A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris

  3. A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

  4. A Most Remarkable Creature: The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey by Jonathan Meiburg

  5. A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam

  6. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

  7. A Shock by Keith Ridgway

  8. A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

  9. Amber and Clay by Laura Amy Schlitz

  10. An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky

  11. And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall

  12. Appleseed by Matt Bell

  13. Beasts of Prey by Ayana Gray

  14. Billy Summers by Stephen King

  15. Black Birds in the Sky by Brandy Colbert

  16. Black Buck by Mateo Askaripour

  17. Blind Vigil by Matt Coyle

  18. Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

  19. Burning Man: The Ascent of DH Lawrence by Frances Wilson

  20. Burntcoat by Sarah Hall

  21. Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera

  22. China Room by Sunjeev Sahota

  23. Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara

  24. Disability Visibility: 17 First-Person Stories for Today by Alice Wong

  25. Eat or We Both Starve by Victoria Kennefick

  26. Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger

  27. Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

  28. Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

  29. Eyes that Kiss in the Corners by Joanna Ho

  30. Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown

  31. Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston

  32. Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown by Steve Sheinkin

  33. Fathoms: The World in the Whale by Rebecca Giggs

  34. Floaters by Martín Espada

  35. frank: sonnets by Diane Seuss

  36. Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi

  37. Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian

  38. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

  39. How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

  40. How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

  41. Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

  42. Kaleidoscope by Brian Selznick

  43. Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

  44. Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion

  45. Let's Talk About It by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan

  46. Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kelefa Sanneh

  47. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

  48. Maya and the Robot by Eve L. Ewing

  49. Mel Fell by Corey R. Tabor

  50. Memorial by Bryan Washington

  51. Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris

  52. Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March

  53. My Year Abroad by Chang-rae Lee

  54. Nubia: Real One by L.L. McKinney

  55. Our Country Friends by Gary Shteyngart

  56. Palmares by Gayl Jones

  57. Plain Bad Heroines by emily m. danforth

  58. Playlist for the Apocalypse: Poems by Rita Dove

  59. Poet Warrior by Joy Harjo

  60. Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

  61. Real Estate: A Living Autobiography by Deborah Levy

  62. Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark

  63. Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca

  64. Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor

  65. Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac

  66. Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark

  67. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

  68. Run by John Lewis

  69. Seeing Ghosts by Kat Chow

  70. Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic by Glenn Frankel

  71. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

  72. Taste by Stanley Tucci

  73. The Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamillo

  74. The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig

  75. The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki

  76. The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

  77. The Crossroads at Midnight by Abby Howard

  78. The Family Roe: An American Story by Joshua Prager

  79. The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed

  80. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

  81. The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

  82. The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice by Scott Ellsworth

  83. The Life of the Mind by Christine Smallwood

  84. The Longest Storm by Dan Yaccarino

  85. The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright

  86. The Midnight Bargain by C. L. Polk

  87. The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

  88. The People Remember by Ibi Zoboi

  89. The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict

  90. The Prophets by Robert Jones

  91. The Sea-ringed World: Sacred Stories of the Americas by María García Esperón

  92. The Sleeping Beauties by Suzanne O'Sullivan

  93. The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us from the Void by Jackie Wang

  94. The Waiting by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

  95. This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan

  96. Three Girls From Bronzeville: A Uniquely American Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood by Dawn Turner

  97. Turn to Stone by James W. Ziskin

  98. Until Proven Safe by Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley

  99. Wake by Rebecca Hall

  100. We All Play by Julie Flett

  101. When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole

  102. When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez

  103. Zorrie by Laird Hunt

3 sources

  1. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

  2. A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow

  3. A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson

  4. A Treatise on Stars by Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge

  5. A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds by Scott Weidensaul

  6. African Europeans: An Untold History by Olivette Otele

  7. African Icons: Ten People Who Shaped History by Tracey Baptiste

  8. Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955 by Harald Jähner

  9. All In by Billie Jean King

  10. All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny

  11. All the Names Given by Raymond Antrobus

  12. American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption by Gabrielle Glaser

  13. Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids by Cynthia Leitich Smith

  14. And Now I Spill the Family Secrets by Margaret Kimball

  15. Apeirogon by Colum McCann

  16. Areli Is A Dreamer: A True Story by Areli Morales

  17. Being You: A New Science of Consciousness by Anil Seth

  18. Bestiary by K-Ming Chang

  19. Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora by Bryant Terry

  20. Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk and Nicola Yoon

  21. Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury

  22. Born Behind Bars by Padma Venkatraman

  23. Boy, Everywhere by A. M. Dassu

  24. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

  25. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

  26. Cheryl's Destinies by Stephen Sexton

  27. Children of Chicago by Cynthia Pelayo

  28. Children Under Fire: An American Crisis by John Woodrow Cox

  29. Chlorine Sky by Mahogany L. Browne

  30. Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping by Matthew Salesses

  31. Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer

  32. Cultish by Amanda Montell

  33. Dad Bakes by Katie Yamasaki

  34. Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel

  35. Dear Senthuran by Akwaeke Emezi

  36. Derailed by Mary Keliikoa

  37. Determined to Stay: Palestinian Youth Fight for Their Village by Jody Sokolower

  38. Dirty Work: Essential Jobs and the Hidden Toll of Inequality in America by Eyal Press

  39. Dream Girl by Laura Lippman

  40. Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny

  41. Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera

  42. English Pastoral: An Inheritance by James Rebanks

  43. Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler

  44. Fantasia for the Man in Blue by Tommye Blount

  45. Fictional Father by Joe Ollmann

  46. Finna by Nino Cipri

  47. Fish and Sun by Sergio Ruzzier

  48. Five Decembers by James Kestrel

  49. Five Tuesdays in Winter: Stories by Lily King

  50. Four Hundred Souls by Ibram X. Kendi

  51. Four Lost Cities by Annalee Newitz

  52. From the Tops of the Trees by Kao Kalia Yang

  53. Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin

  54. Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

  55. Girl A by Abigail Dean

  56. Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World that Wouldn't Die by dave ring

  57. Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

  58. Hear My Voice / Escucha mi voz by Warren Binford

  59. Home Is Not a Country by Safia Elhillo

  60. House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

  61. House of Sticks by Ly Tran

  62. How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang

  63. How to Kidnap the Rich by Rahul Raina

  64. How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity's Greatest Adventure by John Rocco

  65. Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club by Martin Edwards

  66. I Live a Life Like Yours by Jan Grue

  67. In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner

  68. In: A Graphic Novel by Will McPhail

  69. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

  70. Islands of Abandonment: Life in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn

  71. J.D. and the Great Barber Battle by J. Dillard

  72. Jew-ish: A Cookbook: Reinvented Recipes from a Modern Mensch by Jake Cohen

  73. Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry by John Murillo

  74. Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal by George Packer

  75. Last Call by Elon Green

  76. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

  77. Life’s Edge by Carl Zimmer

  78. Living with Viola by Rosena Fung

  79. Love Is a Revolution by Renée Watson

  80. Maybe Maybe Marisol Rainey by Erin Entrada Kelly

  81. Merci Suárez Can't Dance by Meg Medina

  82. Metal Fish, Falling Snow by Cath Moore

  83. Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know by Brittany Luby and Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley

  84. Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong

  85. Monkey Boy: A Novel by Francisco Goldman

  86. My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland

  87. My Broken Language: A Memoir by Quiara Alegría Hudes

  88. My First Day by Phùng Nguyên Quang and Huỳnh Kim Liên

  89. My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley

  90. My Two Border Towns by David Bowles

  91. Network Effect by Martha Wells

  92. Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued by Peter Sis

  93. Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

  94. Nina Simone's Gum by Warren Ellis

  95. Nine Bar Blues by Sheree Renée Thomas

  96. Niños: Poems for the Lost Children of Chile by María José Ferrada

  97. No One Else by R. Kikuo Johnson

  98. Noor by Nnedi Okorafor

  99. Northern Spy: A Novel by Flynn Berry

  100. Notes on the Sonnets by Luke Kennard

  101. Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

  102. On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu

  103. Ophie's Ghosts by Justina Ireland

  104. Over the Shop by JonArno Lawson

  105. Pawcasso by Remy Lai

  106. Pilgrim Bell by Kaveh Akbar

  107. Playing the Cards You’re Dealt by Varian Johnson

  108. Pop Song by Larissa Pham

  109. Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

  110. Read Until You Understand by Farah Jasmine Griffin

  111. Red Roulette: An Insider’s Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption and Vengeance in Today’s China by Desmond Shum

  112. Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko

  113. Rememberings by Sinéad O'Connor

  114. Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne

  115. Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

  116. Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Leitich Smith

  117. Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

  118. Someone Builds the Dream by Lisa Wheeler

  119. Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins

  120. Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp

  121. Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

  122. Stamped (for Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

  123. Stones by Kevin Young

  124. Strollercoaster by Matt Ringler

  125. Stuntboy, in the Meantime by Jason Reynolds

  126. Survivors: Children's Lives After the Holocaust by Rebecca Clifford

  127. Take Back the Block by Chrystal D. Giles

  128. Tastes Like War: A Memoir by Grace M. Cho

  129. That Old Country Music by Kevin Barry

  130. That Summer by Jennifer Weiner

  131. The Amur River: Between Russia and China by Colin Thubron

  132. The Animals in that Country by Laura Jean McKay

  133. The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green

  134. The Big Bad Wolf in My House by Valérie Fontaine

  135. The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (With Recipes) by Kate Lebo

  136. The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales

  137. The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros

  138. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow

  139. The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

  140. The Employees by Olga Ravn

  141. The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee by Julie Leung

  142. The Girl from the Sea by Lee Knox Ostertag

  143. The Golden Hour by Niki Smith

  144. The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions, and the Making of the Modern World by Linda Colley

  145. The Hard Crowd: Essays, 2000–2020 by Rachel Kushner

  146. The Kids by Hannah Lowe

  147. The Kissing Bug by Daisy Hernández

  148. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

  149. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

  150. The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos by Judy Batalion

  151. The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess by Tom Gauld

  152. The Manningtree Witches by A. K. Blakemore

  153. The Midnight Fair by Gideon Sterer

  154. The Morning Star: A Novel by Karl Ove Knausgaard

  155. The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

  156. The One Thing You'd Save by Linda Sue Park and Robert Sae-Heng

  157. The Other Talk: Reckoning With Our White Privilege by Brendan Kiely

  158. The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

  159. The Plague Year: America in the Time of COVID by Lawrence Wright

  160. The Premonition by Michael Lewis

  161. The Push by Ashley Audrain

  162. The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

  163. The Sea in Winter by Christine Day

  164. The Souvenir Museum: Stories by Elizabeth McCracken

  165. The Strangers by katherena vermette

  166. The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya

  167. The Survivors by Jane Harper

  168. The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg

  169. The Unbroken by C.L. Clark

  170. The Vixen: A Novel by Francine Prose

  171. The War for Gloria by Atticus Lish

  172. The Wild Fox of Yemen by Threa Almontaser

  173. The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

  174. The Year I Flew Away by Marie Arnold

  175. These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett

  176. These Women by Ivy Pochoda

  177. Things I Have Withheld by Kei Miller

  178. This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

  179. Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean

  180. Tom Stoppard: A Life by Hermione Lee

  181. Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

  182. Walking on Cowrie Shells: Stories by Nana Nkweti

  183. We Are Watching Eliza Bright by A.E. Osworth

  184. We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker

  185. We Had a Little Real Estate Problem by Kliph Nesteroff

  186. What Noise Against the Cane by Desiree C. Bailey

  187. What You Don’t See by Tracy Clark

  188. What's Mine and Yours by Naima Coster

  189. When Lola Visits by Michelle Sterling

  190. When She Was Good by Michael Robotham

  191. When We Were Infinite by Kelly Loy Gilbert

  192. While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory

  193. White Magic by Elissa Washuta

  194. Who Is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews

  195. Who Will Pay Reparations On My Soul? by Jesse McCarthy

  196. Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin

  197. Yearbook by Seth Rogen

  198. Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi

  199. Your Mama by NoNieqa Ramos and Jacqueline Alcántara

Sources counted in 2021