There are some best books lists for 2026 so far and the borrowreadrepeat.com blog has the best compilation I've seen. It includes picks from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Page, the New York Times, and more--check out the link above!

It's not quite November yet and already I'm seeing some of the best of...lists for 2025! I'll update when I have more lists, so you don't miss out:

Amazon Best Books of 2025

Barnes & Noble Book of the Year finalists

BookBrowse - What Books Have You Enjoyed So Far in 2025 (blog post)

Booksmith Top 100 of 2025

Goodreads Best 2025 Books (So Far)

Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2025 broken down by category

added 11/14/25

Amazon's Best Books of 2025

Good Read's Best Books of 2025 - Reader's Choice

added 11/20/25

100 Must Read Books of 2025 - Time

added 12/3/25

Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best 2025

 

The best book lists of 2024 are starting to come out! I'll keep adding to this list as more are available:
Amazon selects its best books of 2024
Kirkus releases its lists of the best books of 2024
Libro.fm shares its bestselling audiobooks of 2024, along with excerpts
Barnes & Noble lists their best book of the year and other listsBest Middle Grade Books 2024 | SLJ Best Books
Best Manga 2024 | SLJ Best BooksLibrary Journal's Best Nonfiction of 2024The Guardian shares the best books of the year
LitHub shares 38 favorite books from 2024
NYT columnists share the best crime fiction and thrillers of the year
Elle editors name their favorite books of the year
Books We Love — NPR's annual, year-end books guideCrimeReads shares its picks for the best psychological thrillers of 2024

Looking for some of the best books of 2023? 

Our book club's favorite fiction title for 2023 was The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin.

Here's a collection of some of the lists available:

New York Times selects the 10 best books of 2023 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/28/books/review/best-books-2023.html

Shelf Awareness releases its best adult books of 2023

Amazon’s best for 2023 https://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?rw_useCurrentProtocol=1&node=17276804011&ref_=amb_link_ojtSVy9qS5SJ5N1KElWmyg_14

Amazon’s best children’s books for 2023 https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=s9_bw_cg_BOTY2023_1a1_w?node=17296227011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-9&pf_rd_r=4PMGKM3YDDR9ANCYN8J4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=13b5416e-a5ad-42bc-a393-0b84b8be7566&pf_rd_i=17276804011

Chicago Public Library’s favorites: https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/199702383_chipublib_adults/2421751199_our_favorite_books_of_2023_top_10?_gl=1*190wf31*_ga*NDg2NjIwNDUwLjE2MjYxMDk4NjM.*_ga_92RPWHE421*MTcwMjU2NTAwNi4xNTUuMS4xNzAyNTY2NzU2LjAuMC4w*_ga_G99DMMNG39*MTcwMjU2NTAwNi40OTAuMS4xNzAyNTY2NzU2LjAuMC4w

National Public Radio's best for 2023: https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2023

The Atlantic releases “The Atlantic 10: the books that made us think the most this year.”

Slate’s book staff Laura Miller picks her 10 best books of the year and Dan Kois selects his top 10 of 2023.

Vogue shares “The Best—And Most Anticipated—Books of 2023 (So Far).”

LA Times names “The 13 best novels (and 2 best short story collections) of 2023.”

The New Yorker reflects on the year of reading.

The Millions releases its A Year in Reading 2023 series

LitHub staff selects the 38 best books of the year. LitHub also has a List of Lists https://lithub.com/the-ultimate-best-books-of-2023-list/

Library Journal’s Best Books of 2023 https://www.libraryjournal.com/page/best-books-2023?utm_campaign=LJ%20Reviews&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=285170901&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--AGfrBBVd9jWZeMpmYF2EItyv6Fin9y8Hi2AP8gFw4RetnYqDOIzmf36JeicqsQ5JfeA-j8UibE4i90W59mZ2HTZSc6Q&utm_content=285170901&utm_source=hs_email

Publisher's Weekly Best book lists for Children and Teens: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/93995-a-roundup-of-2023-s-best-book-lists-for-children-and-teens.html

 

I don't know why I'm always surprised, but the lists of the best books of the year are coming out already. I've compiled some of them and will add more as I see them.

Barnes & Noble Best Books of 2022 - has best books in a variety of categories

NPR's Books We Love 2022

Esquire's Best Books of 2022 (So Far)

Good Housekeeping's 50 Best New Books of 2022

Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2022 - in a variety of categories

Book Browse's Best Fiction Books for Book Clubs in 2023

Added 11/17/22: Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2022

Added 12/9/22:  MORE “BEST OF” LISTS:
New Yorker – Best Books of 2022
Time – 10 Best Fiction Books of 2022
People – 10 Best Books of 2022
Slate – Best Books of 2022
Entertainment Weekly – Best Books of 2022
Fresh Air – Maureen Corrigan's 10 favorite books of the year
NYT – Best Historical Fiction of 2022
L.A. Times – 5 Best Novels of 2022
The Guardian – Best Fiction of 2022
Financial Times – Best Books of 2022 list
BookRiot – Top 10 Best Historical Fiction Books of 2022
LitHub – Best Reviewed Fiction of 2022
She Reads – Best Literary Fiction of 2022
Apartment Therapy – Reshares the NYT Top 10 Books of 2022

As we get to the last few months of the year, we're starting to see the first "best books of 2021" lists. Whether you're looking for gifts or titles to pack your own to-read list, these are a great way to peruse the top books of 2021. I'll post updates as I see more of the lists appear.

Barnes & Noble Best Books of the Year - usually includes more popular reads

Publisher's Weekly - has a variety of categories and is usually one of the first to come out

Vulture's Best of 2021 (so far) - qualified list as far as October 2021

Esquire's 43 Best Books of 2021 (so far) - another qualified list 

Book Riot's Top 25 Books for 2021 from Goodreads - highest ranked books averaging 4.25 out of 5 on Goodreads with at least 10,000 reviews

Added 11/12/21:

Esquire's 46 best books of 2021

Oprah's 20 best books of 2021 

Added 11/23/21:

Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best

Added 12/9/21:

Library Journal's Best Books 2021

Bookbrowse's Top 20 Books of 2021

Amazon's Best Books of the Year 2021 and Best Children's Books of 2021

We had a Zoom meeting yesterday for book group and had 2 members attend online and 2 other members gave me their opinions of the book to share. We discussed The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott. Overall, most felt that it was difficult to keep track of the characters but that the historic period was well portrayed. 

We will not have our normal gathering in December due to COVID restrictions. However, we will try to meet again in January 2021 online in Zoom. I will post again in early January with details. 

Some of the best of 2020 book lists are coming out--here's some links:

https://www.shelf-awareness.com/readers-issue.html?issue=975

https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2020/ 

https://bookriot.com/best-books-of-2020/

https://www.nypl.org/125/best-books-2020

https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2020

https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-books-2020

Happy reading and enjoy your holiday season!

Yes, it's that time of year again when all the best books of the year lists come out!

What did I love in 2018?  Well, I started off the year with a great first time author, Sue Halpern.  This book was appealing not only because it took place at a library, but I loved the characters and the small town setting. 

Another favorite was Lost Vintage by Ann Mah.  Everytime I think I'm can't read another World War II novel, a book like this comes out and I'm drawn in again!

Several of my favorite authors released new books that I loved.  After being bitterly disappointed with The Best of Adam Sharp, Graeme Simsion (the author of the Rosie Project) redeemed himself with Two Steps Forward which he wrote with his wife.

Jojo Moyes has never disappointed me and I loved her book, Still Me ,and Naomi Novik's, Spinning Silver, was a fabulous mixture of fairytale and fantasy.

I also discovered a few of new authors including Deanna Raybourn, Chistina Lauren, Rebecca Roanhorse and N.K. Jemisin.

If you're looking for other best of 2018 lists, check these links out:

Library Read's Favorites of 2018

New York Public Library's Best Books of 2018

NY Times announces its "100 Notable Books of 2018"

The Washington Post picks its "Best Books of 2018"

Like to vote on the best books of the year?  Goodreads is having its annual Choice Awards from 2017 and the opening round polls are now open!

Vote Now Voting Schedule Opening Round Oct. 31 - Nov. 5 Semifinal Round Nov. 7 - 12 Final Round Nov. 14 - 27 Winners Announced Dec. 5

We're already seeing some of the top books for 2017 lists coming out!  Here's what I have so far (10/27/17):

Publisher's Week Best Books of 2017

2017 Teen's Top Ten (American Library Association's YALSA)

I'll add more as they appear...

Update 11/20/17--Library Journal's Top 10
Update 11/29/17--Amazon's Best Books of 2017
Updated 12/29/17--Off the Shelf's Top 25 Shelved Books of 2017

      

Can you believe that 2015 is coming to a close?  I do because the best of 2015 book lists are coming out!  Check out these lists to see what other readers enjoyed reading this year.  I guarantee you will find lots of books to put on your "next read" list - enjoy!

Goodreads Choice Awards 2015 - Chosen by readers, this list has many categories and quite the variety of picks.

OverDrive's Best Books of 2015 - OverDrive is one of our ebook/eaudio book vendors and this year's list has a lot of great titles.

Publishers Weekly: Best Books of 2015 - The best books of 2015, chosen by Publishers Weekly editors. The best books in fiction, mysteries, memoirs, romance, comics, kids books, and more. BuzzFeed's The 24 Best Fiction Books Of 2015 - The 24 Best Fiction Books of 2015 from BuzzFeed. These are the novels and short story collections. Amazon.com: Best Books of 2015: Books - Online shopping for Best Books of 2015 from a great selection at Amazon.

http://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/399-the-winners-of-the-2012-goodreads-choice-awards

I much prefer the lists EarlyWord.com has put together on Excel spreadsheets.  They compile several of the "best of 2012" review lists.  The spreadsheets can be found at 

Daily NYT Book Critics Picks of 2012

Goodreads.com is gathering input on the best books of 2012.  It's still early yet so this is just the opening round.  Categories include best fiction and non-fiction.  If you would like to vote or nominate a book, go to: http://www.goodreads.com/award/choice/2012?utm_medium=email&utm_source=GRCA_2012&utm_campaign=launch_vote&utm_content=view_nominees