Year-End Lists

The New York Times: 100 Notable Books of 2012

[see also 100 Notable Books of 2011, Ten Best Books of 2011]

Fiction

• Alif The Unseen
  G. Willow Wilson
• Almost Never
  Daniel Sada. Translated by Katherine Silver
• An American Spy
  Olen Steinhauer
• Arcadia
  Lauren Groff
• At Last
  Edward St. Aubyn
• Beautiful Ruins
  Jess Walter
• Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
  Ben Fountain
• Blasphemy
  Sherman Alexie
• The Book Of Mischief: New And Selected Stories
  Steve Stern
• Bring Up the Bodies
  Hilary Mantel
• Building Stories
  Chris Ware
• By Blood
  Ellen Ullman
• Canada
  Richard Ford
• Carry The One
  Carol Anshaw
• City Of Bohane
  Kevin Barry
• Collected Poems
  Jack Gilbert
• Dear Life
  Alice Munro
• The Devil in Silver
  Victor LaValle
• Enchantments
  Kathryn Harrison
• Flight Behavior
  Barbara Kingsolver
• Fobbit
  David Abrams
• The Forgetting Tree
  Tatjana Soli
• Gathering Of Waters
  Bernice L. McFadden
• Gods Without Men
  Hari Kunzru
• HHhH
  Laurent Binet. Translated by Sam Taylor
• A Hologram for the King
  Dave Eggers
• Home
  Toni Morrison
• Hope: A Tragedy
  Shalom Auslander
• How Should a Person Be?
  Sheila Heti
• In One Person
  John Irving
• A Land More Kind Than Home
  Wiley Cash
• Married Love: And Other Stories
  Tessa Hadley
• NW
  Zadie Smith
• On The Spectrum Of Possible Deaths
  Lucia Perillo
• Pure
  Julianna Baggott
• The Right Hand Shore
  Christopher Tilghman
• The Round House
  Louise Erdrich
• Salvage The Bones
  Jesmyn Ward
• San Miguel
  T. Coraghessan Boyle
• Shine Shine Shine
  Lydia Netzer
• Shout Her Lovely Name
  Natalie Serber
• Silent House
  Orhan Pamuk. Translated by Robert Finn
• The Starboard Sea
  Amber Dermont
• Sweet Tooth
  Ian McEwan
• Swimming Home
  Deborah Levy
• Telegraph Avenue
  Michael Chabon
• The Testament Of Mary
  Colm Tóibín
• This Is How You Lose Her
  Junot Díaz
• Three Strong Women
  Marie NDiaye
• Toby’s Room
  Pat Barker
• Watergate
  Thomas Mallon
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories
  Nathan Englander
• The Yellow Birds
  Kevin Powers

Nonfiction

• All We Know: Three Lives
  Lisa Cohen
• American Tapestry: The Story Of The Black, White, And Multiracial Ancestors Of Michelle Obama
  Rachel L. Swarns
• American Triumvirate: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, And The Modern Age Of Golf
  James Dodson
• Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama
  Alison Bechdel
• Barack Obama: The Story
  David Maraniss
• Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
  Katherine Boo
• Belzoni: The Giant Archaeologists Love To Hate
  Ivor Noël Hume
• The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, And The Real Count Of Monte Cristo
  Tom Reiss
• Breasts: A Natural And Unnatural History
  Florence Williams
• Coming Apart: The State Of White America, 1960 2010
  Charles Murray
• Darwin’s Ghosts: The Secret History Of Evolution
  Rebecca Stott
• A Disposition To Be Rich: How A Small Town Preacher’s Son Ruined An American President, Brought On A Wall Street Crash, And Made Himself The Best Hated Man In The United States
  Geoffrey C. Ward
• Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity
  Andrew Solomon
• Flagrant Conduct. The Story Of Lawrence V. Texas: How A Bedroom Arrest Decriminalized Gay Americans
  Dale Carpenter
• The Folly Of Fools: The Logic Of Deceit And Self Deception In Human Life
  Robert Trivers
• The Grey Album: On The Blackness Of Blackness
  Kevin Young
• Haiti: The Aftershocks Of History
  Laurent Dubois
• How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, And The Hidden Power Of Character
  Paul Tough
• How Music Works
  David Byrne
• Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945–1956
  Anne Applebaum
• Kayak Morning: Reflections On Love, Grief, And Small Boats
  Roger Rosenblatt
• Lincoln’s Code: The Laws Of War In American History
  John Fabian Witt
• Little America: The War Within The War For Afghanistan
  Rajiv Chandrasekaran
• Memoir Of A Debulked Woman: Enduring Ovarian Cancer
  Susan Gubar
• My Poets
  Maureen N. McLane
• The Obamas
  Jodi Kantor
• Oddly Normal: One Family’s Struggle To Help Their Teenage Son Come To Terms With His Sexuality
  John Schwartz
• On A Farther Shore: The Life And Legacy Of Rachel Carson
  William Souder
• On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines — And Future
  Karen Elliott House
• The One: The Life And Music Of James Brown
  RJ Smith
• The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson
  Robert A. Caro
• The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy
  David Nasaw
• People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo
  Richard Lloyd Parry
• Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay: Reflections On Art, Family, And Survival
  Christopher Benfey
• Rule And Ruin. The Downfall Of Moderation And The Destruction Of The Republican Party: From Eisenhower To The Tea Party
  Geoffrey Kabaservice
• Saul Steinberg: A Biography
  Deirdre Bair
• Shooting Victoria: Madness, Mayhem, And The Rebirth Of The British Monarchy
  Paul Thomas Murphy
• Short Nights Of The Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life And Immortal Photographs Of Edward Curtis
  Timothy Egan
• The Social Conquest Of Earth
  Edward O. Wilson
• Sometimes There Is A Void: Memoirs Of An Outsider
  Zakes Mda
• Spillover: Animal Infections And The Next Human Pandemic
  David Quammen
• The Taste Of War: World War Ii And The Battle For Food
  Lizzie Collingham
• Thomas Jefferson: The Art Of Power
  Jon Meacham
• Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution
  Linda Hirshman
• When God Talks Back: Understanding The American Evangelical Relationship With God
  T.M. Luhrmann
• Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
  Jeanette Winterson
• Why Does the World Exist? An Existential Detective Story
  Jim Holt