Year-End Lists

A hand-curated, browsable index
of notable year-end lists.

Books
Afterparties - Anthony Veasna So

Mark Athitakis: Los Angeles Times The 5 Best Fiction Books of 2021

Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr

Barack Obama Favorite Books of 2021

Second Place - Rachel Cusk

Thrillist The Best Books of 2021

Intimacies - Katie Kitamura

Jessica Ferri: Los Angeles Times The 5 Best Books of 2021

Infinite Country - Patricia Engel

Entertainment Weekly The 10 Best Books of 2021

Esquire The 50 Best Books of 2021

Second Place - Rachel Cusk

A.V. Club 15 Favorite Books of 2021

Matrix - Lauren Groff

Hillary Kelly: New York The Best Books of 2021

Returning the Sword to the Stone - Mark Leidner

Lit Hub Our 48 Favorite Books of 2021

Maureen Corrigan: NPR 2021 Best Books

The Wrong End of the Telescope - Rabih Alameddine

BuzzFeed The Best Books Of 2021

All That She Carried - Tiya Miles

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 20 Favorite New Books of 2021

Economist The Best Books of 2021

Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr

Library Journal Best Literary Fiction of 2021

Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead

Annabel Gutterman: Time The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2021

Matrix - Lauren Groff

USA Today The Best Books of 2021

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

Michael Silverblatt: KCRW Top 10 Books of 2021

Afterparties - Anthony Veasna So

Boston Globe The Best Books of 2021

Crossroads - Jonathan Franzen

Laura Miller: Slate The Best Books of 2021

A Little Devil in America - Hanif Abdurraqib

Annabel Gutterman: Time The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2021

Hell of a Book - Jason Mott

Patrick Rapa: The Philadelphia Inquirer The Best Books of 2021

Sterling Karat Gold - Isabel Waidner

Guardian Best Fiction of 2021

Harrow - Joy Williams

Wall Street Journal The 10 Best Books of 2021

Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters

Shelf Awareness Best Books of 2021