Year-End Lists

The Washington Post: 10 Best Books of 2015 (presented alphabetically by title)

[see also The 10 Best Books of 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2022 • The 10 Best Books of 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2021 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2021 • The 10 Best Books of 2021 • 10 Best Books of 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2020 • Best Books of 2019 • 10 Best Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2018 • 10 Best Books of 2017 • The 10 Best Books of 2016 • The Ten Best Books of 2014 • Top 10 Books of 2013 • The 10 Best Books of 2012]

• Between the World and Me
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Black Flags

  The Rise of ISIS
  Joby Warrick
• The Book of Aron
  Jim Shepard
• Destiny and Power

  The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush
  Jon Meacham
• Fates and Furies
  Lauren Groff
• Future Crimes

  Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
  Marc Goodman
• A Little Life
  Hanya Yanagihara
• Negroland

  A Memoir
  Margo Jefferson
• Purity
  Jonathan Franzen
• Welcome to Braggsville
  T. Geronimo Johnson

Vogue: The 10 Best Books of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2020 • 2019]

• A Little Life
  Hanya Yanagihara
• Hold Still

  A Memoir with Photographs
  Sally Mann
• Between the World and Me
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl
  Carrie Brownstein
• The Story of the Lost Child
  Elena Ferrante
• City on Fire
  Garth Risk Hallberg
• The Love Object
  Edna O’Brien
• H Is for Hawk
  Helen Macdonald
• Outline
  Rachel Cusk
• The Visiting Privilege
  Joy Williams

Jane Ciabattari: The 10 Best Books of 2015 as published by BBC Culture

[see also 2016 • 2014 • 2013]

1. Gold Fame Citrus
   Claire Vaye Watkins
2. Fortune Smiles

   Stories
   Adam Johnson
3. The Story of the Lost Child
   Elena Ferrante
4. Golden Age
   Jane Smiley
5. The Complete Stories
   Clarice Lispector
6. Thirteen Ways of Looking
   Colum McCann
7. The Sunken Cathedral
   Kate Walbert
8. The Tsar of Love and Techno

   Stories
   Anthony Marra
9. Ordinary Light
   Tracy K. Smith
10. M Train
    Patti Smith

The A.V. Club: 20 Favorite Books of 2015

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2017]

• Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl
  Carrie Brownstein
• So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed
  Jon Ronson
• Modern Romance
  Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg
• Notorious RBG
  Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik
• Between the World and Me
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The First Bad Man
  Miranda July
• The Rabbit Back Literature Society
  Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen
• The Girl On The Train
  Paula Hawkins
• Made To Kill
  Adam Christopher
• Yes!
  Daniel Bryan and Craig Tello
• West Of Sunset
  Stewart O’Nan
• Sick In The Head
  Judd Apatow
• Collected Fiction
  Leena Krohn
• The Children’s Crusade
  Ann Packer
• The Folded Clock

  A Diary
  Heidi Julavits
• 1965

  The Most Revolutionary Year In Music
  Andrew Grant Jackson
• A Head Full Of Ghosts
  Paul Tremblay
• The Good, The Bad, And The Furry
  Tom Cox
• Love And Lies

  An Essay On Truthfulness, Deceit, And The Growth And Care Of Erotic Love
  Clancy Martin
• The Wright Brothers
  David McCullough

The New York Times Book Review: 10 Best Books of 2015, as published by The New York Times

[see also The 10 Best Books of 2023 • 100 Notable Books of 2023 • The 10 Best Books of 2022 • 100 Notable Books of 2022 • The 10 Best Books of 2021 • 100 Notable Books of 2021 • The 10 Best Books of 2020 • 100 Notable Books of 2020 • 100 Notable Books of 2019 • The 10 Best Books of 2019 • 10 Best Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2017 • 10 Best Books of 2017 • 10 Best Books of 2016 • The 10 Best Books of 2014 • The 10 Best Books of 2013 • 100 Notable Books of 2012 • 10 Best Books of 2012 • 100 Notable Books of 2011 • Ten Best Books of 2011]

Fiction

• The Door
  Magda Szabo
• A Manual for Cleaning Women

  Selected Stories
  Lucia Berlin
• Outline
  Rachel Cusk
• The Sellout
  Paul Beatty
• The Story of the Lost Child
  Elena Ferrante

Nonfiction

• Between the World and Me
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Empire of Cotton

  A Global History
  Sven Beckert
• H Is for Hawk
  Helen Macdonald
• The Invention of Nature

  Alexander von Humboldt’s New World
  Andrea Wulf
• One of Us

  The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway
  Asne Seierstad

Powell's Books: Best Nonfiction Books of 2015

[see also Best Nonfiction of 2023 • Best Fiction of 2023 • Best Nonfiction of 2022 • Best Fiction of 2022 • The 14 Best Nonfiction Books of 2021 • The 18 Best Novels of 2021 • Best Fiction of 2020 • Best Nonfiction of 2020 • Best Fiction of 2019 • Best Nonfiction of 2019 • Best Fiction of 2018 • Best Nonfiction of 2018 • Best Nonfiction of 2017 • Best Fiction of 2017 • Best Fiction of 2016 • Best Nonfiction of 2016 • Best Fiction Books of 2015 • Best Fiction of 2014 • Best Nonfiction of 2014]

• All the Things We Never Knew

  Chasing the Chaos of Mental Illness
  Sheila Hamilton
• Underground in Berlin

  A Young Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany
  Marie Jalowicz Simon
• The Edge of the World

  A Cultural History of the North Sea and the Transformation of Europe
  Michael Pye
• Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl
  Carrie Brownstein
• Street Poison

  The Biography of Iceberg Slim
  Justin Gifford
• The Oregon Trail

  A New American Journey
  Rinker Buck
• Spinster

  Making a Life of One's Own
  Kate Bolick
• Dead Wake

  The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
  Erik Larson

The Center for Fiction: 2015 First Novel Prize

[see also 2016]

Winner

• The Sympathizer
  Viet Thanh Nguyen

Shortlist

• After the Parade
  Lori Ostlund
• Against the Country
  Ben Metcalf
• Bright Lines
  Tanwi Nandini Islam
• The Fishermen
  Chigozie Obioma
• The Turner House
  Angela Flournoy
• The Unfortunates
  Sophie McManus

Longlist

• The Beautiful Bureaucrat
  Helen Phillips
• Black River
  S.M. Hulse
• City on Fire
  Garth Risk Hallberg
• Eileen
  Ottessa Moshfegh
• Find Me
  Laura van den Berg
• The First Bad Man
  Miranda July
• Girl at War
  Sara Novic
• The Girl from the Garden
  Parnaz Foroutan
• Gold Fame Citrus
  Claire Vaye Watkins
• The Heart of the Order
  Theo Schell-Lambert
• The Hopeful
  Tracy O'Neill
• I'd Walk with My Friends If I Could Find Them
  Jesse Goolsby
• Landfalls
  Naomi J. Williams
• The Language of Paradise
  Barbara Klein Moss
• Make Your Home Among Strangers
  Jennine Capo Crucet
• Orhan's Inheritance
  Aline Ohanesian
• She Weeps Each Time You're Born
  Quan Barry
• The Star Side of Bird Hill
  Naomi Jackson
• The Sunlit Night
  Rebecca Dinerstein
• The Sweetheart
  Angelina Mirabella
• Under the Udala Trees
  Chinelo Okparanta
• You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine
  Alexandra Kleeman

Powell's Books: Best Fiction Books of 2015

[see also Best Nonfiction of 2023 • Best Fiction of 2023 • Best Nonfiction of 2022 • Best Fiction of 2022 • The 14 Best Nonfiction Books of 2021 • The 18 Best Novels of 2021 • Best Fiction of 2020 • Best Nonfiction of 2020 • Best Fiction of 2019 • Best Nonfiction of 2019 • Best Fiction of 2018 • Best Nonfiction of 2018 • Best Nonfiction of 2017 • Best Fiction of 2017 • Best Fiction of 2016 • Best Nonfiction of 2016 • Best Nonfiction Books of 2015 • Best Fiction of 2014 • Best Nonfiction of 2014]

• Beauty Is a Wound
  Eka Kurniawan
• The Book of Speculation
  Erika Swyler
• The Buried Giant
  Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Cartel
  Don Winslow
• Cult of Loretta
  Kevin Maloney
• Did You Ever Have a Family
  Bill Clegg
• The Fall of Princes
  Robert Goolrick
• Get in Trouble
  Kelly Link
• The Grownup
  Gillian Flynn
• In the Country
  Mia Alvar
• A Little Life
  Hanya Yanagihara
• A Manual for Cleaning Women

  Selected Stories
  Lucia Berlin
• The Meursault Investigation
  Kamel Daoud
• Our Souls at Night
  Kent Haruf
• People Like You
  Margaret Malone
• Purity
  Jonathan Franzen
• The Story of the Lost Child
  Elena Ferrante
• The Sunlit Night
  Rebecca Dinerstein
• The Tsar of Love and Techno

  Stories
  Anthony Marra
• The Visiting Privilege
  Joy Williams

Chicago Public Library: Top Ten Books of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014]

• Between the World and Me
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Cartel
  Don Winslow
• Dead Wake

  The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
  Erik Larson
• Delicious Foods
  James Hannaham
• Ghettoside

  A True Story of Murder in America
  Jill Leovy
• H Is for Hawk
  Helen Macdonald
• Kitchens of the Great Midwest
  J. Ryan Stradal
• The Nightingale
  Kristin Hannah
• Sapiens

  A Brief History of Humankind
  Yuval Noah Harari
• The Story of the Lost Child
  Elena Ferrante

Publishers Weekly: 10 Best Books of 2015

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

• Between the World and Me
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Invention of Nature

  Alexander von Humboldt’s New World
  Andrea Wulf
• The Story of the Lost Child
  Elena Ferrante
• Barbarian Days

  A Surfing Life
  William Finnegan
• Delicious Foods
  James Hannaham
• Imperium
  Christian Kracht
• Beauty Is a Wound
  Eka Kurniawan
• Crow Fair
  Thomas McGuane
• The Argonauts
  Maggie Nelson
• Black Earth

  The Holocaust as History and Warning
  Timothy Snyder