A Brief Guide to Book-Shopping During the Holidays
3 min readDec 4, 2021
I’ve generated this list for my local book club; all are welcome to use it!
Hunting for that perfect holiday gift? Try out NPR’s interactive book picker:
Major Awards 2021
National Book Award 2021
- Fiction: Hell of a Book by Jason Mott
- Non-Fiction: All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles
- Translated Literature: Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin, transl. by Aneesa Abbas Higgins
- Poetry: Floaters by Martín Espada
- Young People’s Literature: Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
View all the winners and finalists:
Booker Prize 2021
Winner: The Promise by Damon Galgut
Pulitzer Prize 2021
- Fiction: The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
- Poetry: Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
- History: Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain
- Biography: The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X by the late Les Payne and Tamara Payne
- General Nonfiction: Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino
Hugo Awards 2021 (scifi/fantasy)
Winner to be announced later in December.
Finalists:
- Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
- The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
- Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
- Network Effect by Martha Wells
- Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
- The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal
Famous Book Club Selections
Oprah’s Book Club:
Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club:
Megan Rapinoe’s Book Club:
For the WWII Historical Fiction Fans
End-of-Year Round-Ups
- Cosmopolitan: The 15 Best Romance Novels That’ll Give You the Butterflies
- New York Times: 16 New and Upcoming Young Adult Books to Watch For
- Washington Post: 10 Best Books of 2021
- PBS: Best Mystery Books of 2021: Recommended by Bestselling Authors
Spring 2022 Book Selections
- JANUARY: Midnight Library by Matthew Haig
- FEBRUARY: Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
- MARCH: If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
- APRIL: Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
Content warning: Self-harm, domestic abuse, sexual assault. - MAY: Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
