Year archive
Books selected by independent literary juries and editorial teams in 2006, gathered into one transparent, source-linked reading list. The chronology uses the award year for prizes and list year for editorial recommendations.
Showing 1–23 of 23
Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart was selected for The New York Times Book Review’s 2006 Ten Best Books list in fiction. The catalog records the selection as bibliographic fact and links readers to the newspaper’s original annual list.
In the days before the 1980 presidential election, small-time criminal Vince Camden sells stolen credit cards while living under witness protection in Spokane. A contract killer's arrival forces him to reckon with the crime that brought him west and decide what citizenship might demand of him.
Interwoven episodes follow small-town teenagers through friendship, longing, music, and subtle moments of change.
Falling Through the Earth by Danielle Trussoni was selected for The New York Times Book Review’s 2006 Ten Best Books list in nonfiction. The catalog records the selection as bibliographic fact and links readers to the newspaper’s original annual list.
A documented history of Britain's detention system and counterinsurgency abuses during Kenya's Mau Mau uprising.
The absent father from Little Women becomes the center of a Civil War story told through letters and memory. His abolitionist ideals collide with slavery, battle, illness, and family costs.
Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick was selected for The New York Times Book Review’s 2006 Ten Best Books list in nonfiction. The catalog records the selection as bibliographic fact and links readers to the newspaper’s original annual list.
Two opposed academic families become entangled through rivalry, attraction, and betrayal near Boston. Howard Belsey’s public principles contrast with disorder inside his interracial family.
Antiquities dealer Alex Benedict and pilot Chase Kolpath investigate a cup linked to the Seeker, a colony ship that vanished thousands of years earlier. Their search for the lost settlement becomes dangerous when someone begins eliminating the trail and the people following it.
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl was selected for The New York Times Book Review’s 2006 Ten Best Books list in fiction. The catalog records the selection as bibliographic fact and links readers to the newspaper’s original annual list.
Three childhood friends awaken to find the stars gone and Earth enclosed by an unknown barrier that changes the passage of time. As billions of years race by outside, humanity confronts its shortened future through science, faith, and a risky attempt to reach Mars.
Three linked poetic sequences use jazzlike variation to explore exile, spirit, memory, and collective identity.
An enslaved, classically educated boy discovers the cruel purpose behind his unusual upbringing in Revolutionary-era Boston.
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel by Amy Hempel was selected for The New York Times Book Review’s 2006 Ten Best Books list in fiction. The catalog records the selection as bibliographic fact and links readers to the newspaper’s original annual list.
After a crash, Mark Schluter believes his devoted sister Karin is an impostor. A neurologist investigates while Nebraska’s migrating cranes provide a larger pattern of recognition and return.
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud was selected for The New York Times Book Review’s 2006 Ten Best Books list in fiction. The catalog records the selection as bibliographic fact and links readers to the newspaper’s original annual list.
A child describes visits with her grandparents through the familiar frame of their kitchen window.
In a Himalayan house, a retired judge, his granddaughter Sai, and their cook live amid political unrest and inherited shame. In New York, the cook’s son Biju moves through precarious jobs while dreaming of home.
The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford was selected for The New York Times Book Review’s 2006 Ten Best Books list in fiction. The catalog records the selection as bibliographic fact and links readers to the newspaper’s original annual list.
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright was selected for The New York Times Book Review’s 2006 Ten Best Books list in nonfiction. The catalog records the selection as bibliographic fact and links readers to the newspaper’s original annual list.
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan was selected for The New York Times Book Review’s 2006 Ten Best Books list in nonfiction. The catalog records the selection as bibliographic fact and links readers to the newspaper’s original annual list.
The Places in Between by Rory Stewart was selected for The New York Times Book Review’s 2006 Ten Best Books list in nonfiction. The catalog records the selection as bibliographic fact and links readers to the newspaper’s original annual list.
An oral and environmental history of families who remained on the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl.