Best Books of the Year
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Year consensus · 2013

The Most Recommended Books of 2013

We counted 4,378 entries from 128 sources in 2013. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson appeared on 21, tied for the most of any book.

A source counts once per book, whatever the result: a win, a shortlist place, or a list pick. We show books named by 3 or more sources. 2013 is the award or list year, not the publication year.

21 sources

  1. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

  2. Tenth of December by George Saunders

18 sources

  1. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

16 sources

  1. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright

15 sources

  1. The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

14 sources

  1. A Constellation Of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

13 sources

  1. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

  2. Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink

  3. The Son by Philipp Meyer

12 sources

  1. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

  2. Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon

  3. The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

  4. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

  5. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

11 sources

  1. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

  2. Thank You for Your Service by David Finkel

  3. The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer

10 sources

  1. Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore

  2. The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

  3. The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

9 sources

  1. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

  2. Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang

  3. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

  4. Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

  5. The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

8 sources

  1. Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo

  2. Harvest by Jim Crace

  3. Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

  4. MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

  5. Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

  6. Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

  7. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

  8. The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata

7 sources

  1. A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout

  2. Claire Of The Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat

  3. Far Far Away by Tom McNeal

  4. Metaphysical Dog by Frank Bidart

  5. Night Film by Marisha Pessl

  6. On a Beam of Light by Jennifer Berne

  7. Someone by Alice McDermott

  8. The Book Of My Lives by Aleksandar Hemon

  9. The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearns Goodwin

  10. The Dark by Lemony Snicket

  11. Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala

6 sources

  1. Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

  2. Doll Bones by Holly Black

  3. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

  4. Gulp by Mary Roach

  5. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

  6. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid

  7. Lawrence In Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly And The Making Of The Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson

  8. Lexicon by Max Barry

  9. Locomotive by Brian Floca

  10. March by John Lewis

  11. Mr. Wuffles! by David Wiesner

  12. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

  13. P.S. Be Eleven by Rita Williams-Garcia

  14. Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff

  15. The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

  16. The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

  17. The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

  18. The Infatuations by Javier Marias

  19. The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. by Adelle Waldman

  20. The Maid’s Version: A Novel by Daniel Woodrell

  21. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark

  22. The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp by Kathi Appelt

  23. The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 by Margaret MacMillan

  24. The Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacochis

  25. The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes

  26. To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care by Cris Beam

5 sources

  1. 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson

  2. A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

  3. Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

  4. Black Fridays by Michael Sears

  5. Cooked by Michael Pollan

  6. Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle

  7. Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields by Wendy Lower

  8. I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

  9. If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano

  10. Journey by Aaron Becker

  11. Lost Girls by Robert Kolker

  12. Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

  13. Red Doc> by Anne Carson

  14. Schroder by Amity Gaige

  15. Submergence by J. M. Ledgard

  16. The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates

  17. The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide by Gary Bass

  18. The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan

  19. The Great War: July 1, 1916: The First Day of the Battle of the Somme by Joe Sacco

  20. The Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson

  21. The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

  22. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

  23. Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea

  24. Vampires In The Lemon Grove: Stories by Karen Russell

  25. We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

4 sources

  1. A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant

  2. After the Music Stopped: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead by Alan Blinder

  3. Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson

  4. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

  5. Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins

  6. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

  7. Bolivar: American Liberator by Marie Arana

  8. Building Our House by Jonathan Bean

  9. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

  10. Caught by Lisa Moore

  11. Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Incident and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser

  12. Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles : America's First Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Stone

  13. David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

  14. Don't Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman

  15. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

  16. Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon

  17. Fosse by Sam Wasson

  18. Ghostman by Roger Hobbs

  19. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened by Allie Brosh

  20. Incarnadine by Mary Szybist

  21. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956 by Anne Applebaum

  22. Jinx by Sage Blackwood

  23. Johnny Cash: The Life by Robert Hilburn

  24. Levels of Life by Julian Barnes

  25. Longbourn by Jo Baker

  26. Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff

  27. Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner

  28. Margaret Thatcher: The Authorised Biography by Charles Moore

  29. Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany

  30. Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

  31. More Than This by Patrick Ness

  32. My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

  33. Norwegian By Night by Derek B Miller

  34. One Came Home by Amy Timberlake

  35. Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys

  36. Parrots over Puerto Rico by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore

  37. Penny and Her Marble by Kevin Henkes

  38. Railsea by China Miéville

  39. Red Moon by Benjamin Percy

  40. Relish by Lucy Knisley

  41. Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan by William Dalrymple

  42. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

  43. Sophie's Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller

  44. The Circle by Dave Eggers

  45. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

  46. The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson

  47. The Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg

  48. The Expats by Chris Pavone

  49. The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit

  50. The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 by Alan Taylor

  51. The Other Woman by Hank Phillippi Ryan

  52. The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan

  53. The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy by David Nasaw

  54. The Round House by Louise Erdrich

  55. The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

  56. The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison

  57. The Tortoise & the Hare by Jerry Pinkney

  58. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

  59. White Girls by Hilton Als

  60. Winger by Andrew Smith

3 sources

  1. A Beautiful Truth by Colin McAdam

  2. A City of Broken Glass by Rebecca Cantrell

  3. After Visiting Friends by Michael Hainey

  4. All That Is: A Novel by James Salter

  5. All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

  6. All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry

  7. American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett

  8. And She Was by Alison Gaylin

  9. Becoming Ben Franklin: How a Candle-Maker’s Son Helped Light the Flame of Liberty by Russell Freedman

  10. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

  11. Blessed Are the Dead by Malla Nunn

  12. Bluffton: My Summers with Buster by Matt Phelan

  13. Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

  14. Bough Down by Karen Green

  15. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

  16. Bunker Hill by Nathaniel Philbrick

  17. Cataract City by Craig Davidson

  18. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

  19. Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett

  20. Darius & Twig by Walter Dean Myers

  21. Days of Fire by Peter Baker

  22. Dear Boy by Emily Berry

  23. Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King

  24. Diego Rivera: An Artist for the People by Susan Goldman Rubin

  25. Dirty Love by Andre Dubus III

  26. Drinking with Men by Rosie Schaap

  27. Drysalter by Michael Symmons Roberts

  28. Ecstatic Nation by Brenda Wineapple

  29. Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd

  30. Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty by Tonya Bolden

  31. Enon by Paul Harding

  32. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

  33. Exclamation Mark by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

  34. Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw

  35. Floundering by Romy Ash

  36. Fools by Joan Silber

  37. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

  38. Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

  39. Forty-One False Starts: Essays On Artists And Writers by Janet Malcolm

  40. Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi

  41. Give and Take by Adam M. Grant

  42. Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

  43. Have You Seen My New Blue Socks? by Eve Bunting and Sergio Ruzzier

  44. Hellgoing by Lynn Coady

  45. Hill of Doors by Robin Robertson

  46. How to Catch a Bogle by Catherine Jinks

  47. I Want to Show You More by Jamie Quatro

  48. If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

  49. In Pursuit of Spenser: Mystery Writers on Robert B. Parker and the Creation of and American Hero by Otto Penzler

  50. Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones

  51. Joyland by Stephen King

  52. Live by Night by Dennis Lehane

  53. Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

  54. Midnight in Peking by Paul French

  55. Miss Anne In Harlem: The White Women Of The Black Renaissance by Carla Kaplan

  56. Mo' Meta Blues by Ahmir Thompson

  57. Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal

  58. Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson

  59. Never Go Back by Lee Child

  60. One Summer by Bill Bryson

  61. Our Andromeda by Brenda Shaughnessy

  62. Parallax by Sinéad Morrissey

  63. Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life by Hermione Lee

  64. Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser

  65. Reality Boy by A.S. King

  66. River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay

  67. Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer

  68. Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss

  69. Scaly Spotted Feathered Frilled: How Do We Know What Dinosaurs Really Looked Like? by Catherine Thimmesh

  70. September Girls by Bennett Madison

  71. Serafina's Promise: A Novel in Verse by Ann E. Burg

  72. Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld

  73. Stay, Illusion by Lucie Brock-Broido

  74. That Is Not a Good Idea! by Mo Willems

  75. The Absolutist by John Boyne

  76. The Animal Book: A Collection Of The Fastest, Fiercest, Toughest, Cleverest, Shyest -- And Most Surprising -- Animals On Earth by Steve Jenkins

  77. The Billionaire’s Apprentice: The Rise of the Indian-American Elite and the Fall of the Galleon Hedge Fund by Anita Raghavan

  78. The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss

  79. The Blood of Heaven by Kent Wascom

  80. The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

  81. The Boys in the Boat: An Epic True-Life Journey to the Heart of Hitler's Berlin by Daniel James Brown

  82. The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout

  83. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

  84. The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver

  85. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone

  86. The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz

  87. The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

  88. The Good Nurse by Charles Graeber

  89. The Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince by Jane Ridley

  90. The Killing Moon by N. K. Jemisin

  91. The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari by Paul Theroux

  92. The Orenda by Joseph Boyden

  93. The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

  94. The Pike: Gabriele d'Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

  95. The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen

  96. The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida

  97. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

  98. The Scent of Death by Andrew Taylor

  99. The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel

  100. The Skies Belong to Us by Brendan I. Koerner

  101. The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley

  102. The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez

  103. The Spark by Kristine Barnett

  104. The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performances by David Epstein

  105. The Telling Room: A Tale Of Love, Betrayal, Revenge, And The World's Greatest Piece Of Cheese by Michael Paterniti

  106. The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín

  107. The Trinity Game by Sean Chercover

  108. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis

  109. The War within These Walls by Aline Sax

  110. The Wolf and the Watchman: A Father, a Son, and the CIA by Scott C. Johnson

  111. The World's Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne

  112. Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939–1941 by Lynne Olson

  113. Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

  114. Transfer of Qualities by Martha Ronk

  115. Want Not by Jonathan Miles

  116. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

  117. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson

  118. Wilson by A. Scott Berg

  119. Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick your Ass by Meg Medina

  120. Year Zero: A History of 1945 by Ian Buruma

  121. Zealot by Reza Aslan

Sources counted in 2013