Best Books of the Year: BACKLIST Edition!
The Best Books of 2025 lists are coming out now, which means that a lot of the books on the list will have long holds list. Skip the line and the wait and focus on previous years' "best books" lists instead! There are lots of options available. Here are just a few:
"Salt Bones" by Jennifer Givhan is actually on the 2025 Best Books by Latine authors list. It combines "elements of Latina and Indigenous culture, family drama, mystery, horror, and magical realism in a spellbinding mix." "At the edge of the Salton Sea, in the blistering borderlands, something is out hunting... Malamar Veracruz has never left the dust-choked town of El Valle. Here, Mal has done her best to build a good life: She's raised two children, worked hard, and tried to forget the painful, unexplained disappearance of her sister, Elena. When another local girl goes missing, Mal plunges into a fresh yet familiar nightmare. As a desperate Mal hunts for answers, her search becomes increasingly tangled with inscrutable visions of a horse-headed woman, a local legend who Mal feels compelled to follow. Mal's perspective is joined by the voices of her two daughters, all three of whom must work to uncover the truth about the missing girls in their community before it's too late."
"Chain Gang All-Stars" by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is a Read with Jenna pick from 2023. It features two female gladiators in an alternate version of the United States. "Loretta Thurwar and Hamara "Hurricane Staxxx" Stacker are the stars of Chain-Gang All-Stars, the cornerstone of CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, a highly-popular, highly-controversial, profit-raising program in America's increasingly dominant private prison industry. It's the return of the gladiators and prisoners are competing for the ultimate prize: their freedom. In CAPE, prisoners travel as Links in Chain-Gangs, competing in death-matches for packed arenas with righteous protestors at the gates. Thurwar and Staxxx, both teammates and lovers, are the fan favorites. And if all goes well, Thurwar will be free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. As she prepares to leave her fellow Links, she considers how she might help preserve their humanity, in defiance of these so-called games, but CAPE's corporate owners will stop at nothing to protect their status quo and the obstacles they lay in Thurwar's path have devastating consequences."
In "All Fours" by Miranda July, "a semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country, from LA to NY." "Determined to become the sort of person who would do such a thing, a 45-year-old artist (she's "only a little famous") attempts to drive from L.A. to New York. She makes it a few towns from home before pausing at a motel, and the next morning decides to renovate room 321 in the fashion of an unforgettable Parisian hotel room. For check-ins with her husband and child, she keeps up the farce, pretending she's every place she planned to be on the three-week round trip. The problem is Davey, an aspiring dancer who works at the local Hertz and admires the artist's work, and with whom she—it's not possible!—falls in love. She goes home, lugging some complicated new feelings." This one is a wild ride. It won't be for everyone, but if you read it, you'll be talking about it with everyone you know!
"Crook Manifesto" by Colson Whitehead is a darkly funny tale of a city under siege. "It's 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to keep his head down and his business thriving. His days moving stolen goods around the city are over. Its strictly the straight-and-narrow for him -- until he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter May and he decides to hit up his old police contact Munson, fixer extraordinaire. But Munson has his own favors to ask of Carney and staying out of the game gets a lot more complicated -- and deadly. 1973. The counter-culture has created a new generation, the old ways are being overthrown, but there is one constant, Pepper, Carneys endearingly violent partner in crime. Its getting harder to put together a reliable crew for hijackings, heists, and assorted felonies, so Pepper takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem. He finds himself in a freaky world of Hollywood stars, up-and-coming comedians, and celebrity drug dealers, in addition to the usual cast of hustlers, mobsters, and hit men. These adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook -- to their regret. 1976. Harlem is burning, block by block, while the whole country is gearing up for Bicentennial celebrations. Carney is trying to come up with a July 4th ad he can live with. ("Two Hundred Years of Getting Away with It!"), while his wife Elizabeth is campaigning for her childhood friend, the former assistant D.A and rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire severely injures one of Carneys tenants, he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it. Our crooked duo have to battle their way through a crumbling metropolis run by the shady, the violent, and the utterly corrupted."
You'll find these and other lauded titles in our "Best Books of the Year: Backlist Edition!" display. For additional title suggestions, see the lists below:
