The 12 Days of Bookness 2018
It's time for The New York Public Library's second annual celebration of our entirely made-up bookish holiday!
During the 12 days of Bookness, we'll be counting down lists of book recommendations in a different category every day. This year, Bookness runs until December 24, and categories range from cli-fi (the newly minted genre of disastrous climate fiction) to other worlds (books that will transport you to a different time and place) and myth retellings to works in translation to YA novels with crossover appeal for adults.
Happy Bookness to all, and to all a good read!
On the twelfth day of Bookness, we highly recommend: 12 new works of fiction . . .
Love War Stories by Ivelisse Rodriguez
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
When Katie Met Cassidy by Camille Perri
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia
Death of a Rainmaker by Laurie Loewenstein
Tell the Machine Goodnight by Katie Williams
A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
The Court Dancer by Kyung-Sook Shin
11 life stories . . .
The Line Becomes a River by Francisco Cantú
Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide by Isabel Quintero
Alpine Apprentice by Sarah Gorham
My Soul Looks Back by Jessica B. Harris
No Time to Spare: Thinking about What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story by Edwidge Danticat
When They Call You a Terrorist by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele
The Far Away Brothers by Lauren Markham
Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil
Sick by Porochista Khakpour
10 poetry collections . . .
If They Come for Us by Fatimah Asghar
In the Language of My Captor by Shane McCrae
New Poets of Native Nations, edited by Heid E. Erdrich
Wobble by Rae Armantrout
Whereas by Layli Long Soldier
Museum of the Americas by J. Michael Martinez
Wade in the Water by Tracy K. Smith
The Terrible: A Storyteller's Memoir by Yrsa Daley-Ward
American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin by Terrance Hayes
Ordinary Beast by Nicole Sealey
9 other worlds . . .
The Descent of Monsters by Jy Yang
The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias Buckell
The Girl in the Green Silk Gown by Seanan McGuire
Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope
The Waking Land by Callie Bates
Three Years with the Rat by Jay Hosking
Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Moonshine by Jasmine Gower
8 YA novels (with crossover appeal for adults) . . .
Bound to You by Alyssa Brandon
Here to Stay by Sara Farizan
A Land of Permanent Goodbyes by Atia Abawi
Emergency Contact by Mary Choi
Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl
I, Claudia by Mary McCoy
Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
You'll Miss Me When I'm Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon
7 true crime stories . . .
The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman
The Feather Thief: Beauty, History, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Johnson
Beneath a Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race, and Justice Lost and Found by Gilbert King
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century by Simon Baatz
A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong
Beneath a Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race, and Justice Lost and Found by Gilbert King
6 calls to action . . .
Good and Mad by Rebecca Traister
You Have the Right to Remain Fat by Virgie Tovar
White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
No Ashes in the Fire by Darnell Moore
Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore by Elizabeth Rush
An American Sickness by Elisabeth Rosenthal
5 great romances!
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Ask, Tell by E.J. Noyes
A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole
Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai
A Gentleman Never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian
4 tales of cli-fi . . .
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi
American War by Omar El Akkad
When the English Fall by David Williams
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
3 myth retellings . . .
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Bull by David Elliott
2 translations . . .
Disorientalby Négar Djavadi, translated from the French by Tina Kover
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori
And a library card for everyone!
From checking out books and visiting some of New York City's cultural institutions, to streaming a movie and accessing hundreds of research databases—there is so much you can do with a New York Public Library card! Do you have your library card and are looking for book recommendations? Our Staff Picks are a great place to start!
Check back for all the days of Bookness, and take a look at last year's suggestions too. And tell us what you're reading with the hashtag #Bookness on Twitter or Facebook!
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Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.
Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!