new york book review list

Advertisement

More from the Review

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Best of The New York Review, plus books, events, and other items of interest

October 3, 2024

Current Issue

Savvy in the Grass

Some botanists maintain that peas are capable of associative learning, others that tropical vines have a sort of vision. If plants possess sentience, what is the morally appropriate response?

October 3, 2024 issue

Duterte’s Cruel Tricks

Patricia Evangelista’s Some People Need Killing is both a reporter’s notebook and a contemporary political history of the Philippines.

A Prophet for the Poor

In order to build a mass movement for economic justice, Reverend William Barber argues, we need to let go of the idea that poverty is an exclusively Black or urban issue.

Dynamism & Discipline

The excitement that radiated through the Democratic National Convention was the other side of what had until recently been a deep despair.

Ahead of the Diminishing World

Most of the bohemians Alice Neel painted were far from my own queer milieu in downtown New York—but when she turned to that world she captured it with energy and defiance. 

September 8, 2024

“Very few Americans in positions of power at that time questioned the rather elaborate theoretical structures of thought according to which the United States was threatened in every corner of the planet by a frighteningly powerful and implacable foe, World Communism.”

Living the Nakba

Two recent memoirs tell the story of generations of Palestinian grief and struggle.

China’s Iconoclast

Perry Link and Wu Dazhi’s biography of Liu Xiaobo, China’s most famous dissident, doubles as a history of Chinese political thought and activism over the past half-century.

The Bliss and the Risks

The painter Paula Modersohn-Becker’s ascension to greater visibility raises questions about how we assess artistic talent, how reputations are made, and how we reevaluate once-neglected artists, particularly women.

Are Sheriffs Above the Law?

County sheriffs are useful to the right. They appear regularly as talking heads on conservative media, especially on the subject of immigration. Many vignettes of sheriffs in action are dramatic and alarming. But how representative are they?

Elegy for a ‘Separate Civilization’

Scott Preston’s The Borrowed Hills is the strangled, savagely beautiful swan song of the world of the Cumbrian peasant farmer.

An Entry of One’s Own

A collection of excerpts from women’s diaries written over the past four centuries offers a vast range of human experience and a subtle counterhistory.

The Posthumous Autobiographer

Michel Leiris’s literary memoirs belong to a form almost unrecognizable today; they are driven not by plot—the narrative arc—but by words.

from Mojave Ghost

The Divinity Within

Bring Me to the Window

Thoughtfully chosen gifts for readers and writers

Mode for Joe

The tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson was at once a vessel of tradition and a Romantic individualist, a consummate professional in an art form that lionized rebels.

September 6, 2024

Desert Visions

The flamingos were listening to and watching me and I was listening to and watching them. We were reading one another.

September 4, 2024

‘An Ass-Backward Sherlock Holmes’

Over seven seasons on NBC, Columbo put a charming, shambolic gloss on the crime show. Now it has a new generation of imitators. 

August 25, 2024

Three Kinds of Sun

I never saw my father as comfortable and relaxed as when he was holding a gun.

August 24, 2024

Free from the Archives

“What had just happened had not yet become the story of what happened.”

Somali and American, a Minnesotan Community

Established by European settlers in the nineteenth century, it was once referred to as “White Cloud.” But today, this town of 68,000 inhabitants has seen a growing number of Somali refugees arrive in the last two decades to work in meat factories or to attend the local campus of the state university.

July 2, 2019

The Power Brokers

A recent history centers the Lakota and the vast territory they controlled in the story of the formation of the United States.

December 3, 2020 issue

The People’s Choice

When Jesse Ventura revealed that he does not wear underwear, Fruit of the Loom sent him 12,000 pairs of undershorts. He donated them to two charities. Even boorishness, in the alchemy of this moment, became a benefaction. The citizens of Minnesota treat Ventura as a sly practical joke they are playing on themselves.

August 12, 1999 issue

The Frog Prince

One of Garrison Keillor’s greatest gifts is his ability to modulate from realism to fantasy, or from low farce to high comedy.

November 24, 1988 issue

The Heights of Charm

“Though all FDR’s medical advice indicated the job might kill him, he had grown into it. It was what he did and who he was. His love for it was so obvious that millions would have cried out in disbelief if told that he was quitting.”

September 29, 2016 issue

The Ages of Jackson

“If the frontier was the force driving the Jacksonian upheaval, how to account for the preoccupation in the pamphlet literature by Jackson’s supporters with problems of a commercial society—with monopoly, with banking, with the business cycle, with the unequal distribution of the fruits of labor, with workingmen, with trade unions, with class conflict?”

December 7, 1989 issue

The Party Isn’t Over

“Carter is criticized for his Georgia mafia, his personal righteousness, his remaining an ‘outsider’ even while in office. But all of these are necessary if he is to retain some claim upon the South. Denied the easy appeal of Wallace and Nixon to repression and veiled racism, he must cling to the distinctive style that links him to the South.”

June 15, 1978 issue

Buchanan Redux

“James Buchanan’s great accomplishment as president was to relieve Lincoln of the burden of provoking the Civil War.”

August 8, 1974 issue

Flaubert’s Planet

Do novelists, and their readers, bear some responsibility for the climate crisis?

July 21, 2022 issue

A Hotter Russia

The cliché, avidly promoted by Moscow, is that Russia will be a relative winner in climate change, but a new book argues that the country will find itself in trouble.

June 23, 2022 issue

Reasons for Concern

The IPCC’s latest report, with warnings for supply chains and food security, may be the most suspense-filled document in human history.

March 9, 2022

A Sort of Buzzing Inside My Head

Whether ChatGPT passes the Turing Test is a less troubling question than what Alan Turing meant by “intelligence.”

June 25, 2023

DeepL Edizioni

As machine translation software grows more sophisticated, could it entirely replace human translators?

March 22, 2023

Court v. Chatbot

In a recent experiment, chatGPT showed a more developed moral sense than the Supreme Court’s current conservative supermajority.

December 26, 2022

Whose Country?

It is impossible to talk about the blues, country, or where the two might overlap without talking about race, authenticity, and contemporary America’s relationship to its past.

November 23, 2023 issue

Bob Dylan, Historian

Across the six decades of his career, the singer-songwriter has mined America’s past for images, characters, and events that speak to the nation’s turbulent present.

June 19, 2021

The Royal Blues

Dinah Washington’s music is fiery, uncompromising, and devoid of self-pity. She was a rarity among singers, male or female, in the popular music of her era: an unflinching, even merciless figure who was also sensual and musically sophisticated.

June 23, 2005 issue

The You and Me that Used to Be

“Looking back, I am aware that much of my life took place to music as if it were a film with a score: phonograph or radio interminably on, conversations held under the sound of music because sometimes when there was no music and we were driving or sitting around or drinking in a bar, an awkward silence hovered. Something necessary was missing. Things did not go on well without music.”

November 4, 1971 issue

A ‘Moral, Strategic, and Diplomatic Abyss’

In the latest round of disputes within Israel’s ruling coalition, the eliminationist, messianic far right seems poised to triumph. 

July 2, 2024

Acts of Language

Amid the actual violence of Israel’s assault on Gaza, why have so many writers treated pro-Palestine speech as a threat?

June 13, 2024

Israel’s Universities: The Crackdown

Last October, Palestinian students and academic staff in Israel faced unprecedented penalties for their speech. Now the repression persists. 

June 5, 2024

A View from Cairo

The Egyptian government’s repression of its citizens and the Israeli government’s occupation of Palestine are inextricably linked.

May 12, 2024

Son of the Thin Man

“I suspect a lot of writers develop their style to offset qualities they otherwise find lacking in themselves.”

September 7, 2024

Gregor Samsa in Mexico

“Truth—open, public truth—is under attack both by organized crime and by the state itself.”

August 31, 2024

Taking the Joke Further

“What makes for a good piece of written humor is another of the mysteries of art.”

Caribbean Voices

“There’s a kind of earnestness, a kind of humor that is very particular to the Caribbean and its tradition of picong—bold, verbal jousting.”

August 17, 2024

Why Do You Do It This Way?

Episode Eleven of “The Critic and Her Publics”

July 9, 2024

The Tuning Fork in the Ear

Episode Ten of “The Critic and Her Publics”

June 25, 2024

The Problem of Other Minds

Episode Nine of “The Critic and Her Publics”

June 11, 2024

Documents of Mundanity

Episode Eight of “The Critic and Her Publics”

May 28, 2024

The latest releases from New York Review Books

A Strange and Sublime Address

Amit Chaudhuri

The Singularity

Dino Buzzati

Butterfly of Dinard

Eugenio Montale

Spiral and Other Stories

Nancy and Sluggo’s Guide to Life

Ernie Bushmiller

Flowers of Evil

Charles Baudelaire

Kamala’s Moment

September 19, 2024 issue

Succumbing to Spectacle

Fools in Love

The End of a Village

Subscribe and save 50%!

Read the latest issue as soon as it’s available, and browse our rich archives. You'll have immediate subscriber-only access to over 1,200 issues and 25,000 articles published since 1963.

Get immediate access to the current issue and over 25,000 articles from the archives, plus the NYR App.

Already a subscriber? Sign in

Noir Weekend Sale: Up to 40% off 30 noir and nearly noir books

Spend $75 or more for free US shipping

Shopping for someone else but not sure what to give them? Give them the gift of choice with a New York Review Books Gift Card.

A membership for yourself or as a gift for a special reader will promise a year of good reading., is there a book that you’d like to see back in print, or that you think we should consider for one of our series let us know.

• Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
• Opens in a new window.

Booklist Queen

This post may contain affiliate links which earn me a commission at no additional cost to you.

The Complete List of New York Times Fiction Best Sellers

Go beyond just the current list of New York Times Fiction Best Sellers to discover every bestselling book listed on the NYT Bestseller List in 2024.

Since 1931, The New York Times has been publishing a weekly list of bestselling books. Since then, becoming a New York Times bestseller has become a dream for virtually every writer.

When I first started reading adult fiction, one of the first places I went for book recommendations was the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers. I wanted to know what books were the most widely read, and start with those.

However, scrolling through the list week by week on The New York Times website is rather annoying. I just wanted all the bestselling fiction books gathered together in one place.

When I couldn’t find it, I decided to create it.

Here are all the New York Times fiction bestsellers from this year. I’ve got the current #1 and this week’s bestselling list, both of which you can find all over the place.

This list also compiles every book that appears on the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers list in 2024 for Hardcover Fiction. Every week I update it so you can get the most accurate view of the year in one place.

Since this is a bit of a sprawling post, feel free to jump to the section that most interests you or take your time scrolling through the complete list of New York Times fiction best sellers.

Quick Links

• Current #1 NYT Bestseller
• Current New York Times Fiction Best Seller List
• Previous #1 Fiction Best Sellers
• Heavyweights (10+ Weeks)
• Fan Favorites (5+ Weeks)
• Honorable Mention (2+ Weeks)
• One Hit Wonders

Don’t Miss a Thing

Current #1 New York Times Best Seller

The Games Gods Play

Abigail owen.

( 1 Week ) In a bestselling new romantic fantasy, Lyra is a cursed office clerk in the Office of Thieves just trying to keep her head down and out of the way of Zeus. To determine who will next sit on the throne in Olympus, the gods chose mortal as their champions in a deadly contest. For the first time ever, Hades enter the contest and chooses Lyra as his champion. Now Lyra must decide if she’s a pawn or a player while resisting the feelings she is developing for the God of the Underworld.

Publication Date: 3 September 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

Current List of New York Times Best Sellers

Gods enlist mortals to fight in their stead to determine who will sit on the throne in Olympus.

The 23rd book in the Mitch Rapp series. In 2011, operations take place to prevent a looming war in the Middle East.

The second book in the Coven of Bones series. Feelings of betrayal and revenge put things in a precarious place.

The 59th book of the In Death series. Bad memories come up for Eve Dallas at a crime scene.

In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.

A retired math teacher who inherits a run-down house on a Mediterranean island from a friend goes in search of answers.

A young woman’s play about her ancestor Emilia Bassano, who wrote Shakespeare’s works, is submitted to a festival under a male pseudonym.

A year after the death of their sister, three remaining sisters return to New York to prevent the sale of their childhood home.

The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training might require her to betray the man she loves.

A secret agent who gets inside an anarchist collective in France encounters a mysterious figure.

Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders.

When a 13-year-old girl disappears from an Adirondack summer camp in 1975, secrets kept by the Van Laar family emerge.

Questions arise when a boy saves the daughter of a wealthy family amid a string of disappearances in a Missouri town in 1975.

A dozen short stories that explore darkness in literal and metaphorical forms.

A woman who is down on her luck forms an unexpected bond with the bride at a wedding in Rhode Island.

See what Upcoming Releases are coming out soon!

Previous #1 New York Times Fiction Best Sellers

Lessons in Chemistry

Bonnie garmus.

(99 Weeks) Elizabeth Zott has always defied stereotyping, especially as the only woman chemist at the Hastings Research Institute in the 1960s. After falling in love with another chemist who sees her for who she is, life throws her a curveball. Now as a single mom, she unexpectedly finds herself the host of a tv cooking show. When Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking charms her audience, the women who watch her begin to question the status quo in their own lives, making Elizabeth a target of those who find the change unwelcome.

Publication Date: 5 April 2022 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Fourth Wing

Rebecca yarros.

( 70 Weeks ) Violet Sorrengail is all set to live a quiet life among her books until her mother orders her to become a candidate for the highly competitive dragon riders. But dragons usually prefer to kill rather than bond with weak humans like Violet. With half the competition willing to kill her to improve their odds and the other half hating her because of her mother, Violet must use all her wits to survive the war college. 

Publication Date: 2 May 2023 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

( 44 Weeks ) In the highly anticipated sequel to Fourth Wing, Violet Sorrengail returns for her second year at Basgiath War College. No one expected her to survive this long, much less bond with one of the strongest dragons in existence and a second dragon as well. Now that she knows the secret the nation has been hiding, it will take all her wits to survive her second year, especially with the new vice commandant determined to make her betray the man she loves. 

Publication Date: 7 November 2023 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Kristin Hannah

( 31 Weeks ) The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on all women who put themselves in harm’s way and whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has too often been forgotten. A novel about deep friendships and bold patriotism,  The Women   is a richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose idealism and courage under fire will come to define an era.

Publication Date: 6 February 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph | More Info Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

Ann Patchett

( 24 Weeks ) In 2020, three grown daughters return to their family orchard in Michigan to isolate with their mother. They beg her to tell them about a story from her youth when she fell in love with famous actor Peter Duke while they performed together at the Tom Lake Theater Company. As Lara ponders her life, her daughters begin to wonder about their own choices.

Publication Date: 1 August 2023 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Stephen King

(18 Weeks) Holly is meant to be on leave due to the myriad of personal struggles she is facing, but something about the plea to find a missing daughter is impossible to turn down. Mere blocks from where the girl disappeared live a respectable couple who harbor a chilling secret in their basement, and Holly must outwit and outmaneuver them in this frightening new novel from Stephen King.

Publication Date: 16 May 2023 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Exchange

John grisham.

(16 Weeks) In a sequel to his debut thriller, The Firm , John Grisham returns to tell you what happened to Mitch and Abby McDeere after they exposed the crimes of his corrupt Memphis law firm. Fifteen years later, Mitch and Abby are living in Manhattan where Mitch is a partner in the world’s largest law firm. When Mitch gets caught up in another sinister plot with worldwide implications, he must do all he can to stay one step ahead of his enemies.

Publication Date: 17 October 2023 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Funny Story

Emily henry.

( 14 Weeks ) Daphne and her fiancé Peter have the perfect cute story of how they met, up until Peter leaves her for his childhood best friend Petra. Stranded in Peter’s lakeside Michigan hometown with a job as a children’s librarian she loves, Daphne needs a roommate to help pay the bills. Who better than Petra’s ex, Miles, who is completely Daphne’s opposite? And no big deal if they happen to post misleading photos to make their exes jealous, because there’s no way they would ever actually fall in love.

Publication Date: 23 April 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph | More Info Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

House of Flame and Shadow

Sarah j. maas.

( 13 Weeks ) In the third Crescent City book, Bryce Quinlan struggles to find her way back to Midgard. Stranded in a new world, she must decide who she can trust. Meanwhile, Hunt Athalar is in the Asteri’s dungeons, again, with no clue what happened to Bryce. If he wants to find her, he must first escape the Asteri’s leash.

Publication Date: 30 January 2024 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

You Like It Darker

( 13 Weeks ) Stephen King’s readers always ask for something a little darker and King is glad to oblige. A collection of twelve short stories, You Like It Darker delves into the darker side of life. A psychic vision runs lives. A widower receives an inheritance with strings attached. A vet answers a job ad that leads him to places no one should go. Whether discussing fate, luck, mortality, or parts of the universe best left unexplored, King is a master storyteller who isn’t afraid to delve into the darker side of things.

Publication Date: 21 May 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph |  More Info Buy Now: Amazon  

Camino Ghosts

( 10 Weeks ) In the third Camino Island book, bookstore owner Bruce Cable reunites with Mercer Mann for another island mystery. A large real estate developer has his eye on a deserted island between Florida and Georgia. All that stands in his way is the last living resident, Lovely Jackson, and a complicated history that makes the locals believe the island is cursed.

Publication Date: 28 May 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph | More Info Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

Michael Crichton and James Patterson

( 10 Weeks ) At the time of his death, bestselling author Michael Crichton ( Jurassic Park , The Andromeda Strain ) was working on a passion project that he never got to finish. Waiting for the right co-author, his wife eventually gave the unfinished manuscript to legendary mystery author James Patterson to finish. In what might be one of the summer’s biggest thrillers, a deadly volcanic eruption is about to burst on the Big Island of Hawaii forcing a terrifying military secret to come to light.

Publication Date: 3 June 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph | More Info Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

Elin Hilderbrand

( 9 Weeks ) After over thirty years as the Chief of Police in Nantucket, Ed Kapanesh is only days away from retirement. The Richardsons have made a splash since their arrival, doing anything they can to gain admittance to Nantucket’s exclusive club. While throwing a party on their yacht, they find their mansion has burned down and their personal assistant, the best friend of Ed’s daughter, is missing. Postponing his retirement, Ed uses the local real estate agent and the town gossip to help solve the mystery in his close-knit community.

Publication Date: 11 June 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph | More Info Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

A Death in Cornwall

Daniel silva.

( 3 Weeks ) In the 24th book of the series, art restorer Gabriel Allon is asked to help investigate the murder of a art history professor. With a connection to the same seaside town Allon lived in under an assumed identity, Charlotte Blake was thought to have been the victim of a serial killer plaguing the Cornish countryside. Yet, Allon suspects her death is really tied to a looted Picasso. Armed with a handful of his own forgeries, Allon works with an unlikely team of operatives to take down a dangeorus new adversary.

Publication Date: 9 July 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph | More Info Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

By Any Other Name

Jodi picoult.

( 3 Weeks ) In 1581, Emilia Bassano feels trapped by the societal expectations for women. As Lord Chamberlain’s mistress, she has access to all of England’s theatrical productions. Desperate to see her own work come to life, Emilia pays William Shakespeare to use his name, writing herself out of history. A century later, Melina Green has written a play based on Emilia’s life and is faced with the same question: should she give up her credit as the author just to see her work performed?

Publication Date: 20 August 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph | More Info Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

Red Sky Mourning

( 2 Weeks ) In the seventh book of the Terminal List series, Navy SEAL sniper James Reece must return to action to once again. With a rogue Chinese submarine headed toward the West Coast and a traitor poised to take the Oval Office, Reece must work with Alice, the artificial intelligence of a dark quantum computer to save America.

Publication Date: 18 June 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

Save for Later

Heavyweights (10+ Weeks on the NYT Bestseller List)

Demon Copperhead

Barbara kingsolver.

(70 Weeks) In a modern-day version of David Copperfield set in the Appalachian Mountains, Demon Copperhead speaks of how institutional poverty and the opioid epidemic damaged an entire generation of children. A child of a single mother living in a single-wide trailer, young Demon must survive foster care, child labor, poor schools, addiction, success, and failure in this epic tale perfect for book clubs who love thought-provoking topics.

Publication Date: 18 October 2022 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Shelby van pelt.

( 56 Weeks ) After her husband died, Tova Sullivan began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium. Thirty years ago, Tova’s son Erik disappeared on a boat in the Puget Sound, and cleaning the aquarium helps her cope. When she befriends Marcellus, the aquarium’s giant octopus, Marcellus discovers what happened to Erik and must find a way to show Tova the truth before it’s too late.

Publication Date: 3 May 2022 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Gabrielle zevin.

( 51 Weeks ) On a bitterly cold day, Sam Masur runs into Sadie Green on a train platform and they renew their childhood friendship bonding over video games. Together, they create Ichigo, a blockbuster game that changes their lives. Over the next three decades, their friendship is tested as their success leads them to money, fame, love, and betrayal. More a heartrending story about friendship than video games, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is an unputdownable read with complex character development.

Publication Date: 12 July 2022 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

The Covenant of Water

Abraham verghese.

(39 Weeks ) At the turn of the century, a twelve-year-old girl grieving her father is sent by boat to meet her 40-year-old husband. Eventually she becomes to be known as Big Ammachi, the matriarch of a family particularly cursed to have one member of each generation die by drowning. From 1900-1977, Big Ammachi sees unimaginable changes to her Christian community on South India’s Malabar coast.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

James mcbride.

(37 Weeks) Secrets held by the residents of a dilapidated neighborhood come to life when a skeleton is found at the bottom of a well.  When the truth is finally revealed the real lesson learned is that even in dark times, it is love and community-heaven and earth-that sustain us.

Publication Date: 8 August 2023 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

First Lie Wins

Ashley elston.

( 16 Weeks ) Every time an assignment comes in from the mysterious Mr. Smith, Evie takes a new identity and learns everything she can about the town and its people. Her newest mark: Ryan Sumner. But Evie connects with Ryan in a way she hasn’t in a long time. When a woman shows up using Evie’s real name, Evie must do everything she can to stay one step ahead of her boss and complete her mission. Especially after what happened last time.

Publication Date: 2 January 2024 Amazon | Goodreads | More Info

Percival Everett

( 14 Weeks ) In a reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Percival Everett rewrites the story from Jim’s perspective. When he founds out he will be sold away from his family, Jim hides out on Jackson Island. There he meets Huckleberry Finn who has faked his death to avoid his violent father. Together, Jim and Huck take a raft down the Mississippi River where their adventures are shown in a new light.

Publication Date: 19 March 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

The Little Liar

Mitch albom.

(12 Weeks) Eleven-year-old Nico Krispis has never told a lie. His best friend Fannie loves him for it but his brother Sebastian resents it. When his coastal Greek city is occupied by Nazis, the Germans use Nico’s reputation for honesty as a tool. Realizing what he’s done, Nico vows to never tell the truth again, constantly changing names and identities desperate to find forgiveness.

Publication Date: 14 November 2023 Amazon | Goodreads

All the Colors of the Dark

Chris whitaker.

(11 Weeks) From the author of We Begin at the End comes a decades-spanning love story filled with mystery. In 1975, girls are disappearing from a small Missouri town. When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, she is saved by Patch, a one-eyed local boy. But when Patch disappears, his best friend searches for him and the missing girls.

Publication Date: 25 June 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph | More Info Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

The God of the Woods

(10 Weeks) In August 1975, Barbara Van Laar is discovered missing from her summer camp bed. A tragedy for any child, but Barbara is the daughter of the wealthy owner of the camp and the nearby estate. Fourteen years ago, Barbara’s older brother also went missing without a trace. Tying together the wealthy Van Laar family with the working class community that supports the camp and estate, The God of the Woods is a multi-layered drama about secrets that refuse to be forgotten.

Publication Date: 2 July 2024 Learn More: Goodreads | StoryGraph |  More Info Buy Now: Amazon | Apple Books

Fan Favorites (5+ Weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List)

Gothikana by RuNyx

Amazon | Goodreads (8 Weeks) A century-old mystery brings Corvina Clemm and Vad Deverell together at a university based in a castle at the top of a mountain with a dark history.

A Fate Inked In Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

Amazon | Goodreads | More Info (8 Weeks) After the secret of her magic to repel attacks is revealed, Freya encounters dangerous tests by the gods.

A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci

Amazon | Goodreads |  More Info (8 Weeks) Lawyers from different backgrounds represent a Black man charged with killing a wealthy white couple in Virginia in 1968.  

Table for Two by Amor Towles

Amazon | Goodreads |  More Info (7 Weeks) A collection of six short stories based in New York City around the year 2000 and a novella set during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

Amazon | Goodreads |  More Info (7 Weeks) After meeting a woman who shares the same birthday, Alix Summer becomes the subject of her own true crime podcast.  

The Secret by Lee Child and Andrew Child

Amazon | Goodreads (7 Weeks) The 28th book in the Jack Reacher series. It’s 1992 and Reacher looks into the cause of a string of mysterious deaths.  

The Edge by David Baldacci

Amazon | Goodreads (7 Weeks) The second book in the 6:20 Man series. Travis Devine investigates the murder of the C.I.A. operative Jenny Silkwell in rural Maine.  

Alex Cross Must Die by James Patterson

Amazon | Goodreads (7 Weeks) The 32nd book in the Alex Cross series. When a jet is gunned down, Cross goes back into action.  

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Amazon | Goodreads (6 Weeks) A woman who is down on her luck forms an unexpected bond with the bride at a wedding in Rhode Island.

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Amazon | Goodreads (6 Weeks) When the Great Library of Alyssium is set aflame, Kiela and Caz take the spellbooks and bring magic to Kiela’s childhood home.

The Fury by Alex Michaelides

Amazon | Goodreads | More Info (6 Weeks) Violence erupts when a former movie star brings a group of her friends to her private Greek island for Easter.

Holmes, Marple & Poe by James Patterson & Brian Sitts

Amazon | Goodreads (5 Weeks) Three private investigators working in New York City draw the attention of an N.Y.P.D. detective.

The #1 Lawyer by James Patterson and Nancy Allen

Amazon | Goodreads (5 Weeks) A criminal defense attorney in Biloxi becomes the prime suspect in his wife’s murder.

The 24th Hour by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Amazon | Goodreads (5 Weeks) The 24th book in the Women’s Murder Club series. A high-society killer could spell trouble for members of the club.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

Amazon | Goodreads (5 Weeks) During a summer vacation in Cape Cod, Rocky faces changes with her family, body and life.

Honorable Mention (2-4 Weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List)

For 20 years, Daphne received slips of paper accurately predicting the length of her relationships. That changes when she meets Jake.

The 24th book in the Women’s Murder Club series. A high-society killer could spell trouble for members of the club.

One Hit Wonders (1 Week on the New York Times Best Seller List)

Do You Agree with The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers?

What books do you think are the best of the year? Do you think The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers deserve the hype? As always, let me know in the comments!

More New Book Releases:

• The New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller List
• The Most-Anticipated Upcoming Releases of 2024
• The 2023 New York Times Fiction Bestsellers
• The Current Celebrity Book Club Picks
• The Top 50 Books of the Last Decade

Recommended

Find anything you save across the site in your account

The 2024 National Book Awards Longlist

This week, The New Yorker is announcing the longlists for the 2024 National Book Awards, including Young People’s Literature , Translated Literature , Poetry , and Nonfiction . Check back tomorrow at 9 A.M. for the Fiction list. Sign up for the Books & Fiction newsletter to receive each 2024 longlist.

The titles on this year’s longlist span memoir, science writing, and investigative journalism. A common theme among contenders for the award is the role of family, community, and belief in American identity. Two books on the longlist, both by New Yorker contributors, were excerpted in the magazine: “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension,” by Hanif Abdurraqib, and “Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church,” by Eliza Griswold.

Hanif Abdurraqib , “ There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension ” Random House / Penguin Random House Rebecca Boyle , “ Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are ” Random House / Penguin Random House Jason De León , “ Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling ” Viking / Penguin Random House Eliza Griswold , “ Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church ” Farrar, Straus & Giroux / Macmillan Publishers Kate Manne , “ Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia ” Crown / Penguin Random House Salman Rushdie , “ Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder ” Random House / Penguin Random House Ernest Scheyder , “ The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives ” Atria/One Signal Publishers / Simon & Schuster Richard Slotkin , “ A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America ” Belknap / Harvard Deborah Jackson Taffa , “ Whiskey Tender ” Harper / HarperCollins Publishers Vanessa Angélica Villarreal , “ Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders ” Tiny Reparations Books / Penguin Random House

The judges for the category this year are Brenda J. Child, the author of several books about American Indian history; Anand Giridharadas, the author of “ The Persuaders ”; Tressie McMillan Cottom, a New York Times columnist and the author of “ Thick: And Other Essays ”; Timothy Morton, the author of “ Hell: In Search of a Christian Ecology ”; and Arvin Ramgoolam, the co-owner of Townie Books and Rumors Coffee and Tea House, in Crested Butte, Colorado.

Nine of the ten poets on this year’s longlist are being honored by the National Book Awards for the first time. Some of their works seek the remarkable in the mundane (Anne Carson’s “Wrong Norma”; Dorianne Laux’s “Life on Earth”). Others meditate on the atrocity of war (Fady Joudah’s “[...]”) or interrogate the history of the United States (Elizabeth Willis’s “Liontaming in America”). Still others reflect on the role of poets in making sense of the world (Diane Seuss’s “Modern Poetry”). One nominee, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, has been long-listed before, in 2015, for his poetry collection “ Heaven .”

Anne Carson , “ Wrong Norma ” New Directions Fady Joudah , “ [...] ” Milkweed Editions Dorianne Laux , “ Life on Earth ” W. W. Norton & Company Gregory Pardlo , “ Spectral Evidence ” Knopf / Penguin Random House Rowan Ricardo Phillips , “ Silver ” Farrar, Straus & Giroux / Macmillan Publishers Octavio Quintanilla , “ The Book of Wounded Sparrows ” Texas Review Press m.s. RedCherries , “ mother ” Penguin / Penguin Random House Diane Seuss , “ Modern Poetry ” Graywolf Lena Khalaf Tuffaha , “ Something About Living ” University of Akron Press Elizabeth Willis , “ Liontaming in America ” New Directions

The judges for the category this year are Richard Blanco, the fifth inaugural poet; Carolyn Forché, whose memoir, “ What You Have Heard Is True ,” was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award; Tyehimba Jess, the author of two books of poetry, “ Leadbelly ” and “ Olio ”; Aimee Nezhukumatathil, the author of the essay collection “ World of Wonders ”; and Rena Priest, Washington State’s sixth poet laureate.

Translated Literature

The ten books on this year’s longlist were originally published in six different languages: Arabic, Danish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Swedish. Several consider political violence and memory. Others use satire to invert reality. One author, Samar Yazbek, and three translators—Leri Price, Sophie Hughes, and Heather Cleary—have been recognized by the National Book Awards before.

Nasser Abu Srour , “ The Tale of a Wall: Reflections on the Meaning of Hope and Freedom ” Translated from the Arabic by Luke Leafgren Other Press Bothayna Al-Essa , “ The Book Censor’s Library ” Translated from the Arabic by Sawad Hussain and Ranya Abdelrahman Restless Books Linnea Axelsson , “ Ædnan ” Translated from the Swedish by Saskia Vogel Knopf / Penguin Random House Solvej Balle , “On the Calculation of Volume” (Book I) Translated from the Danish by Barbara J. Haveland New Directions Layla Martínez , “ Woodworm ” Translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott Two Lines Fiston Mwanza Mujila , “ The Villain’s Dance ” Translated from the French by Roland Glasser Deep Vellum / Deep Vellum Publishing Fernanda Trías , “ Pink Slime ” Translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary Scribner / Simon & Schuster Fernando Vallejo , “ The Abyss ” Translated from the Spanish by Yvette Siegert New Directions Yáng Shuāng-zǐ , “ Taiwan Travelogue ” Translated from the Mandarin Chinese by Lin King Graywolf Samar Yazbek , “ Where the Wind Calls Home ” Translated from the Arabic by Leri Price World Editions

The judges for the category this year are Aron Aji, who directs the Translation programs at the University of Iowa; Jennifer Croft, a translator and the author of the novel “ The Extinction of Irena Rey ”; Jhumpa Lahiri, whose most recent book, “ Roman Stories ,” was originally written in Italian and partly translated by the author; Gary Lovely, the store manager of Prologue Bookshop and publisher of Harpoon Books; and Julia Sanches, who translates literature from Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan into English.

Young People’s Literature

The titles on this year’s longlist interweave stories of self-acceptance with explorations of broader issues. The list includes two début young adult novels, one writer who has been previously honored by the National Book Awards—Randy Ribay, the author of “Everything We Never Had”—and a remarkable five novels in verse.

Olivia A. Cole , “ Ariel Crashes a Train ” Labyrinth Road / Penguin Random House Violet Duncan , “ Buffalo Dreamer ” Nancy Paulsen Books / Penguin Random House Margarita Engle , “ Wild Dreamers ” Atheneum Books for Young Readers / Simon & Schuster Josh Galarza , “ The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky ” Henry Holt and Company (BYR) / Macmillan Publishers Erin Entrada Kelly , “ The First State of Being ” Greenwillow Books / HarperCollins Publishers Randy Ribay , “ Everything We Never Had ” Kokila / Penguin Random House Shifa Saltagi Safadi , “ Kareem Between ” G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers / Penguin Random House Angela Shanté , “ The Unboxing of a Black Girl ” Page Street Publishing Ali Terese , “ Free Period ” Scholastic Press / Scholastic, Inc. Alicia D. Williams , “ Mid-Air ” Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books / Simon & Schuster

The judges for the category this year are Rose Brock, the co-founder of the North Texas Teen Book Festival; Huda Fahmy, whose novel “ Huda F Cares? ” was a National Book Award Finalist in 2023; Leah Johnson, the author of the novel “ You Should See Me in a Crown ” and the founder of Loudmouth Books; Mike Jung, the author of the novel “Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities”; and Brein Lopez, the general manager of Children’s Book World in Los Angeles.

For more information about the 75th National Book Awards and to register to watch the winners announced live, please visit nationalbook.org/awards .

New Yorker Favorites

They thought that they’d found the perfect apartment. They weren’t alone .

The world’s oldest temple and the dawn of civilization .

What happened to the whale from “Free Willy.”

It was one of the oldest buildings left downtown. Why not try to save it ?

The religious right’s leading ghostwriter .

After high-school football stars were accused of rape, online vigilantes demanded that justice be served .

A comic strip by Alison Bechdel: the seven-minute semi-sadistic workout .

Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker .

• SI SWIMSUIT
• SI SPORTSBOOK
• Top Stories
• Relationships
• Real Estate

21 best sports books of the 21st century: a comprehensive list

Alan goldsher | sep 9, 2024.

Not only are we sports writers. We’re also sports readers.

Being sports readers, we’re well aware that the vast majority of sports book “best of” lists that populate the interwebs include David Halberstam’s brilliant look at 1970s basketball, The Breaks of the Game ; Jim Bouton’s hilarious insider baseball diary Ball Four , and something like 291 of Roger Angell’s baseball studies, all of which are ridiculously good.

Few of these lists, however, give significant love to books that were published in or after the year 2000. But that ends here.

Since we like numerical symmetry, here are 21 of the finest sports books that dropped in the 21st Century. And as we don’t want to play favorites, the list is alphabetical by author.

Wheelmen: Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever

Reed albergotti & vanessa o’connell.

Once the whole Lance Armstrong doping mess calmed down, it was inevitable that both dialed-in sportswriters and hardcore investigative reporters would bang out book-length studies of the disgraced cyclist. Former Wall Street Journal sportswriter Albergotti’s and Reuters’ Global Industry editor O’Connell’s version of the Armstrong tale is the most readable and best-sourced of the bunch. In a weird way, they made Armstrong’s rise and fall, well, kinda fun to read about, which is eminently impressive.

Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football

A lovely combination of memoir and historical study, lifelong Bears nut Cohen relates the gripping story of the only Monsters of the Midway squad to win a Super Bowl, while blending in details of his fandom in a manner that makes you want to invite him over to watch Red Zone every Sunday. Props to Rich for landing interviews with numerous members of the team, the most notable being a touching afternoon spent with the Bears’ punky QB, Jim McMahon.

Every Time I Talk to Liston: A Novel

Brian devido.

Most of these sorts of lists have an entry or two where you’re like, “Um, never heard of that one,” and this cool novel is it. The deep cut piece of fiction comes from the pen of a former Virginia Golden Gloves heavyweight champ, so it’s little wonder that DeVido’s debut — the story of a troubled boxer and his up-and-coming manager — feels so damn real. His love for Sonny Liston adds a layer of pathos that one wouldn’t expect from boxing fiction.

Ali: A Life

Jonathan eig.

Joyce Carol Oates is a way better writer than any of us, so we’ll pull some fantastic words from her New York Times review of Eig’s modern classic: “Much in its pages will be familiar to those with some knowledge of boxing but even the familiar may be glimpsed from a new perspective in Eig's fluent prose; for pages in succession its narrative reads like a novel — a suspenseful novel with a cast of vivid characters who prevail through decades and who help to define the singular individual who was both a brilliantly innovative, incomparably charismatic heavyweight boxer and a public figure whose iconic significance shifted radically through the decades as in an unlikely fairy tale in which the most despised athlete in American history becomes, by the 21st century, the most beloved athlete in American history.”

Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ‘70s

Dan epstein.

In terms of age demographic, our team here is all over the map, so this title from a colorful pop culture writer was fantastic for us in that the depiction of baseball’s 1970’s-era weirdness was a nostalgic look back for the old dudes, and an enriching historical study for the young dudes. The fact that Mark Fidrych is on the cover takes it over the edge.

A Few Seconds of Panic: A Sportswriter Plays in the NFL

Stefan fatsis.

A criminally underknown memoir, Fatsis’ tale of his journey to become a professional NFL kicker at the age of, um, fortysomething is the modern version of George Plimpton’s 1966 football literature classic, Paper Lion . The former Wall Street Journal sports scribe breaks down the kicking process, while bringing us inside the Denver Broncos’ locker room, a locker room that included a snarky Jay Cutler, a boisterous Jake Plummer, and an obnoxious Todd Sauerbrun. Considering the tight-lip-eness of today’s NFL, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more intimate look at The Shield.

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches

Tyler kepner.

Kepner’s subtitle took cojones . Think about it: Baseball’s century-plus story is so rich and detailed that claiming you can tell its history via sliders and change ups is quite the brag. But the veteran baseball writer — whose work has been seen in the New York Times and The Athletic — pulls it off, utilizing Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera, and Clayton Kershaw as case studies. It sounds pedantic. It’s not.

Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times

Mark lebovich.

A political writer by trade, Lebovich gushes about his New England Patriots in a charming manner that would have your prototypical Masshole Pats fan screaming, “Ya too @&%#ing nice, Leebs!!!” But for non-Pats people (which is pretty much every football viewer outside of the Bay State) the 400 pages spent with Tom Brady, Bill Belichik, et al isn’t just tolerable — it’s fun . The fact that Lebovich makes Brady seem like a normal, down-to-earth fella is a feat in and of itself.

Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever

Jack mccallum.

These kinds of books are all about access, and the former Sports Illustrated staffer had plenty of it, landing quality time with most of the 1992 Olympic hoops roster. This allowed him to deliver quality reportage on the team’s off-court fun, the incessant insults (we’re talking to you, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Larry Bird), and the legendary Dream Team intersquad practice tilt that, in terms of actual basketball, was far more interesting than anything we saw at the Games.

Foul Lines: A Pro Basketball Novel

Jack mccallum & jon wertheim.

Sports novels are very hit and very miss; here, McCallum and his former Sports Illustrated partner-in-crime hit, and hit hard. Admittedly, the premise is kind of ridiculous — a veteran All-Star shooting guard from a professional basketball team hides from the law after a hit-and-run car wreck, all while engaging in a will-they-won’t-they dance with a local paper’s new female beat reporter — but the authors brought their knowledge of NBA absurdity to the table, making for a farcical blast.

Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton

Jeff pearlman.

Here, we begin the Jeff Pearlman portion of our program, a portion that would’ve been even larger had this article been, like, eight entries longer. As it is, we’re pulling three titles from Jeff’s impressive canon, this first one being his brilliant look at the legendary Bears’ running back. In this lush biography, Pearlman details Payton’s numerous physical and mental issues, giving us a surprising portrait of a Hall of Famer who many of us thought was nearly perfect.

Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s

If you’re not familiar with Pearlman — but are familiar with the HBO dramedy Winning Time: The Rise of the Laker Dynasty — this is the ideal place to meet this bestselling scribe. The author’s ability to fully depict the diverse, fascinating characters that made the Lake Show of the ‘80s must-see-TV is impressive as hell, and few wordsmiths could pull it off with such aplomb and charm.

Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

The abovementioned Showtime clocks in at 496 pages. Three-Ring Circus runs 448 pages. Some quick addition tells us that Pearlman needed 944 pages to tell the stories of the mighty modern Lakers. Seems long, right? Okay, 944 pages is long, but it doesn’t feel long — which is why you should read these titles back-to-back, just like we did. (Note: The depiction of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal’s tumultuous relationship is straight-up gripping.)

Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Dude

Neal pollack.

Is yoga a sport? It’s not competitive, but it makes one sweat, so for the sake of this article, sure, let’s go ahead and call it a sport. An acclaimed satirist and novelist, Pollack doesn’t just goof around about his induction into the world of yoga, but he delves into the practice’s history and what the contemporary yoga scene looked like, circa 2010. And the section on “yoga farts” is worth the price of admission.

The Baseball 100

Joe posnanski.

A former senior writer at Sports Illustrated , Posnanski’s epic is simultaneously informative and touching, as he spends a goodly number of pages discussing baseball’s impact on his family. And his in-depth look at the greats of the Negro League is as good as it gets.

The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel

Matthew quick.

Quick is one of the kings of the feel-good novel, and this story of a troubled high school teacher attempting to navigate his dysfunctional family, a painful divorce, and a mercurial love interest  — all while trying to keep up with his beloved Philadelphia Eagles — begins in a dark place. But come the third act, we defy you to keep your tear ducts under control. And FWIW, the movie version of Silver Linings is pretty darn good.

The Book of Basketball

Bill simmons.

If this list was a best-to-less-best ranking, Simmons’ 700-plus-page door-stopper might be right up top. An insanely detailed book that, believe it or not, is eminently re-readable, Bill’s breakdown of his love for the Celtics, the Bill Russell/Wilt Chamberlain debate, and the NBA’s greatest players is filled with relevant humor, hot takes galore, and awesome footnotes. ESPN Books dropped an updated version a few years after initial publication; it might be time for another.

Rope Burns: Stories From the Corner

There’s something about quality boxing fiction that’s…special. Toole’s astounding short story collection is beyond special — it’s a timeless classic. The pseudonym of former boxer and trainer Jerry Boyd, Toole introduces the reader to heavyweight champs, unscrupulous middleweights, and gun-toting gangsters. But perhaps the most intriguing story is “Million Dollar Baby,” a tragic tale of a gritty female boxer that was adapted into potentially the greates fight movie of all time, Rocky notwithstanding.

The Yankee Years

Joe torre & tom verducci.

Remember when Joe Torre was one of the most beloved managers in baseball? If you don’t, take a gander at his memoir of the memorable New York Yankees squads of the late-’90s and early-’00s. With a cast of characters featuring Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Daryl Strawberry, Torre’s surprisingly honest telling of the team’s tale is fascinating, even for non-Yankee fans…of which there are a whole lot.

Fantasyland: A Season on Baseball’s Lunatic Fringe

Can’t find my copy, but pound-for-pound this is my favorite baseball book ever. And it’s about fantasy baseball. Fantasyland by Sam Walker. pic.twitter.com/vVyx3tjWSK — Brandon Walker (@BFW) March 28, 2023

We’d love to see more titles about fantasy sports on the shelves of our local book-a-torium. Thing is, who wants to read about somebody else’s league? Nobody, that’s who…that is, unless you’re plowing through a tome by a Wall Street Journal senior writer by the name of Sam Walker. In a Quixotic endeavor, Sam hires a young fantasy expert named Nando Di Fino (you might know of him) and a NASA scientist — that’s right, a NASA scientist — to help him win the legendary Tout Wars fantasy baseball league. Spoiler alert: Despite his Moneyball approach to fantasy, Walker didn’t bring home the hardware, but his trip through, yes, fantasyland is both illuminating and uproarious.

ALAN GOLDSHER

• Weird But True
• Sex & Relationships
• Viral Trends
• Human Interest
• Fashion & Beauty
• Food & Drink

trending now in Lifestyle

I'm a heart surgeon — these are the two types of patients who...

The number one thing men do to screw up their marriage...

Fabled NYC restaurant has met its long overdue end

I'm a new mom — the hospital mixed up my twin daughters

Ultimate World Cruise has finally ended, and passengers are...

These 'good for you' foods may actually be to blame for troubling...

I'm an air travel expert — here's why I always book the worst...

Mom's vacation ruined by stranger's 'gross' habit at hotel pool:...

The best new books to read: top releases, updated weekly.

The Post regularly compiles the best books released in the past month. In the meantime, take a look at  our favorite titles released in the last year.

This week’s best new books

Here one moment.

Liane Moriarty (Crown) The highly anticipated release from the author of “Big Little Lies” has an intriguing setup. The passengers on a short flight encounter no turbulence, but they do meet a woman who tells them when and how they will die. At first, they laugh off what the “Death Lady” tells them, but as the months pass, passengers perish exactly as she predicted.

Impossible Creatures 

Katherine Rundell, illustrated by Ashley Mackenzie (Knopf Books for Young Readers) This children’s fantasy book was phenomenally popular and drew raves — it was named Waterstones’ Book of the Year and drew comparisons to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien — when it was published in the UK last year. Two kids embark on an adventure, hopping between unmapped islands where magical creatures have lived for centuries but are suddenly dying. Dragons, sphinxes and kraken come into play. 

On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century

Tony Blair (Crown) Britain’s former prime minister mines his own experiences to offer up tips and insights on effective political leadership. 

I Once Was Lost:  My Search for God in America

Don Lemon (Little, Brown & Company) The fired CNN anchor reflects on religion, the state of America and his own life in the wake of his ousting. 

Creation Lake: A Novel

Rachel Kushner  (Simon  & Schuster) The newest book from the acclaimed author is longlisted for the Booker Prize. It’s a noir that centers on a beautiful, bold young American woman in rural France who is actually a secret agent on a mission.

Tell Me Everything:  A Novel

Elizabeth Strout  (Random House) Pulitzer Prize winner Strout gives us another story featuring the fictional writer Lucy Barton. This time around, Barton and other quirky characters in their small Maine town grapple with a local murder, the lives that they’ve lived and the search for meaning

Best new book releases from last week

The life impossible: a novel.

Matt Haig (Viking) The author of the bestseller “The Midnight Library” has a new work of soul-searching fiction. A retired teacher travels to Ibiza after a longtime friend leaves her an old house on the island. There she tries to understand her late friend’s life and death, while reckoning with her own personal history. 

The Accomplice: A Novel 

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson  (Amistad) The latest book from the rapper/actor centers on a woman working as a Texas Ranger and caught up in a game of cat and mouse with a murderous thief who doesn’t just steal valuable possessions from the wealthy. He also digs up their secrets and blackmails them for huge sums of money. 

Passions in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel

J.D. Robb (St. Martin’s Press) The Eve Dallas series continues with Detective Dallas investigating the gory murder of a bride-to-be at a girls’ night out just before her wedding.

Raising Securely Attached Kids: Using Connection-Focused Parenting to Create Confidence, Empathy, and Resilience 

Eli Harwood (Sasquatch) Harwood, a licensed therapist who has gained a following on social media as @attachmentnerd, advises parents on how to get past their own childhood issues and better bond with their kids. 

The Joy of Connections: 100 Ways to Beat Loneliness and Live a Happier and More Meaningful Life

Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer  (Rodale Books)  The last book from the legendary Dr. Ruth, who passed away this past July at age 96, isn’t focused on sex but rather building meaningful connections and relationships of all kinds.

Cocaine and Rhinestones: A History of  George Jones and Tammy Wynette

Tyler Mahon Coe, with  illustrations by Wayne White  (Simon & Schuster) The man behind the popular “Cocaine & Rhinestones” podcast takes a deep dive into the lives of two of country music’s biggest icons

Best new book releases from the week of August 25

The instrumentalist: a novel.

Harriet Constable (Simon & Schuster) For her debut novel, Constable, a journalist, tells the true story of Anna Maria della Pietà, an Italian orphan and 18th century violin prodigy who was one of Vivaldi’s favorite students.

Worst Case Scenario: A Novel

T.J. Newman (Little, Brown and Company) The bestselling author and former flight attendant is back with another airplane thriller. This time, a commercial airliner crashes into a nuclear power plant after the pilot suffers a heart attack. Catastrophe ensues. 

Peggy: A Novel

Rebecca Godfrey, with Leslie Jamison (Random House)  Heiress Peggy Guggenheim and her adventures — following her father’s death aboard the Titanic — are the subject of this novel, which Godfrey sadly did not finish before her own death from lung cancer in 2022, at age 54. Her good friend, the estimable Jamison, helped complete the book after her passing. 

Watford Forever: How Graham Taylor and Elton John Saved a Football Club, a Town and Each Other

John Preston, with Elton John (Viking) Before there was Ted Lasso, there was Elton John. This charming underdog story tells of how the pop star bought a losing football club — Waterford FC, which he’d been a fan of as a kid — in the 1970s, at the height of his fame, and helped transform it into a winning team. 

Too Good to Fact Check: Flying the Skies with Stars, Scotch, and Scandal (Mostly Mine)

Jeremy Murphy, with Sophia Paulmier (Post Hill Press) A former magazine editor writes of the decadent decade he spent traveling with celebrities to glamorous locales for the job.

That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America

Amanda Jones (Bloomsbury Publishing)  A longtime Louisiana librarian reports from the front lines of the culture wars as she fights against censorship in her local library.

Best new book releases from the week of August 1 8.

Gray matters: a biography of brain surgery.

Theodore H. Schwartz (Dutton) A prominent surgeon reveals what it’s really like to take a scalpel to someone’s brain and looks at the history of the mind-blowing practice.

Iris Apfel: Colorful 

Iris Apfel (Abrams Books) The style icon and businesswoman passed away this past March, but she lives on with this vibrant book that she wrote last year at age 102. It contains her thoughts on life and design, anecdotes from her beautiful life and hundreds of photos. 

By Any Other Name: A Novel

Jodi Picoult (Ballantine Books) The bestselling-author’s newest focuses on two women living centuries apart. In modern times, up-and-coming playwright Melina Green writes about one of her ancestors from the Elizabethan era, Emilia Bassano, and submits the work under a man’s name to be taken more seriously. In the late 16th century, a bright young Emilia Bassano struggles with her place in society and being forced to be a mistress to an English aristocrat.

House of Bone and Rain: A Novel

Gabino Iglesias (Mulholland Books)  In a Puerto Rican slum, a group of childhood friends looks to avenge the murder of one of their mothers, who was killed by a drug kingpin’s lackeys. As the boys come up with a plan, a hurricane rolls in, seemingly carrying evil spirits. 

Paradise Bronx: The Life and Times of New York’s Greatest Borough

Ian Frazier (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Frazier spent 15 years  walking The Bronx to write this lively history that covers Jonas Bronck buying the land from Native Americans, the various Revolutionary War battles fought in the area, the rise of hip hop, immigration, the Yankees and much more. 

There Are Rivers in the Sky : A novel

Elif Shafak (Knopf) Shafak, who was a finalist for the Booker Prize with “The Island of Missing Trees,” focuses on three characters living on rivers in his latest. In London in 1840, a young man in a slum on the Thames looks to rise above the life he was born into. In Turkey in 2014, a girl struggles with losing her hearing and the rising tide of ISIS destroying her family’s land along the Tigris. In London in 2018, a recent divorcee moves into a houseboat on the Thames with plans to kill herself.

Best new book releases from the week of August 11.

The snap: a novel.

Elizabeth Staple (Doubleday) Staple, who worked in media relations for the Giants, Patriots and three Super Bowls, knows what she writes about. The protagonist of her novel, Poppy Benjamin, works in media relations for a fictional NFL team. Poppy depends on a secretive coterie of high-powered women in sports to navigate the boy’s club and what they call “groping s–heads.” But when her team’s head coach turns up dead, the girl gang — and all that Poppy has worked for — come under threat. 

Lady Macbeth: A Novel

Ava Reid (Del Rey)  The bestselling author of “A Study in Drowning” offers a retelling of the Shakespearian tragedy by fleshing out Lady M.’s past and empathetically examining her machinations. 

Men Have Called Her Crazy

Anna Marie Tendler (Simon & Schuster) The artist — and ex-wife of comedian John Mulaney — recounts her struggles with severe anxiety and depression and how she checked herself into a psychiatric hospital in 2021. She also reflects on her life before the hospitalization, including her interactions with various men. 

Angel of Vengeance: A Pendergast Novel

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Grand Central Publishing) In the final book in the Pendergast series, the time-traveling FBI agent and his ward Constance Greene make a final push to stop a brutal New York serial killer.

Woman of Interest: A Memoir

Tracy O’Neill (HarperOne) After the breakup of a long-term relationship, O’Neill, who is adopted, starts thinking about the birth mother in Korea she never knew. She hires a private investigator and embarks on a year-long search to find her, relaying her story at times as if she’s living a classic noir. 

Men in White: The Gutsy, Against-All-Odds Return of Penn State Football

Chris Raymond (St. Martin’s Press) In 2011, Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of child molestation and the college’s legendary football program fell to its knees. Raymond tells of the players who stayed and worked to rebuild the team in the wake of the scandal, despite a near total lack of support.

Best new book releases from the week of August 4.

10 to 25: the new science of motivating young people.

David Yeager (Avid Reader Press) A noted developmental psychologist mined the latest data to create strategies for better interacting with and connecting to young people at a crucial stage in their lives. 

Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church

Eliza Griswold (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Pulitzer Prize-winner Griswold profiles Philadelphia’s progressive Sermon on the Mount church as it unravels amidst the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd. It’s both the church’s story and a broader look at how we come together and apart and how institutions struggle to adapt to changing times. 

The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady

Heath Hardage Lee (St. Martin’s Press) A historian digs deep into the life of the enigmatic first lady, getting beyond how she weathered Watergate to reveal her efforts to get more women in politics, help earthquake victims in Peru and support reproductive rights. 

Hum: A Novel

Helen Phillips (Simon & Schuster/ Marysue Rucci Books) A mother loses her job to artificial intelligence, and takes her technology-addicted family on a getaway to a lush garden so they can take a break from their devices. But then things take a dark turn. 

The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore 

Evan Friss (Viking) This lively, thoroughly researched look at booksellers begins at Benjamin Franklin’s first bookstore in Philadelphia and covers everything from New York’s Strand to Barnes & Noble to Amazon. 

All That Glitters: A Story of Friendship, Fraud, and Fine Art

Orlando Whitfield (Pantheon) Whitfield met Inigo Philbrick at university in London, became fast friends and went on to work in the art world together. But the charming Philbrick was running various schemes, to the tune of a whopping $86 million in fraud.

Advertisement

Presenter of the National Book Awards

Subscribe to our newsletter

• 2024 Awards
• 2024 Submissions
• How the National Book Awards Work
• Browse by Year
• Explore the Archives
• Lifetime Achievement
• Science + Literature
• Capacity-Building Grant Program
• Events Calendar
• NBF Presents
• Read with NBF
• Summer Reading Adventure
• Past Programs
• Book Rich Environments
• NBF Teacher Fellowship
• Internships
• MAKE A DONATION
• Sponsorships
• Leadership Circle
• Strategic Plan 2022—2025
• Donor Privacy Policy
• Mission & History
• Board of Directors
• Book Council
• Opportunities

Subscribe to our MONTHLY newsletter

for updates on our programs, the National Book Awards, and more

National Book Foundation > News > 2024 National Book Awards Longlist for Poetry

2024 National Book Awards Longlist for Poetry

September 2024

The ten contenders for the National Book Award for Poetry

The National Book Foundation announced the Longlist for the 2024 National Book Award for Poetry . The Finalists in all five categories will be revealed on Tuesday, October 1 with the New York Times ; Winners will be announced live at the 75 th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.

The 2024 Poetry Longlist includes poets in all stages of their publishing careers, and nine of the ten poets on the Longlist are first-time National Book Award honorees. The only poet that has been previously honored by the National Book Awards is Rowan Ricardo Phillips , who was Longlisted in 2015 for his poetry collection  Heaven .

This year’s Poetry Longlist includes five Guggenheim Fellows and two Pulitzer Prize winners. The poets have been recognized by the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Arab American Book Award, the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Lannan Literary Award, the Pushcart Prizes, and more. Five of the books come from independent publishers and two come from university presses, including one publisher that is appearing on the National Book Award Longlists for the first time: Texas Review Press.  

Two Longlisted poets compassionately reflect on the ordinary and the everyday, and offer a necessary reminder that even the most mundane act can be remarkable. Anne Carson ’s latest collection considers Roget’s Thesaurus, her father, Guantánamo, water, and many more deceptively disconnected topics that, as the collection’s title suggests, might seem “wrong.” The 25 prose poems in Wrong Norma , interspersed with images hand-drawn by Carson, features glimpses at the inner workings—and often disjointed nature—of the human mind. In her newest poetry collection, Dorianne Laux tenderly examines the quotidian—a shovel and rake, Bisquick, salt, and even a can of WD-40—alongside motherhood, aging, and loss. Life on Earth reflects on the many delights and heartbreaks of life, compels us to embrace the abundant beauty of the natural world, and, perhaps most importantly, invites us to consider that even the most ordinary aspects of our messy humanity can be worthy of poetry.

Fady Joudah ’s collection of poems is a rumination on the unspeakable atrocities of war; the present and ongoing erasure of Palestinian people, history, and culture; and a dedication to a people’s everyday desires and humanity. The collection’s title— […] , ellipsis in brackets—doubles as a space for mourning, and an urgent reminder for all of us to pay attention to the harms of passive voice and the need for a future voice for the stories of Palestinian people.  

Two Longlisted poets offer deeply personal interrogations of US history, intertwining archive, art, and self. Spanning 400 years of history, Elizabeth Willis investigates Mormonism—the religion she was born into—and its influence on domestic labor, economics, and family dynamics. Interweaving research material—including the multilayered voices of Willis’s own family members— Liontaming in America juxtaposes performance and the long tradition of lion taming with the United States’ continuous settler colonial project. Gregory Pardlo traces the ways in which American society has historically regarded Black people as threats and how these panic-driven perceptions influence the ongoing criminalization and persecution of Black bodies. Beginning with Tituba, the only enslaved Black woman to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials, Spectral Evidence grapples with objectification, femininity, beauty, and the painful truths that dictate how Blackness and womanhood have been viewed throughout history and into the present day.

Three Longlisted books of poetry, including one debut collection, make the case for reclaiming language as an act of survival. The Book of Wounded Sparrows reflects on all that can be lost—a sense of identity, culture, language, and even history—in pursuit of the American Dream. Traversing the borders of visual art and text and shifting between English and Spanish, Octavio Quintanilla makes a history of dislocation physical, and transforms it into a source of creativity. In the face of displacement, grief, and the ongoing horrors of war, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha scrutinizes language and the obfuscation of Palestinian history, both in Palestine and across the diaspora. Part elegy for a people and a country, Something About Living probes the borders of politics, speech, and culture, to preserve brief moments of joy in defiance of continued violence. Through poetry and prose, m.s. RedCherries ’s debut collection tells the story of an Indigenous child adopted by a non-Native family and her journey, as an adult, to return to her tribe. Blending real and imagined histories and community lore, mother presents a poignant exploration of Indigenous identity, the relationship between daughters and mothers, and the universal desire to find a way home.

Two collections reflect on the power of poetry and the role of poets to help make sense of the world. Through dreamlike poems, Rowan Ricardo Phillips is determined to uncover the musicality and “the meaningfulness of this mystery we call life.” Phillips’ fourth collection, Silver, acknowledges the very worst of the years following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd’s murder, while daring readers to imagine again, with poetry as a guide. Borrowing its title from the first poetry course she took as a college student, Modern Poetry by Diane Seuss examines contemporary poetry with irreverence and love—interrogating which voices are enshrined in textbooks, anthologies, and publishing, as well as those left out. Modern Poetry and its author claim poetry, for all of its limitations, as essential—to poets and to readers.

Publishers submitted a total of 299 books for the 2024 National Book Award for Poetry. The judges for Poetry are Richard Blanco (Chair), Carolyn Forché , Tyehimba Jess , Aimee Nezhukumatathil , and Rena Priest . Judges’ decisions are made independently of the National Book Foundation staff and Board of Directors, and deliberations are strictly confidential. For more information about the 75 th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner and to register for the broadcast, please visit nationalbook.org/awards .

2024 Longlist for the National Book Award for Poetry:

Anne Carson , Wrong Norma New Directions Publishing

Fady Joudah , […] Milkweed Editions

Dorianne Laux , Life on Earth Norton / W. W. Norton & Company

Gregory Pardlo , Spectral Evidence Knopf / Penguin Random House

Rowan Ricardo Phillips , Silver Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers

Octavio Quintanilla , The Book of Wounded Sparrows Texas Review Press

m.s. RedCherries , mother Penguin Books / Penguin Random House

Diane Seuss , Modern Poetry Graywolf Press

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha , Something About Living University of Akron Press

Elizabeth Willis , Liontaming in America New Directions Publishing

Advertisement

Boston red sox at new york yankees odds, picks and predictions, share this article.

The New York Yankees (84-62) welcome the Boston Red Sox (74-72) to Yankee Stadium Thursday for the 1st game of a 4-game series. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m. ET (FOX). Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s   MLB odds around the Red Sox vs. Yankees odds and make our expert MLB picks and predictions for the best bets.

Season series: Red Sox lead 5-4

The Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Wednesday to close out that 3-game series. They won 2 of 3 against the Royals and won 2 of 3 against the Chicago Cubs in the series prior. New York is just 5-6 over its last 11 games. It is 39-32 at home and 76-70 against the spread (ATS).

The Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 Wednesday, closing as a -127 moneyline favorite. They beat Baltimore in 2 of 3 and beat the Chicago White Sox in 2 of 3 the series prior. Boston has won 4 of its last 6 games and is a solid 39-32 in away games. It is 67-79 ATS.

Red Sox at Yankees projected starters

RHP Cooper Criswell vs. LHP  Nestor Cortes

Criswell (6-4, 4.11 ERA) makes his 18th start. He has a 1.34 WHIP, 2.6 BB/9 and 6.5 K/9 in 92 IP.

• Last start: Win, 5 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 0 K in 7-5 home win over the Chicago White Sox Saturday
• 2024 away stats: 3-2, 4.43 ERA (44 2/3 IP, 22 ER), 1.37 WHIP, 6.6 K/9 in 11 appearances (8 starts)
• Career vs. Yankees: 0-0, 5.40 ERA (5 IP, 3 ER), 1.40 WHIP, 12.6 K/9 in 2 appearances (1 start)

Cortes (9-10, 3.97 ERA) makes his 29th start. He has a 1.15 WHIP, 1.8 BB/9 and 8.1 K/9 in 163 1/3 IP.

• Last start: No-decision, 4 IP, 5 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 2 K in 14-7 home loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 1
• 2024 home stats: 5-5, 3.19 ERA (84 2/3 IP, 30 ER), 0.99 WHIP, 7.9 K/9 in 14 starts
• Career vs. Red Sox: 2-0, 5.22 ERA (39 2/3 IP, 23 ER), 1.39 WHIP, 10.7 K/9 in 12 appearances (6 starts)

Who’s going yard ? Here’s a breakdown of today’s best home run props with our top picks. Include the BetMGM bonus code SBWIRE to score a $1,500 first-bet offer.

Red Sox at Yankees odds

Provided by BetMGM Sportsbook ; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list of MLB odds . Lines last updated at 8:45 a.m. ET.

• Moneyline (ML) : Red Sox +145 (bet $100 to win $145) | Yankees -175 (bet $175 to win $100)
• Run line (RL)/Against the spread (ATS) : Red Sox +1.5 (-145) | Yankees -1.5 (+120)
• Over/Under (O/U) : 9 (O: +100 | U: -120)

Red Sox at Yankees picks and predictions

Yankees 4, Red Sox 3

There’s not a lot of value here.

The Yankees are just a touch too expensive to take here, especially with Criswell, who has been solid this season, starting for Boston. Similarly, Boston is better played as a run-line underdog.

Run line/Against the spread

BET RED SOX +1.5 (-145) .

The Yankees rank in the bottom half of the league in covering at home. They are just 32-39 ATS at home. Boston, at 40-31, sits in the top half of the league in covering on the road. The Red Sox have covered in 4 of their last 6 games.

New York is 4-2 over its last 6 yet 3-3 ATS in those games. It has had 2 1-score games in its last 4. Boston is 14-9 in games which Criswell has started as well. Take RED SOX +1.5 (-145) for a small unit given the juice put on the bet.

BET UNDER 9 (-120) .

The Yankees have gone Under in 2 straight games and in 5 of their last 6. They have allowed 0 runs in 2 of their last 6 and 3 or fewer in 4 of those 6.

Similarly, Boston has gone Under in 3 of its last 4 and in 4 of its last 6. The Red Sox have been streaky offensively but have scored 3 or fewer in 5 of its last 8. Take UNDER 9 (-120) .

Play our free daily Pick’em Challenge and win! Play now !

For more sports betting picks and tips , check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW .

Follow @nathanbeighle_ on Twitter/X. Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter/X and like us on Facebook .

Fantasy baseball help from BaseballHQ.com : Subscribe now to dominate the competition.

More MLB Picks and Predictions

Texas rangers at seattle mariners odds, picks and predictions, best mlb betting promos & bonuses for thursday, september 12 | make mlb bets today, best home run props today | bet mlb hr prop bets & odds, claim $5000+ for today's games.

Gannett may earn revenue from sports betting operators for audience referrals to betting services. Sports betting operators have no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Terms apply, see operator site for Terms and Conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call the National Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 at 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, OH), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN). Must be 21 or older to gamble. Sports betting and gambling are not legal in all locations. Be sure to comply with laws applicable where you reside.

Cincinnati Reds at St. Louis Cardinals odds, picks and predictions

Tampa Bay Rays at Cleveland Guardians odds, picks and predictions

Colorado Rockies at Detroit Tigers odds, picks and predictions

Sportsbook reviews.

BetMGM Review Caesars Review Fanatics Review bet365 Review DraftKings Review FanDuel Review BetRivers Review

Sports Betting Resources

Sports Scores and Odds Hub Sports Betting Legality Map Parlay Calculator

Most Popular

Buffalo bills at miami dolphins odds, picks and predictions, chicago cubs at la dodgers odds, picks and predictions, san diego padres at seattle mariners odds, picks and predictions, kansas city royals at new york yankees odds, picks and predictions, milwaukee brewers at san francisco giants odds, picks and predictions, arizona state at texas state odds, picks and predictions, baltimore orioles at boston red sox odds, picks and predictions.

Please enter an email address.

Thanks for signing up.

Please check your email for a confirmation.

Something went wrong.

• [ September 12, 2024 ] North Dakota judge strikes down state’s abortion restrictions News Briefs
• [ September 12, 2024 ] Catholic Charities seeks volunteers in Louisiana as Hurricane Francine floods the region News Briefs
• [ September 12, 2024 ] Bishop Cozzens emphasizes Eucharist, ‘transfiguration of the world’ at Eucharistic Congress News Briefs
• [ September 12, 2024 ] Chicago priest ‘strenuously denies’ state’s child molestation allegation, archdiocese says News Briefs
• [ September 12, 2024 ] March for Life announces ‘longtime marcher’ as new president News Briefs

‘Harsh realities’: Diocese of Buffalo announces final list of parish mergers, closures

September 11, 2024 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 2 Print

CNA Staff, Sep 11, 2024 / 15:32 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Buffalo, New York, this week revealed the final list of parish closures and mergers it will undertake in order to address years of shrinking budgets and declining church attendance.

Buffalo Bishop Michael Fisher had announced in May that an estimated 34% of the diocese’s parishes would be merged in a process of “rightsizing and reshaping.”

The bishop said the mergers — part of the diocesan “Road to Renewal” program — were necessitated by a shortage of priests, declining Mass attendance, aging congregations, and financial difficulties brought on by clergy abuse lawsuits.

In a press release this week , the diocese said it would see “a total of 118 worship sites remain open” following the merger review.

“The diocese currently has a total of 196 worship sites that include 160 parishes and 36 secondary worship sites,” the release said. “Going forward the diocese will see 79 parishes and 39 secondary worship sites remain after the merger/closure process.”

The diocese said in its news release that it had met with its vicariates throughout August and considered several dozen “counter proposals” to its initial merger plan. Those suggestions “resulted in changes to 26 of the 36 families of parishes’ initial recommendations.”

Fisher in his release said the Buffalo Diocese is facing “harsh realities” including “a decline in Church attendance, the decline of those pursuing a life in ordained ministry, [and] the rise of secularism and shift away from the parish as the defining center of Catholic identity.”

The bishop also cited “the horrendous toll that the sexual abuse scandal by clergy and others has inflicted on parish life and the personal faith of so many; most especially on those who have been forever harmed in body, mind, and spirit.”

The Road to Renewal initiative “has been about reinvigorating Catholic faith, more fully optimizing parish and diocesan resources, and increasing the impact of our varied ministries among the countless who benefit from them across western New York,” the bishop said.

“The ultimate goal is for all parish families to be and remain vibrant communities of faith, focused on their evangelizing mission and serving the abundant need all around us.”

Father Bryan Zielenieski, the diocesan vicar for renewal and development who is also leading the Road to Renewal program, said the high number of changes to the initial recommendations “reveals the true openness and collaboration in our effort to craft a diocesan roadmap for the foreseeable future.”

The Buffalo Diocese isn’t the only U.S. bishopric undertaking major closure and merger plans to address dwindling Church resources and attendance.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced its own merger plan for the city of Baltimore earlier this year, while the Archdiocese of St. Louis has been undergoing a similar process , as has the Archdiocese of Seattle.

Local activists and Catholics have been working recently to save some religious sites in Buffalo, meanwhile, as the merger plan has progressed.

The historic St. Casimir Parish in Buffalo has been struggling to stay open while facing tens of thousands of dollars in bills that threaten to close the nearly-century-old structure. Parishioners and advocates have been working to raise funds to keep the parish open.

The organization Preservation Buffalo Niagara, meanwhile, announced earlier this year that it was launching a “Save Our Sacred Sites” campaign, one aimed at “funding and submitting local landmark applications for churches within the city of Buffalo” that it said are at risk of closure by the Diocese of Buffalo.

Members of the Buffalo Preservation Board voted last week to designate several local parishes as city landmarks. Those designations are currently before the Buffalo City Council.

If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!

Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

• Bishop Michael Fisher
• Catholic News
• Diocese of Buffalo
• Parish Closures

Related Articles

Church commission investigates Baltimore Archdiocese role in slavery

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 12, 2023 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

A 17-member commission created by the Archdiocese of Baltimore will investigate the roles that bishops, clergy, and other prominent Catholic figures within the archdiocese played in American slavery.

The commission, which is still in its early stages, includes academics, archivists, and other researchers who are poring through old documents for information on the subject. The commission first met in March and hopes to unveil some of its findings to the public within the fall of this year. 

“It’s striking that … Catholics, clergy and lay, are people of their times and accepted the institution of slavery as just part of life in America,” Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, an auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese, told CNA. “It’s very sad to say that.”

Lewandowski said the commission is engaging in “significant research” at the moment and said the goal is to eventually make the history known to the public. Although the means by which they will unveil the information are yet to be decided, he said it could be through articles, presentations, a web page online, or something in document form.

The archdiocese will also use the material for education within churches and schools.

“[We plan to] use it, for example, at the parish level, in Catholic schools, [in the] seminary, [in] education [and] formation so the history is known,” Lewandowski said.

In addition to education, Lewandowski added that the archdiocese intends to “prayerfully reflect” on the information, and the commission will provide recommendations on “atonement and reparations” for the role of the archdiocese in slavery. 

“This is part of an ongoing process … of coming to terms with racism in the present by looking deeply in the past,” Lewandowski said. 

“We also want to engage the community … [and] evaluate the efficacy of our approaches to systemic racism in the archdiocese,” Lewandowski continued.

The idea for a commission sprang from a working group that developed into a permanent structure in the archdiocese called the Racial Justice Coordinating Council. The group, which interviewed nearly 80 people about their experiences with racism within the archdiocese, provided recommendations on racial justice. At a later date, the council requested a serious study into the archdiocese’s participation in slavery. 

“That working group came up with a significant number of recommendations for the archbishop to implement,” Lewandowski said. “And those fell into different categories: education, clergy and seminary formation, the Catholic Center and its internal workings. So, a number of different recommendations.”

Lewandowski added that the participation in slavery is part of the history of the archdiocese, and “we need to continually address it.”

“This is just part of the next phase,” the bishop said.

US bishops’ pro-life chair asks Catholics to practice ‘unconditional love’ after Roe

Thanatip S/Shutterstock.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 22, 2022 / 09:50 am (CNA). In anticipation of Respect Life Month in October, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore is encouraging Catholics to practice “radical solidarity and unconditio… […]

The enduring faith of St. Charbel: Thousands celebrate in Lebanon

Thousands turned out for a Eucharistic procession followed by the holy liturgy at the St. Charbel Hermitage and the monastery of St. Maroun Annaya on July 22, 2024. / Credit: Marwan Semaan/ACI MENA

ACI MENA, Jul 24, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA). On Ju… […]

Instead of giving high-sounding names to these programs of closure and retreat such as “Road to Renewal,” or “Making All Things New,” they should be given brutally honest names such as “The Price of Failure,” or “Emptying Our Churches.”

1 Trackback / Pingback

• THVRSDAY MID-DAY EDITION | BIG PULPIT

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

All comments posted at Catholic World Report are moderated. While vigorous debate is welcome and encouraged, please note that in the interest of maintaining a civilized and helpful level of discussion, comments containing obscene language or personal attacks—or those that are deemed by the editors to be needlessly combative or inflammatory—will not be published. Thank you.

© Catholic World Report

You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/

Sign up to receive a weekly email with news, analysis, and commentary from a voice you can trust!

Email Frequency

Books | Best Sellers

Hardcover fiction - september 22, 2024.

This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only.

• Hardcover Fiction

New this week

THE GAMES GODS PLAY

by Abigail Owen

Gods enlist mortals to fight in their stead to determine who will sit on the throne in Olympus.

• Apple Books
• Barnes and Noble
• Books-A-Million
• Bookshop.org

VINCE FLYNN: CAPTURE OR KILL

by Don Bentley

Atria/Emily Bestler

The 23rd book in the Mitch Rapp series. In 2011, operations take place to prevent a looming war in the Middle East.

by Harper L. Woods

The second book in the Coven of Bones series. Feelings of betrayal and revenge put things in a precarious place.

PASSIONS IN DEATH

by J.D. Robb

St. Martin's

The 59th book of the In Death series. Bad memories come up for Eve Dallas at a crime scene.

31 weeks on the list

by Kristin Hannah

In 1965, a nursing student follows her brother to serve during the Vietnam War and returns to a divided America.

THE LIFE IMPOSSIBLE

by Matt Haig

A retired math teacher who inherits a run-down house on a Mediterranean island from a friend goes in search of answers.

3 weeks on the list

BY ANY OTHER NAME

by Jodi Picoult

A young woman’s play about her ancestor Emilia Bassano, who wrote Shakespeare’s works, is submitted to a festival under a male pseudonym.

BLUE SISTERS

by Coco Mellors

A year after the death of their sister, three remaining sisters return to New York to prevent the sale of their childhood home.

44 weeks on the list

by Rebecca Yarros

The second book in the Empyrean series. Violet Sorrengail’s next round of training might require her to betray the man she loves.

CREATION LAKE

by Rachel Kushner

A secret agent who gets inside an anarchist collective in France encounters a mysterious figure.

70 weeks on the list

FOURTH WING

Violet Sorrengail is urged by the commanding general, who also is her mother, to become a candidate for the elite dragon riders.

10 weeks on the list

THE GOD OF THE WOODS

by Liz Moore

When a 13-year-old girl disappears from an Adirondack summer camp in 1975, secrets kept by the Van Laar family emerge.

11 weeks on the list

ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK

by Chris Whitaker

Questions arise when a boy saves the daughter of a wealthy family amid a string of disappearances in a Missouri town in 1975.

CLIVE CUSSLER: GHOST SOLDIER

by Mike Maden

The 18th book in the Oregon Files series. Juan Cabrillo and his crew go after an arms dealer known as the Vendor.

6 weeks on the list

THE WEDDING PEOPLE

by Alison Espach

A woman who is down on her luck forms an unexpected bond with the bride at a wedding in Rhode Island.

The New York Times Book Review

Debt was supposed to cure poverty and help pay for college. what went wrong.

Three new books examine debt’s fraught politics and history.

Advertisement

Weekly Best Sellers Lists

• Combined Print & E-Book Fiction
• Paperback Trade Fiction
• Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction
• Hardcover Nonfiction
• Paperback Nonfiction
• Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous
• Children’s Middle Grade Hardcover
• Children’s Picture Books
• Children’s & Young Adult Series
• Young Adult Hardcover

Monthly Best Sellers Lists