New York Times: 100 Notable Books of 2012 [see also Ten Best Books of 2012]

Fiction

• Alif The Unseen – G. Willow Wilson
• Almost Never – Daniel Sada. Translated by Katherine Silver
• An American Spy – Olen Steinhauer
• Arcadia – Lauren Groff
• At Last – Edward St. Aubyn
• Beautiful Ruins – Jess Walter
• Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk – Ben Fountain
• Blasphemy – Sherman Alexie
• The Book Of Mischief: New And Selected Stories – Steve Stern
• Bring Up The Bodies – Hilary Mantel
• Building Stories – Chris Ware
• By Blood – Ellen Ullman
• Canada – Richard Ford
• Carry The One – Carol Anshaw
• City Of Bohane – Kevin Barry
• Collected Poems – Jack Gilbert
• Dear Life: Stories – Alice Munro
• The Devil In Silver – Victor LaValle
• Enchantments – Kathryn Harrison
• Flight Behavior – Barbara Kingsolver
• Fobbit – David Abrams
• The Forgetting Tree – Tatjana Soli
• Gathering Of Waters – Bernice L. McFadden
• Gods Without Men – Hari Kunzru
• HHhH – Laurent Binet. Translated by Sam Taylor
• A Hologram For The King – Dave Eggers
• Home – Toni Morrison
• Hope: A Tragedy – Shalom Auslander
• How Should A Person Be? – Sheila Heti
• In One Person – John Irving
• A Land More Kind Than Home – Wiley Cash
• Married Love: And Other Stories – Tessa Hadley
• NW – Zadie Smith
• On The Spectrum Of Possible Deaths – Lucia Perillo
• Pure – Julianna Baggott
• The Right Hand Shore – Christopher Tilghman
• The Round House – Louise Erdrich
• Salvage The Bones – Jesmyn Ward
• San Miguel – T. Coraghessan Boyle
• Shine Shine Shine – Lydia Netzer
• Shout Her Lovely Name – Natalie Serber
• Silent House – Orhan Pamuk. Translated by Robert Finn
• The Starboard Sea – Amber Dermont
• Sweet Tooth – Ian McEwan
• Swimming Home – Deborah Levy
• Telegraph Avenue – Michael Chabon
• The Testament Of Mary – Colm Toibin
• This Is How You Lose Her – Junot Díaz
• Three Strong Women – Marie NDiaye. Translated by John Fletcher
• Toby’s Room – Pat Barker
• Watergate – Thomas Mallon
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories – Nathan Englander
• The Yellow Birds – Kevin Powers

Nonfiction

• All We Know: Three Lives – Lisa Cohen
• American Tapestry: The Story Of The Black, White, And Multiracial Ancestors Of Michelle Obama – Rachel L. Swarns
• American Triumvirate: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, And The Modern Age Of Golf – James Dodson
• Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama – Alison Bechdel
• Barack Obama: The Story – David Maraniss
• Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity – Katherine Boo
• Belzoni: The Giant Archaeologists Love To Hate – Ivor Noël Hume
• The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, And The Real Count Of Monte Cristo – Tom Reiss
• Breasts: A Natural And Unnatural History – Florence Williams
• Coming Apart: The State Of White America, 1960 2010 – Charles Murray
• Darwin’s Ghosts: The Secret History Of Evolution – Rebecca Stott
• A Disposition To Be Rich: How A Small Town Preacher’s Son Ruined An American President, Brought On A Wall Street Crash, And Made Himself The Best Hated Man In The United States – Geoffrey C. Ward
• Far From The Tree: Parents, Children, And The Search For Identity – Andrew Solomon
• Flagrant Conduct. The Story Of Lawrence V. Texas: How A Bedroom Arrest Decriminalized Gay Americans – Dale Carpenter
• The Folly Of Fools: The Logic Of Deceit And Self Deception In Human Life – Robert Trivers
• The Grey Album: On The Blackness Of Blackness – Kevin Young
• Haiti: The Aftershocks Of History – Laurent Dubois
• How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, And The Hidden Power Of Character – Paul Tough
• How Music Works – David Byrne
• Iron Curtain: The Crushing Of Eastern Europe, 1944 1956 – Anne Applebaum
• Kayak Morning: Reflections On Love, Grief, And Small Boats – Roger Rosenblatt
• Lincoln’s Code: The Laws Of War In American History – John Fabian Witt
• Little America: The War Within The War For Afghanistan – Rajiv Chandrasekaran
• Memoir Of A Debulked Woman: Enduring Ovarian Cancer – Susan Gubar
• My Poets – Maureen N. McLane
• The Obamas – Jodi Kantor
• Oddly Normal: One Family’s Struggle To Help Their Teenage Son Come To Terms With His Sexuality – John Schwartz
• On A Farther Shore: The Life And Legacy Of Rachel Carson – William Souder
• On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines — And Future – Karen Elliott House
• The One: The Life And Music Of James Brown – RJ Smith
• The Passage Of Power: The Years Of Lyndon Johnson – Robert A. Caro
• The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life And Turbulent Times Of Joseph P. Kennedy – David Nasaw
• People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story Of A Young Woman Who Vanished From The Streets Of Tokyo — And The Evil That Swallowed Her Up – Richard Lloyd Parry
• Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay: Reflections On Art, Family, And Survival – Christopher Benfey
• Rule And Ruin. The Downfall Of Moderation And The Destruction Of The Republican Party: From Eisenhower To The Tea Party – Geoffrey Kabaservice
• Saul Steinberg: A Biography – Deirdre Bair
• Shooting Victoria: Madness, Mayhem, And The Rebirth Of The British Monarchy – Paul Thomas Murphy
• Short Nights Of The Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life And Immortal Photographs Of Edward Curtis – Timothy Egan
• The Social Conquest Of Earth – Edward O. Wilson
• Sometimes There Is A Void: Memoirs Of An Outsider – Zakes Mda
• Spillover: Animal Infections And The Next Human Pandemic – David Quammen
• The Taste Of War: World War Ii And The Battle For Food – Lizzie Collingham
• Thomas Jefferson: The Art Of Power – Jon Meacham
• Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution – Linda Hirshman
• When God Talks Back: Understanding The American Evangelical Relationship With God – T. M. Luhrmann
• Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? – Jeanette Winterson
• Why Does The World Exist? An Existential Detective Story – Jim Holt