‘Tis the season to get cozy with a good read, and the New York Public Library has conveniently rounded up the best books of 2024 just as we’re about to embark on our holiday travels. (Best of luck with that, by the way.)
Whether you’re en route to your home town, bustling across NYC, or cozying up in your apartment, a literary companion is always necessary. If you’ve been to your go-to indie bookstores in NYC or even your local NYC library but could still benefit from a few recs, NYPL has you covered in spades.
NYPL names the best books of 2024
For adults
The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America by Aaron Robertson
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
I Was Working by Ariel Yelen
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoë Schlanger
Rare Flavours by Ram V, art by Filipe Andrade
Small Rain by Garth Greenwell
A Sunny Place for Shady People: Stories by Mariana Enriquez, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell
You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
For teens
Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo
Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa
The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag
Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier
Gachiakuta, Volume 1 by Kei Urana and Hideyoshi Andou
How the Boogeyman Became a Poet by Tony Keith, Jr.
Leap by Simina Popescu
Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell
The No-Girlfriend Rule by Christen Randall
Snowglobe by Soyoung Park, translated from the Korean by Joungmin Lee Comfort
For children
Aloha Everything by Kaylin Melia George, illustrated by Mae Waite
Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat by Li Chen
Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem: The Vision of Roy DeCarava by Gary Golio, illustrated by E.B. Lewis
Godfather Death by Sally Nicholls, illustrated by Júlia Sardà
Made in Asian America: A History for Young People by Erika Lee and Christina Soontornvat
Mallory in Full Color by Elisa Stone Leahy
Mishka by Edward van de Vendel and Anoush Elman, illustrated by Annet Schaap, translated from the Dutch by Nancy Forest-Flier
The Spindle of Fate by Aimee Lim
We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang
When I Wrap My Hair by Shauntay Grant, illustrated by Jenin Mohammed
For children in Spanish
Aire animal por Teodora, ilustrado por Paula Álvarez
Cómo se come un mango por Paola Santos, ilustrado por Juliana Perdomo
Cuando seamos ranas por Dipacho
Gracias por Jarvis
Llamando a mamá por Anya Damirón, ilustrado por César Barceló
Los mariachis de Adela por Denise Vega, ilustrado por Erika Rodríguez Medina
Ojalá pudiera decirte por Jean-François Sénéchal, ilustrado por Chiaki Okada
Un plato de esperanza: La inspiradora historia del chef José Andrés y World Central Kitchen por Erin Frankel, ilustrado por Paola Escobar
El río es mi mar por Rio Cortez, ilustrado por Ashleigh Corrin
La vida secreta de las babosas por Moesha Kellaway
For the top 50 recs in each category, visit NYPL.org.