12 Top Authors Pick the Best Books of the Year

Erik Larson

Bestselling nonfiction writer whose books include 2021’s The Splendid and the Vile

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (2021): A moving exploration of loneliness and artificial intelligence, as told through the observations and experiences of an “Artificial Friend” named Klara, acquired to be the companion of a dying girl. It kept me thinking for weeks afterward.

The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman (2019): Set in Nazi Germany, this novel traces the wrenching journey of a Jewish girl named Lea and her mystical guardian, Ava, a golem Lea’s mother hopes will protect her — a thrilling story of the lasting power of love.

Ruth Ozeki

Author of 2013’s award-winning A Tale for the Time Being and 2021’s The Book of Form and Emptiness, among other novels. She’s also a Zen Buddhist priest.

The End of Bias: A Beginning by Jessica Nordell (2021): Implicit and unconscious bias exists in us all and underlies our most destructive human behavior. Nordell’s examination, based on 15 years of research and filled with fascinating case studies, is lively, informative, optimistic, compassionate and necessary. The takeaway is: We can change our biased behavior, so let’s start now.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Mǻrquez (1967): This sprawling masterpiece of a novel about a multigenerational Colombian family named Buendía was the first encounter I had with magical realism. It was the book that made me want to be a fiction writer. “Wait, I want to do that!” I remember thinking.

Lisa Jewell

British author of popular thrillers, most recently The Night She Disappeared

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz (2021): This tale of a frustrated writer stumbling upon the perfect plot for a novel but having to negotiate a moral minefield to use it in his own work is so clever, so taut, so dazzling, I read it in about five hours flat. There is not one bum note or wasted word. 

The Push by Ashley Audrain (2020): A mesmerizing exploration of the dark side of motherhood; what happens if your perfect baby girl turns out not to be made of sugar and spice and all things nice? Are you a bad mother? Or is your daughter a bad child? Spellbinding.

Chris Bohjalian

Author of best-selling novels, including 2021's The Hour of the Witch

Woodrow on the Bench: Life Lessons from a Wise Old Dog by Jenna Blum (2021): I feel I got to know Woodrow, novelist Jenna Blum’s black lab, in Blum’s wise, wrenching and devastatingly beautiful memoir of his last half-year. After reading it, you will never again look into your dog’s — or any dog’s — eyes and not feel the bond that can exist between a person and their pet.

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez (2018): Wistful and elegiac, but also rich with gentle humor, this is the story of a woman, her literary mentor who kills himself, a tiny apartment and an aging Great Dane. I loved it, with its explorations of the bonds between humans and our closest animal companions.

Janet Evanovich

A fixture on best-seller lists since 1994; her most recent book is this year’s Game On

Black Ice by Brad Thor (2021): Scot Harvath is back and better than ever in this fun, fast-paced thriller set in the beautiful country of Norway and the Arctic. You don’t need to have read the others in the series, your pulse will be pounding either way.

Heroes’ Feast: The Official D&D Cookbook by Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson and Michael Witwer (2020): This beautifully illustrated and charmingly written cookbook is not just for Dungeons & Dragons fans, but for anyone with an adventurous heart and a love for other-worldly travel.

Wanda M. Morris

Debut author of the buzzed-about new legal thriller All Her Little Secrets​

Revival Season by Monica West (2021): A 15-year-old girl must come to grips with who her father, a famous Baptist preacher in the South, really is and the newfound power she possesses in a community where women are thought to be invisible and powerless. I love this coming-of-age story that is both compassionate and suspenseful, as well as a complicated and moving story about family and faith.

​Defending Jacob by William Landay (2012): A quiet suburb is rocked when the local assistant district attorney's teenage son is charged with the murder of a classmate. This book enthralled me, not only because of the outstanding storytelling, but because it posed the scenario every parent, including me, grapples with — how far would you go to save your child?

Anthony Horowitz

British TV writer behind PBS's Foyle's War and author of best-selling mysteries, such as the recent A Line to Kill

Checkmate in Berlin by Giles Milton (2021): This is a fantastic story of Berlin at the end of World War II. It starts with the disease and destitution that Berliners faced when the fighting stopped, moves through the increasing tension and menace of the Cold War and climaxes with the logistically impossible Berlin Airlift that managed to save thousands of lives. In Giles Milton’s expert hands, focusing on the larger-than-life characters who made this all happen, history is as enthralling as any fiction you’ll ever read. 

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2009): I love the work of Sarah Waters, who brings the 19th and early 20th century to vivid life like no other writer. The Little Stranger is a superlative ghost story … if it is a ghost story. It’s hard to say. Certainly, Hundreds Hall, the grim, decaying mansion where it is set, contains a malign presence of some sort. But can we believe Dr. Faraday, the country GP called to the house, or is he the ultimate unreliable narrator? This book will linger in your mind long after you read it. It will haunt you.

Brad Thor

Best-selling author of international thrillers, including Black Ice.

Steel Fear by Brandon Webb and John David Mann (2021): A serial killer is loose on an aircraft carrier. It’s an absolutely chilling thriller.

One Second After by William Forstchen (2009): In the aftermath of a mysterious event that cripples all modern electronics, the residents of a small college town must band together to survive. One of the best books I have read in the last 10 years.

Christina Ianzito is the travel and books editor for aarp.org and AARP The Magazine, and also edits and writes health, entertainment and other stories for aarp.org. She received a 2020 Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing.

Editor's note: This article was originally published on December 8, 2021. It's been updated to reflect new information.