First movie credit is as Sgt. Botha in the 1992 adaptation of Bryce Courtenay’s The Power of One.

He was in a Zorro television series in 1995 and a television miniseries of Moll Flanders the following year.

I first remember seeing him in an adaptation of The Ice House by Minette Walters in 1997.

He’s Connor Rooney in the 2002 adaptation of Road to Perdition, the graphic novel of gangsters during the Great Depression by Max Allan Collins.

He played poet Ted Hughes in 2003’s Sylvia and Perry Smith, one of the convicted killers in 2006’s Infamous, about Truman Capote and In Cold Blood.

His most famous literary role is probably as James Bond. He first played Bond in Casino Royale (2006), and then four more films.

He’s Lord Asriel in the 2007 film adaptation of The Golden Compass, which did not do nearly as well as its television series adaptation.

He starred alongside Harrison Ford in Cowboys & Aliens (2011), based on the comic by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg 

He was journalist Mikael Blomkvist in the U.S. adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson (2011).

Upcoming: He has a role in the adaptation of Purity by Jonathan Franzen.

Monáe’s acting career is smaller, but still at its beginnings. They starred as Mary Jackson in Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly (2011).

Monáe appeared in an episode of Electric Dreams in 2018, based on the work of Philip K. Dick.

And they portrayed Dorothy Pitman Hughes in 2020’s The Glorias, based on the memoir My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem.

They also have their own book, The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer.

In his second-ever film, he played alter boy Aaron in 1997’s Primal Fear, based on the novel by William Diehl, and for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

His first big role was as Narrator in Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club in 1999.

He was Will Graham in the remake of Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (2002).

He starred as Monty Brogan in 25th Hour by David Benioff (2002).

He’s Eisenheim in The Illusionist, based on Steven Millhauser’s short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” (2006).

He portrayed Walter Fane in The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham (2006).

After Eric Bana but before Mark Ruffalo, he was Bruce Banner in The Incredible Hulk (2008).

He makes an appearance in The Bourne Legacy by Robert Ludlum (2012)

And most recently, starred in an adaptation of Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem (2019).

Her first adaptation role was in Ricochet River, based on the novel by Robin Cody (2001).

She starred alongside Naomi Watts in James Ivory’s adaptation of Le Divorce by Diane Johnson (2003).

She was in The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson (2010), in which nothing good happens to anyone, because Jim Thompson.

Moving on to happier fare, she was in the adaptation of Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin (2011).

She had a role in The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (2012).

And one in Good People by Marcus Sakey (2014).

And she starred with Octavia Spencer, no stranger to adaptations herself, in the second season of Truth Be Told, based on the novel Are You Sleeping? by Kathleen Barber (2019).

If you didn’t follow Bautista’s wrestling career, then the first time you noticed him was probably in Guardians of the Galaxy, based on the Marvel comics, in 2014.

He appeared with his Glass Onion costar Daniel Craig in the James Bond film Spectre in 2015.

He was in the Blade Runner sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017), inspired by the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

He appeared as Glossu Rabban Harkonnen in the 2021 adaptation of Frank Hebert’s Dune, and will reprise his role in Dune Part 2, which is coming in the next year or so.

But before that, he’ll star in Knock at the Cabin, based on The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay.

She was in Revolutionary Road with Kate and Leo, based on the novel by Richard Yates (2008).

She starred alongside Ben Stiller in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), based on a short story by James Thurber.

She has been in several things with Jason Bateman! The first of two on this list is This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper (2014).

And the second is the adaptation of The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson (2015).

She starred with Kevin Bacon in the short-lived series I Love Dick, based on the novel by Chris Kraus (2016).

And in the Mrs. Fletcher miniseries (2019) based on the novel by Tom Perotta (who has had almost every work made into a film or show.)

She was in the I Know This Much Is True miniseries, based on the novel by Wally Lamb (2020).

She stole the show in Wandavision (2021) the series based on the Marvel comics. (And she’s getting her own spinoff.)

And coming up: She stars in Tiny Beautiful Things, the show based on the book by Cheryl Strayed.

He appeared in an episode of Gotham in 2014, based on Batman lore.

He became a household name as Aaron Burr in the original Broadway run of Hamilton (2016), influenced by the Ron Chernow biography.

He had a role in Kenneth Branagh’s remake of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (2017).

And next he’ll be starring in a sequel to The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. 

Henwick’s most famous literary role is probably her turn as Nymeria Sand in the Game of Thrones show (2015-2017).

She appeared as Colleen Wing on an episode of Luke Cage in 2018 and in several episodes of Iron Fist (2017–2018), both based on comics.

She voices a character in the Blade Runner: Black Lotus animated series (2021).

And she has a role in The Gray Man, based on the series by Mark Greaney (2022).

Madeline Cline does not have many book adaptation roles under her belt, but she’s just getting started. She did have a role in Boy Erased, based on the memoir by Garrard Conley (2018).

White Fang (1991); A Midnight Clear (1992); Waterland (1992); Alive (1993); Great Expectations (1998); Snow Falling on Cedars (1999); Hamlet (2000); The Hottest State (2006); Moby Dick (2011); Ten Thousand Saints (2015); Juliet, Naked (2018); The Good Lord Bird (2020); Waiting for Godot (2021); The Black Phone (2021); Moon Knight (2022); Leave the World Behind (Upcoming).

Maurice (1987); The Lair of the White Worm (1987); The Remains of the Day (1993); An Awfully Big Adventure (1995); Sense and Sensibility (1995); Restoration (1995); Extreme Measures (1996); Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001); About a Boy (2002); Cloud Atlas (2012); Paddington 2 (2017); A Very English Scandal (2018); The Undoing (2020).

National Velvet (1945); The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945); The Three Musketeers (1948); The Long, Hot Summer (1958); The Manchurian Candidate (1962); Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971); Death on the Nile (1978); The Mirror Crack’d (1980); The Last Unicorn (1982); Lace (1984); The Shell Seekers (1989); Beauty and the Beast (1991); The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1999); The Blackwater Lightship (2004); Nanny McPhee (2005); Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011); Little Women (2017); Mary Poppins Returns (2018).

Heartburn (1986); Party Monster (2003); Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019).

Do you love The Great Gatsby? I must admit that I don’t. But it didn’t stop my from loving this retelling, in which — get ready for century-old spoilers — the murder of Jay Gatsby is still an open investigation. When a diamond hairpin is found at the scene of a murder/suicide, the case may not be as simple as it seems. It’s up to one detective to try to get the truth out of his three main suspects: Daisy Buchanan, her friend Jordan Baker, and the late Myrtle Wilson’s sister Catherine McCoy.

This one has made many of the big end of the year lists. Diaz’s last book, In the Distance, was a Pulitzer finalist, and he followed it up with the story of a Wall Street tycoon and his wife in the 1920s. Well, actually, it’s the story of the real couple that couple was based on. But wait, it’s also a memoir. And even more. Are you confused? Don’t be: just read the book. Diaz’s story of wealth, greed, and privilege is a masterpiece.

Three years ago, Fajardo-Anstine astounded readers with her debut story collection Sabrina & Corina, which was a National Book Award finalist. This year, she astounded readers with her debut novel, about five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West. It’s an engrossing read about the power of stories and who tells them.

Fowler’s wildly ambitious novel successfully captures the story of a complicated family in a complicated time. Booth covers the story of the family of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Many people don’t realize his father was one of the most famous Shakespearean actors of his time. And his parents’ marriage in England and move to America was mired in scandal, long before JWB came along.

This excellent debut novel is about three generations of a Chinese family. It spans from 1938 in China as the Japanese army approaches and a young mother must make a difficult decision, to present day, when a daughter wishes to learn about her heritage from her father, who refuses to talk. It’s a powerful story of family, war, and history.

This is a breathtaking, heart-squeezing book about dance, family, and forgiveness. When Carlisle Martin receives the news that her father is dying, she is conflicted. After all, she hasn’t spoken to him in almost 20 years. As the book unfolds, we learn about Carlisle’s childhood and her time visiting her father and his partner in NYC, starting in the early 1980s during the AIDS crisis. Through becoming a dancer like them, she hopes to earn a permanent place in their home, but a betrayal will destroy their relationship.

One of the year’s best crime novels is also a work of historical fiction! It’s the story of Violet and Marigold Richards in the summer of 1964 in Mississippi. Violet has always been the wild sister, while Marigold was a “good girl.” When Violet kills the white man who attacked her, she flees their town, knowing that there will be no justice for her as a Black woman. Marigold already has troubles of her own: she’s just found out she’s pregnant, which is scandalous for an unmarried woman at the time. But Violet’s actions force Marigold to flee as well, to keep from being found guilty by association. Will they be able to keep ahead of the law and find peace in their new lives?

At this point, it’s safe to say Maggie O’Farrell is an expert at writing historical fiction. Instructions for a Heatwave was a great family drama about a family in Ireland during the hot July of 1976. Her last novel, Hamnet, about Shakespeare, his wife, and their son, won the 2021 Booker Prize. And this year, she brings readers on a fascinating journey back to Florence in the 1550s, to tell the story of the young duchess Lucrezia de’ Medici and her very short life and death.

This is a wildly imaginative story of a whale carcass that washes ashore in a small village on the English channel. A young orphan and several members of her household turn it into a theater and spend hours and hours flee the realities of life there. But years later, World War II will make it impossible to escape danger, when two of the children become secret agents.

And last, but not least, the fourth incredible debut novel on this list is set in the American West in the 1880s. Daiyu is a young woman who was kidnapped from China and brought to America. As Daiyu moves from one place to another, trying to make a life for herself and find peace, anti-Chinese sentiments sweep across the country, and she finds herself facing even more danger. It’s a beautiful, infuriating novel about historical injustices often excluded from the history books.

“Writer of songs and nonsense.” This is fitting, though sad, as Brown met her end when she was performing a high kick after surgery to show people she was feeling well. The motion dislodged a blood clot and killed her.

Butler, the award-winning writer of groundbreaking science fiction, has a gorgeous onyx grave marker with an etched illustration. The inscription reads, “All that you touch, you change. All that you change, Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change.” It’s from her novel Parable of the Sower.

The epitaph on the Chilen poet’s grave marker reads, “Lo que el alma hace por su cuerpo es lo que el artista hace por su pueblo.” Which translated means, “What the soul is to the body, so is the artist to his people.” Art matters, y’all.

“Excuse my dust.” The acerbic Queen of the Quip wished to be cremated when she died, making her epitaph the definition of “it’s funny because it’s true.”

She has since gotten a new gravestone that reads, “Leave for her a red young rose, Go your way and save your pity, She is happy for she knows, That her dust is very pretty,” which is from her poem “Epitaph For A Darling Lady.”

“rose, o pure contradiction, desire to be no one’s sleep beneath so many lids.” Rilke wrote these words himself. They seem doubly fitting once you learn he died from an infection he got after pricking himself with a thorn while picking roses.

“Wherever you are you are. I’m here.” This epitaph is both funny and heart-squeezing. Here is Wilson, now, forever. It’s simple and beautiful.

These are three things that are upsetting: 1. Being dead. 2. Finding a body. 3. Not remembering anything. Now imagine they’re all occurring at once. That’s what happens to Magpie. She finds a dead body by the river, and it’s her. How is that possible? She doesn’t know, because she can’t remember what has happened or how she got there. She also doesn’t realize she’s being monitored as part of an experiment.

This is one of the best sci-fi space horror books to come along recently. It’s a little like Event Horizon meets Avenue Five. The crew of Claire Kovalik’s salvage ship are about to complete their last mission when they hit paydirt: they find the Aurora. The Aurora was a luxury space cruise liner that went missing two decades ago. Now it’s floating on the outer rim of explored space. Claire decides to check the ship out, because the money they can get from a famous ship could solve their problems. But even though the ship has been missing for 20 years, the horrors that occurred on board are still present.

So this is one of those books that the less you know, the better. It’s Gothic horror, but it’s also labeled as science fiction. What? Yep. But to explain why that is would spoil the story. So let’s just say it’s a horror novel set in a desolate chateau, involving doctors, a medical institute, and a very unusual narrator. Oh, and it’s weird and gross AF, and you should read it right now.

Koepp’s last book, Cold Storage, was a horror novel about a biohazard with a body count, featuring a lethal alien species that escapes a military facility. This time, he’s using reality to frighten us. A giant solar flare could destroy our access to technology and electricity on the plane, and that’s just what happens in Aurora. In the world that follows such an incident, Aubrey Wheeler must guard her neighborhood against the very real violence that will follow in the new dystopian reality. All while trying to keep her ex-husband and criminals from her home.

Like many of the best science fiction novels, this one starts out with space exploration. The Deucalion has set out from Earth to investigate a possible habitable planet. Dr. Grace Park is the alternate psychologist aboard the ship. She’s mostly there to observe, since there’s already a doctor dealing with the crew. But then things start to go very, very wrong. Grace is left to try and manage the sessions of an increasingly erratic crew. Meanwhile the ships AI are also getting weirder, and Grace discovers there might be something hidden in the bowels of the ship that is causing all the problems.

This is one of two sequels I want to highlight on this list, because the whole series is so freaking good. So as not to spoil the first two books, I will give you a brief overview of the Beneath the Rising series. While trying to invent technology that will help the planet, humans instead create a device that awakens the Ancient Ones, who are not happy about being disturbed. At all. Now the human race must figure out a way to survive a whole new thing they didn’t know existed. It all concludes spectacularly in The Void Ascendant!

First, I want to say how much I love this title. There’s the expression “The mind is a terrible thing to waste.” And the Ministry album The Mind Is a Terrible Thing To Taste. (Omg I am so old.) But this nails it: minds are terrible. Good grief, are brains trouble sometimes. And in this spacecraft horror novel, they’re going to cause people a lot of problems, when aliens figure out how to hack them like computers and turn people into their puppets.

More space horrors! It’s the future, and a demon is terrorizing a distant planet. The fourth daughter of the planet’s queen wants to try and save the planet’s people, since the rest of her family doesn’t seem to want to do it. She may not be able to do it alone, so she turns to the anthropologist from an Earth mission, who has been in a deep sleep for the last several years, waiting for new instructions. But demons were definitely not in the job description. It’s a little ancient horrors, a little fairy tale, and a whole lot of fun.

This is the other series I wanted to mention because it’s so scary and gory, and such a great time. The Molly Southbourne series starts off with a young girl who has big problems. If Molly ever sheds a drop of blood, that blood turns into a new version of her — and it tries to murder her. As you can imagine, it’s hard to go through life without ever getting a scratch or a bloody nose, and Molly has to kill a LOT of versions of herself. But why is she like this? Where did she come from? And what’s going to happen when she gets the answers? Find out in this amazing conclusion, after you read the first two of course! And for a great space murder mystery, check out Thompson’s most recent book, Far from the Light of Heaven.

And last but not least, a thrilling story about murder on a space station! Space suddenly feels a whole lot smaller when you’re sharing it with a killer. Hester Marley has a boring job as a security guard for a space mining company. Injuries sustained in a terrorist attack years earlier destroyed her grand dreams of space travel. Then she hears from an old friend who has new information about the attack. But before they can share it, he is murdered. Now Hester must figure out what he uncovered and who she can trust.

Being above the planet and looking down on the world has to do wild things to your brain and your sense of self. This is part memoir, part life advice, filled with Hadfield’s thoughts on what space travel has taught him about life back on Earth.

Kelly has been on numerous spaceflights and is the American record holder for consecutive days spent in space. He shares his stories about all that time spent away from home (like as far away as you can get), as well as his life down here, which includes a twin brother, Mark Kelly, who was also an astronaut.

Before Melvin was an astronaut, he was an NFL wide receiver with dreams of reaching the stars. An injury sidelined those dreams for a while, but Melvin never gave up hope, and eventually made it to space. As famous as he is for being an astronaut, he’s probably just as famous for posing with his dogs for his official NASA portrait.

Stott’s visit to outer space left her thinking more about life down here on Earth. She shares her determination to get the word out about climate change and her hopes that we can still work together to save the planet.

Sullivan was the first American woman to walk in space. She did it as part of the team that worked on the Hubble Space Telescope. Without the care and repair that the telescope received, we wouldn’t know many of the things we do about space.

While not very many men have been to space, even fewer women have visited. It started with Valentina Tereshkova in 1963. And more women are choosing the field every year, working hard to gain a place among the stars. This is a look at 23 who have made it.

Sally Ride was the first American woman in space! And while millions know about her space exploits, this biography delves deep into her closely guarded personal life.

And this book is not about astronauts, per se, but without the work of these Black women mathematicians at NASA decades ago, the U.S. may not have beat the Soviet Union in the space race, or even made it to the stars.

Before The Martian came along, this was probably the most famous book about astronauts that had been published, fiction or nonfiction. New York Times bestselling author Wolfe took an incisive look into the lives and families of American astronauts Yeager, Conrad, Grissom, and Glenn.

In this novel, space exploration is so common that they have schools for it (with old equipment and poor funding). Jane is a child genius who dreams of going to space one day, but achieving her dreams will not go the way she expected.

And who better to write a novel set in space than an actual astronaut??? Hadfield’s thriller is set in the 1970s and follows a mission to the moon that might turn deadly.

In the first book in this Locus Award winning trilogy, a disgraced space captain will have to rely on the help of an undead and unstable tactician to retake a fortress.

This book collects the three amazing, award-winning novellas about a young girl who is the first of her people to travel to space. Binti looks forward to attending Oomza University, but her trip there is interrupted by an alien race, and it teaches Binti more about herself and the universe than she knew.

And this is probably the most famous 21st century novel about astronauts. It’s the story of an astronaut accidentally left behind on Mars, who has to figure out unconventional ways to stay alive while trying to get word back to Earth that he’s still alive.

This is the tale of the first crewed space flight to leave Earth’s orbit and to orbit the moon. The story of this adventure reads like a thriller, with lots of decisions coming down to the wire and many seemingly impossible obstacles that were overcome.

This is not just about astronauts, but many of the women that have made space travel possible. Using 21 interviews conducted for the NASA Oral History Projects, Ross-Nazzal paints a complete picture of all the different work required to get astronauts up into the skies.

In this picture book, Astrid has big dreams of becoming an astronaut, and thinks her life as a pretend astronaut is preparing her for the job. But she learns that she’s going to need a lot more than make believe if she wants to make it to the stars for real.

And this is an award-nominated novel, about three siblings in 1986 as the world gets ready for the launch of the Challenger. Cash, Fitch, and Bird Nelson Thomas are kids in Delaware with their own struggles and dreams, one of whom hopes to one day make their own trip to space.

This beautifully illustrated picture book will teach children about 50 different women and their space-related adventures, from Ada Lovelace and her computer in the 19th century to the women leading the way towards Mars exploration.

Katherine Johnson’s life was made famous in the book and movie Hidden Figures. As one of NASA’s first Black women mathematicians, she helped get missions off the ground. She tells her own story in this memoir for children (and in her memoir for adults: My Remarkable Journey).

This is a biography of Chawla, the first woman of Indian origin to go to space (and who tragically died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003). Chawla came to the U.S. from India to study to be an astronaut and never once doubted her path. You can also learn more about her next year in Chelsea Clinton’s She Persisted series with Kalpana Chawla by Raakhee Mirchandani.

And if you like exciting YA astronaut books, check this one out! A century after the Earth is taken over by an alien race, the abduction of the human liaison’s teen son by a revolutionary group sparks the start of what will lead to a fight for the Earth’s survival.

Melvin is such a fascinating figure in the space world, I had to include two books about him! This also discusses his first career as an NFL player, and how he overcame obstacles to finally get play among the stars.

And this is a delightfully illustrated picture book about Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to travel to space. It shows Jemison as a young girl with big dreams, and how she finally mae-d (sorry not sorry) it to the stars.

And last but not least, another adorable picture book (and weirdly also about a little girl named Astrid), who spends the day with her father pretending to be an astronaut while she waits for her mother to come home from work. If you are looking for astronaut books for toddlers, this one has adorable illustrations.

Addy is one of the rising stars of the photography scene and is sure to be remembered as one of the great artists of the early 21st century. His work is a little bit David LaChapelle, a little bit Annie Lebowitz. He has taken striking photographs of celebrities like FKA Twigs and Kendall Jenner for the cover of magazines such as Rolling Stone and Time.

This is a glorious collection of photographs of the work of the much sought-after costume creator Machine Dazzle. Dazzle’s creations are a staple for popular cabaret, drag, and performance stars, such as Justin Vivian Bond and Taylor Mac. Auther had curated a fun, gorgeous selection for the book.

Rizzoli is one of the biggest names in coffee book publishers. They always have dozens of incredible books each year. This one is a great human interest book. It’s like a Humans of New York book, but set in Peru. Barreto Bentin photographed and interviewed dozens of the Andean peoples, and it gives readers a great view into modern Andean society.

Humans have been moving around for about as long as there have humans, and it’s not going to stop anytime soon. Starting 50,000 years ago and covering migration up through present-day, this is a fascinating look at how we got where we are.

DK makes some of the most amazing guides and art books; no other publisher fills their books with as many photos as DK. Which is why they are on the list twice. This is a photo extravaganza about plants and a collection of many of the cool things we know about them. It’s a great book for people who love to learn, botany fans, and anyone who appreciates books with amazing pictures.

This book isn’t out until December, but deserves a mention, because it’s such an interesting subject. Keith has curated a stunning selection of works with childhood themes from many famous artists, including Ann Agee, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jordan Casteel, Paul Klee, Oscar Murillo, Berenice Olmedo, Charles Ray, and Carmen Winant.

This book is part travelogue, part photography book. Nabongo is the first Back woman on record to visit all 195 countries in the world. 195 COUNTRIES. Amazing! She captured her journey in words and incredible photographs of every place she visited.

This is a book of award-winning photographs about a very popular subject: abandoned places. Cue up The Specials, because Niehues visited ghost towns and once-popular places now long forgotten, and documented them in all their eerie beauty.

No list of coffee table books would be complete without at least one book of adorable animal photos! A lot of emphasis is put on particular breeds of dogs, but this is a look at tons of adorable dogs who, while they may not have a high pedigree, certainly have a high place in our hearts.

Nigel Sylvester is a professional BMX athlete who has become a social media star and cultural icon. Boyce followed him around the world and shot photos of the young star as he worked and played — and even jumped out of a plane with his bike.

Bellany is a wildlife biologist and avid birder, and a co-organizer of Black Birders Week. (And her Twitter name is LeVar Birdin!!) This book gives you the basics on what you need to get started watching our feathered friends, and also offers advice that even seasoned birders can use.

I had to include this book because DK books are always the most visually stunning, and this one is no exception. It is filled with beautiful glossy images of over 1,400 colorful birds from all over the world. And it weighs as much as a great horned owl. (Almost six pounds.) It’s one of the most incredible books in my collection. Yes, you can look up any bird on the internet now, but there’s something about holding this hefty tome in your hands that is magic.

Part birding book, part memoir, this is a wonderful look at someone who became a birder as they headed into middle age. At 35, Zarankin was fresh from a divorce and stressed out at her job, so she decided she needed a hobby. Her decision to take up bird watching changed her life. Not only was it a fulfilling way to spend time, she realized she had a lot more in common with birds than she knew.

This is an inspiring and heart-squeezing biography of an avid birder. Phoebe Snetsinger was almost 50 when doctor’s told her she had less than a year to live. As someone who was passionate about birds, she decided to spend that time checking birds around the world off her bird bucket list. Snetsinger’s doctors were wrong, and she lived another 18 years, during which time she saw more different bird species than anyone else in history.

Sibley’s guides and books are considered the most essential contemporary books about birds. They are extremely comprehensive, but also easy to use. This is 16 essays and 200 illustrations from Sibley for birders of all levels. They are great bird watching books for beginners. Be sure to also pick up Sibley’s Guide To Birds and What It’s Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing — What Birds Are Doing, and Why.

You have probably heard about how smart crows are, and have seen a parrot talking like a human at some point. But you might be amazed at just how smart most birds really are. So many are capable of mimicry, and have a vast curiosity and intelligence for the world around them. Strycker discusses what humans and birds have in common, and also how our intelligences are very different.

You can find great bird guides specific to your country, your area of the country, or even a specific state. But for people who are beginning birders, this is a great place to start, either for yourself or as a gift. It features many birds common to most of North America. It’s a wonderful jumping (flying?) off point for people who want to start spending more time watching our winged friends.

This spring, I discovered that my neighbors had Baltimore orioles (the birds, not the sports team) in their backyard, and I did not. What was it about my feeders that kept the orioles from traveling another 50 feet to my yard??! It turns out that orioles, like many other kinds of birds, have very specific types of things they like to eat. Once I learned this, I put out a glass full of grape jelly and oranges sliced in half, and the orioles became a daily visitor to my yard the rest of their season. This guide will help you find what specific things you need to attract the birds you are looking for!

This is one of the best modern Western novels. It’s about two young men in the West looking to escape violence after each fighting in a war. They are also hoping to find a place to live in solitude, where they can exist as lovers without judgement. (There is a follow-up to this one, called A Thousand Moons.)

The narrator of this novel is 111-year-old Jack Crabb, so you know he has seen a lot of history. Orphaned at a young age, Jack is raised by the Cheyenne people. As an adult conflicted about his identity, he encounters such historical figures such as General Custer, Wyatt Earp, and Wild Bill Hickok.

This is a post-apocalyptic/Western crossover, about a young girl named Delta of Dead River. Delta’s unusual tattoo is supposedly a map that will lead people to a paradise, which means that many dangerous people are searching the dusty lands for Delta.

Set in Texas at the end of the Civil War, The Which Way Tree follows a teen boy and his young sister on their journey of revenge. Abandoned by their father after a panther kills their mother, Benjamin’s wounded sister Samantha vows to kill the animal and leaves their home. She is so determined, all Benjamin can do is follow and hope to keep her safe.

A young woman must run the family farm after her father abandons her to chase a rumor of giants. But being a young woman alone in the West is not a safe place to be, and Bess will have to defend her land and her life.

Here’s an excellent Western about hired killers! Eli and Charlie Sisters have been hired to kill Hermann Kermit Warm. But their mark proves more elusive and time consuming than they expected, and one of the brothers will come to question their purpose in life.

This novel was a Pulitzer Prize finalist! It’s about a young Swedish boy who travels on foot from California towards the East Coast, after he is separated from his brother. Walking across the country is difficult to do today, so you can only imagine all he will encounter in the 19th century.

And this was another Pulitzer Prize finalist! It follows the historical injustices done to Native people and the unsolved murder of a family. The book has three generations of narrators who remember — or seek to learn — the stories of the past.

Who doesn’t want a book about a gang of rogue librarians? When Esther runs away to escape an arranged marriage, she winds up in the company of the Librarians, a group of outlaws who wander the American Southwest, resisting the laws of the land.

This is a classic of the American West about three men traveling from St. Louis to the Rockies, in search of their fortunes. But the harsh climate and realities of the lands will test their strength, and irreparably change them.

Most everyone is familiar with this movie starring Brad Pitt. But it started out as a great novel based in truth. Jesse James was a famous outlaw and Robert Ford was a young delinquent looking to make a name for himself. You can guess from the title what happened.

This is a novel that takes place in space on a desert planet, yet as someone who has read dozens of Westerns, it had such a Western feel to me. So I am including it, because it’s a great book! It has a stoic loner, a former soldier who is sought by bounty hunters and ends up embroiled in another mess when she rescues a young girl. And there are lots of gunfights and double-dealings!

This is one of the best Western books I’ve ever read. It involves the legends and people of Tombstone, Arizona, such as the Earps. But it gives it its own spin, and now it’s the story of a gunfighter named Blaisdell who is stubborn and fearless enough (or maybe he’s not scared enough) to take on a gang terrorizing a small town.

This is a romance set in the Old West by one of the best in the romance business! Rhine Fontaine has been successfully passing as white for years. But when he rescues a young Black woman named Eddy, he begins to imagine giving it all up to be with her. If you enjoy this, there are two more in this series.

Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd spends his retired days traveling around Texas, reading the news to large audiences. But when he is paid to return a young girl to her relatives, he becomes involved in a journey that is both dangerous and life-changing.

One of the most notorious stories of the Old West is the tale of the Donner Party, a group who set out across the country for California. But when they fell on hard times and impossible conditions, they supposedly resorted to cannibalism. This horror Western retells their tale, but imagines that there’s something more sinister doing the eating…

Leonard was a master of crime stories, whether they’re about cowboys, jewel thieves, or gangsters. This is a collection of action-packed Western stories, including “Three-Ten to Yuma,” which was made into a movie with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe.

In this exciting Western, a gang led by women take advantage of the sexism of society to carry out robberies. People don’t expect much from women, and they certainly don’t expect them to be outlaws, so the newspapers continue to attribute their crimes to gangs of men.

This is a Western of revenge with a supernatural bent. Ming Tsu, a Chinese American, was raised by a robber baron to be an assassin. But when Ming’s wife is kidnapped, he sets out across the country to get her back. Along the way, he joins up with a group of magical circus performers who help him in his quest.

This is a contemporary Western, in that it’s set in present day. But the main character is Darren Mathews, a Black Texas Ranger. The Rangers have been around since the 19th century, and Darren is a loner, a modern cowboy, who sometimes does what he thinks is right instead of what the law says he should do.

This is one of the most brutal Westerns ever written. It makes McCarthy’s The Road look like a kid’s birthday party. It’s loosely based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the mid-1800s. It’s about a teenager who falls in with a gang that includes The Judge, one of the most violent and unsettling characters in literature.

This is an epic classic and winner of the Pulitzer Prize. It’s about two lifelong friends who embark from Texas on a cattle drive that will change their lives. This is probably the best Western book series there is, but note that while this is chronologically listed as the third in the Lonesome Dove series, it was the first book written.

In this dystopian Western, women are required to marry and give birth to children as soon as they are old enough. If they cannot get pregnant, they are hung as witches. When 17 year old Ada fails to give her husband a child, she flees her town before she is sentenced to death, and falls in with a gang of other outlaws who are looking to pull off their biggest job yet.

This is widely considered to be one of the best Western books of all time, if not THE best one. It’s the story of a teenage girl who sets off with a no-good former Texas Ranger in search of the man who killed her father. It’s as funny as it is serious, as beautiful as it is gritty.

Proulx is a Pulitzer-winning novelist, and these are her superb stories of cowboys, rodeo riders, and more in the brutal, beautiful Wyoming West. This collection includes Brokeback Mountain, which was made into the Academy Award-winning movie of the same name.

This is a historical retelling of the story of Doc Holliday (famously portrayed by Val Kilmer in Tombstone), who became a notorious gambler and close confidant (and huckleberry) of the more famous lawman Wyatt Earp.

Will Andrews is a young man caught up in the passion and language describing the American wilderness of the 1870s. So he drops out of Harvard and heads out west, where he winds up involved with a group of buffalo killers with no regards for the law or life.

And last, but not least, this amazing novel came out a few years ago, and received roughly 11 zillion accolades. It’s about two orphaned children of immigrants who set out into the danger wilds of the land to find a good place to bury their father.

Blythe has always dreamed of being a mother, so when her daughter Violet is born and is nothing like she imagined, she doesn’t know what to do. To Blythe, something about Violet feels…wrong. But her husband, Fox, doesn’t agree, so maybe she’s imagining it? When Blythe’s second child is born, he is the perfect baby Blythe had dreamed about having. And that’s when Violet will show Blythe and Fox just what kind of child she really is.

This is a great “nothing good happens when you have to begrudgingly return to your hometown” story. Journalist Camille Parker has spent years trying to put her childhood — and her abusive mother — behind her. But when she gets a chance to further her career by covering a double homicide in her hometown, she can’t say no. Returning home, she discovers her mother is worse than ever, and Camille’s teenage half-sister is suffering under her roof. Can Camille help solve the suspiciously familiar crimes, save her sister, and save herself?

Losing a child is every parent’s nightmare. Unfortunately for Camille Gardner, it’s one that became a reality. When her only child dies, Camille is a seething mass of anger, full of fury towards the young man involved. Until one day, when a stranger offers her an outlet for her rage. It’s called The Collective, a chat group on the dark web where women can discuss their losses and what they would like to do to the people responsible. It’s a great way to let out steam, these violent imagined scenarios, until one day when Camille learns they are actually very real. Can she untangle herself from The Collective’s web? Does she want to?

There is not a lot that can be said about this thriller without spoiling it. There’s a gruesome murder at the beginning. And it presents two storylines, one of which is set in the past and involves an abusive mother and her daughter, actions that will follow the daughter in the future wherever she goes. You should really just skip any reviews or blurbs about this book, pick it up, and hang on for the ride!

And this is a thriller from “Korea’s Stephen King” about a son’s complicated relationship with his mother — and his possible involvement in her death. Yu-jin has always had problems with his memory, due to the seizures he has had since he was a child. And when his mother is found dead, covered in blood in her home, he feels like he knows something about what happened but he can’t quite remember. And even worse, since it looks like he may have been involved, does he want to remember?

Private investigator Nora Watts is about to embark on her most personal case. A loner who lives in the basement of her boss’s agency, she receives a startling call one day: the baby girl she gave up for adoption 15 years ago is now missing. Her family wants Nora’s help in finding her. But this complicated case is about to get dangerous, too, as it takes Nora to the dark streets and forests of Canada in search of answers. Not just about the missing girl, but her own past, too.

This excellent debut is part courtroom drama, part complicated familial relationships. When an experimental treatment center catches fire, killing two people, the town wants answers. Who is responsible for this? Is it the immigrant family the town has always treated as outcasts, who own the equipment? Is it the mother of the child who died? Or is it someone else? The answer is complicated and devastating, and so, so good.

In this thriller set in the wilds of Maine (which is basically all of Maine), a mother must make an unthinkable decision. After witnessing a crime, Nina Morgan must change her name and leave her husband and children, for her safety as much as theirs. But now tragic circumstance have brought Nina, now Leah, back into their lives. And with it comes the old dangers that maybe only the help of a shady figure from the past can help fix.

And this one is a mystery of the classic gumshoe kind, like Kinsey Milhone. Claudia Lin has a job at a dating agency, running background checks on clients to verify they are telling the truth in their profiles. But then one of the company’s clients dies, and Claudia is drawn into the mystery surrounding her death. But this isn’t just a mystery, it’s also a wonderful look at family dynamics. Claudia has complicated relationships with her siblings and especially her judgmental mother. That’s why she hasn’t told them she left her corporate job to be an investigator yet, or that she’s queer. Both mystery and family combine nicely for a satisfying story.

On the night Nina Rai disappeared from her home in New Zealand, her young son Aarav thought he heard a scream. His father tells him the next day his mother left them, and took a quarter of a million dollars with her. But 10 years later, while recuperating from a car accident, Aarav gets the news that his mother’s remains have been found not far from the house, and by all accounts, have been there for a decade. Aarav, who is still trying to piece together his own accident, is determined to find out what really happened to the mother he loved fiercely who he believed to have abandoned him all those years before.

Here’s another great thriller about how children can never really fully know their parents. Andrea Oliver thinks she knows everything about her mother, Laura. But when an act of violence in their town exposes who Laura really is, it puts them both in danger. Less than a day later, someone who has been looking for Laura for three decades attacks her in their home, sending her to the hospital. Can Andrea discover who Laura really is and will the answers save them?

And last, but not least, here’s another thriller about an evil child. By all appearances, Hanna is a sweet, charming 7-year-old. But her mother Suzette knows it is an act — she just can’t prove it. As Hanna’s secret actions towards Suzette become increasingly bizarre and violent, Suzette will have to make a decision if she can break the bond of motherhood to save her life. (As wild as this one is, get ready for another wild mother-daughter story from Stage when Mothered hits shelves in March of 2023.)

This is Ballingrud’s debut collection, which won a Shirley Jackson Award. Like horror stories throughout history, he uses monsters as a metaphor for things both real and imagined in many forms. There are stories with familiar monsters such as vampires, werewolves; and white supremacists, and a few you may not recognize. And if these stories seem familiar, you might know the series adaptation Monsterland.

This is subtitled “a short story collection of nightmares, dreams, desire and visions focused on the Chicana experience.” Castro explores horror based in the folklore and legends of Mexican culture — some supernatural, like demons and monsters, and some very human. Castro is quickly becoming one of the best writers putting out horror today. If you enjoy this, you should also check out Goddess of Filth and The Queen of the Cicadas.

This award-winning collection is centered around the town of Gracetown, Florida. Some incorporate the racism and hardships experienced by Black people in America. Though published over a decade ago, there’s a hauntingly familiar story about a pandemic. There’s a woman who is cursed with knowing when people will die. And the first story is the reason I won’t swim in anything but a pool. Pro tip: For anyone who is looking for a Stephen King read-alike, I think Due’s novel The Good House is the closest I’ve read.

I cannot wait for everyone to read Enríquez’s horror novel Our Share of Night, coming in February 2023. But in the meantime, you can get several small tastes of her brilliance in this collection (and the follow-up The Dangers of Smoking in Bed.) These are all set in present day Argentina and make up an unsettling collection about real violence and protest in the country, as well as supernatural horrors.

Once again, humans are the biggest terror in this collection (as it should be — we’re menaces) as are the things we create. Evenson is an expert at combining mankind’s fractured, faulty selves with creeping dread and horror. My favorite story involves a vengeful prosthetic arm. (Related: There’s another amazing story involving a prosthetic arm in Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea: Stories by Sarah Pinsker.)

By now you are probably familiar with Book Riot fave SGJ’s horror novels Mongrels, The Only Good Indians, and My Heart Is a Chainsaw, since we talk about them a LOT. But he’s also a very prolific writer of short stories, many of which have won awards. This is a great, award-winning collection of terrors real and imagined, in which even the titles are scary: “The Spindly Man,” “The Spiderbox,” “Uncle.” Just…gah.

This is a National Book Award-nominated collection! Not every book is a horror story, but it’s such a great mix of dread and unusualness incorporated into a look at how we view women’s agency, that it belongs on every list that mentions short stories. The cover illustration is in reference to Machado’s retelling of The Green Ribbon story, which takes on a much more sinister tone in this book.

And these are Japanese folk tales with feminist twists! Like so many of the other collections on this list, they do an excellent job combining real world issues with otherworldly instances. This collection is especially spirit-heavy, so heads up, all you ghost fans out there.

Holy cats, I have been recommending this book since January of 2013, which seems impossible. This is a great pick to read during the Halloween season. It’s eleven connected, disturbing stories of people who are seeking, or are the subject of — you guessed it — revenge. Ogawa is like Danny Boyle and Colson Whitehead in that she seems to visit a different genre with each work, but I am holding out hope that she’ll return to horror one day.

If you have read Schweblin before, you know that everything she writes ranges from unsettling to terrifying. I have read her novel Fever Dream a dozen times and it still upsets me! (I have yet to watch the adaptation, though.) This new collection just made the 2022 National Book Award longlist for a work of translation. It’s seven stories about seven different ways that seven different houses are unusual, to say the least.

And lastly (but only because I alphabetized by author), this is a very surreal selection of stories. I will reiterate that you don’t need a man in a hockey mask with a giant knife in every story for it to be scary. These are stories of urban legends, spirits, and spells. But like most things in life, they will shock and surprise you. Nothing is what it seems.