I second looking at prize lists. I read the Booker Prize longlist every year. They’re not always my favorite, but I like to consume what makes the list.

You can also check out book lists from more respected sources than “the most popular books on Amazon”. New York Review of Books is a source. Or the NYT/WaPo book reviews.

A selection of my favorite books

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (literary fiction): Two friends build a hit video game together, exploring love, creativity, and the blurry line between life and play over decades of partnership.
2. Gnomon by Nick Harkaway (science fiction, speculative): A dazzling labyrinth of nested narratives in a near-future surveillance state where truth, memory, and identity intertwine through a mysterious death investigation.
3. Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez (horror, literary gothic): A grieving father with occult ties and his son flee an Argentine cult seeking immortality, blending family drama with cosmic horror and political dread.
4. **Same Bed, Different Dreams by Ed Park ** (literary fiction, speculative history): A kaleidoscopic alternate history of Korea, identity, and diaspora, mixing espionage, pop culture, and myth into an ambitious, surreal tapestry.
5. The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard (speculative fiction): In a valley where neighboring towns exist decades apart in time, a young clerk faces a moral dilemma that could alter her fate and those she loves.
6. You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue (historical fiction, magical realism): A lush reimagining of the 1519 meeting between Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma, merging myth, power, and the surreal chaos of first contact.
7. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (fantasy, philosophical fiction): A man named Piranesi inhabits a vast, mysterious house filled with endless halls and statues, slowly uncovering secrets about reality and himself.
8. The River by Peter Heller (literary thriller, adventure): Two college friends on a canoe trip through the Canadian wilderness face a deadly wildfire and a sinister encounter that tests their bond and survival.
9. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (post-apocalyptic fiction): After a flu pandemic, a pilot and his dog live in isolation near an airfield until a radio signal hints at other survivors — and the risk of hope.
10. The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher (horror, dark fantasy): Cleaning her late grandmother’s house, a woman discovers a nightmarish manuscript and a terrifying world lurking just beyond the edge of reality.