Fiction: Reading Recommendations

New York Times Fiction Bestsellers

IndieBound Bestseller Lists. Based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide.

National Book Award: Established in 1950, the National Book Awards are American literary prizes administered by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization. Although other categories have been recognized in the past, the Awards currently honor the best Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature, published each year.

Oregon Book Award: The Oregon Book Awards honor the state's finest accomplishments by Oregon writers who work in genres of poetry, fiction, graphic literature, drama, literary nonfiction, and literature for young readers.

BCALA: The Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Awards acknowledge outstanding works of fiction and nonfiction for adult audiences by African American authors. Recipients of these awards offer outstanding depictions of the cultural, historical, or sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora and embody the highest quality of writing style and research methodology, if applicable.

Booker: A literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel written in the English language and published in the United Kingdom.

Lambda: For over 30 years, the Lambda Literary Awards have identified and honored the best lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender books.

OCM Bocas Prize: The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature is a major award for literary books by Caribbean writers.

Pen Faulkner: A national prize that honors the best published works of fiction by American citizens in a calendar year.

Pen Bellwether: This prize for Socially Engaged Fiction is a career-founding prize, which promotes fiction that addresses issues of social justice and the impact of culture and politics on human relationships. 

Printz: The Michael L. Printz Award, sponsored by the ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association,  is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. 

Pulitzer: For distinguished fiction published in book form during the year by an American author, preferably dealing with American life.

Stonewall: The first award for LGBTQIA+ books is the Stonewall Book Awards, sponsored by the American Library Association's Rainbow Round Table. The Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, the Stonewall Book Award-IsraelFishman Non-Fiction Award and the Stonewall Book Award-Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award are presented to English language works published the year prior to the announcement date.

*PSU librarians refer to these award winner lists and others when selecting books for our collection.