Award-Winning Titles (October 2022)

We’re so excited about all of the newly announced book award winners and nominees!

Have you read any of these titles? Or maybe they’re on your wishlist for the holidays? Follow the links below to order online.

Shehan Karunatilaka was awarded this year's highly coveted Booker Prize for his novel, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. The Booker Prize is the top literary award for the best work of fiction written in English and published in the UK and Ireland.

Khadija Abdalla Bajaber was named the winner of the inaugural Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for her novel, The House of Rust. How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu and The Past is Red by Catherynne M. Valente were named as top finalists. The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction is awarded to a writer of imaginative fiction whose work reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Ursula’s own work, including hope, equity, freedom, non-violence, and a holistic view of humanity’s place in the natural world.

Harry Josephine Giles' novel Deep Wheel Orcadia received the 2022 Arthur C. Clarke Award for science fiction book of the year.

Benjamin Dean, Natasha Bowen and Kia Abdullah have been named winners of the Diverse Book Awards 2022, the annual prize celebrating outstanding inclusive books by authors and publishers based in the UK and Ireland. Dean’s Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow won the Children’s Diverse Book Award. Skin of the Sea by Bowen won in the YA book category, and Abdullah’s Next of Kin won in the adult category.

Alia Trabucco Zerán won the 2022 British Academy Book Prize for her book, When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold. The British Academy Book Prize is awarded annually for a non-fiction book that has made an outstanding contribution to global cultural understanding for a wider public audience.

Trust, by Hernan Diaz, won the Kirkus Prize for best fiction. In Sensorium, by Tanaïs, won for best non-fiction. And Himawari House, by Harmony Becker, won in the young readers category. The Kirkus Prizes are awarded by the industry journal Kirkus Reviews.

The shortlist has been announced for this year's Baillie Gifford Prize, which celebrates excellence in non-fiction writing. The list includes:

• Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire, by Caroline Elkins

• The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World, by Jonathan Freedland

• My Fourth Time, We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World's Deadliest Migration Route, by Sally Hayden

• The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown, by Anna Keay

• A Fortunate Woman: A Country Doctor’s Story, by Polly Morland

• Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, by Katherine Rundell

The winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize will be announced in November.

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You can find these titles and more on our Bookshop page.

2022 Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide

Here it is, our ultimate holiday gift guide, featuring over 100 of our favorite new releases from 2022!

No matter who's on your list, you're sure to find something for everyone! Check out the list below for our best recommendations. (Or, skip the guide and just start shopping.)

Fiction - for the literature lover

• Hester, by Laurie Lico Albanese - People magazine calls it: A hauntingly beautiful--and imagined--origin story to The Scarlet Letter

• Other Birds, by Sarah Addison Allen - an enchanting tale of lost souls, lonely strangers, secrets that shape us, and how the right flock can guide you home

• Shrines of Gaiety, by Kate Atkinson - a spellbinding tale of seduction and betrayal that takes place in restless London following the Great War

• Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus - Chemist Elizabeth Zott's career takes a detour when she becomes the unlikely star of a beloved TV cooking show in the 1960s

• Afterlives, by Abdulrazak Gurnah - a sweeping, multi-generational saga of displacement, loss, and love from the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature

• The Hotel Nantucket, by Elin Hilderbrand - an immensely satisfying page-turner about a summer of scandal at a storied Nantucket hotel

• The Last Chairlift, by John Irving - a ghost story, a love story, and a lifetime of sexual politics, from one of the most acclaimed writers of our time

• The Night Ship, by Jess Kidd - an epic historical novel about the lives of two characters that wind up on the same island 300 years apart

• Fairy Tale, by Stephen King - a supernatural, suspenseful fantasy thriller from the master storyteller himself!

• Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver - a young hero's unforgettable journey to maturity set in rural Appalachia

• Lessons, by Ian McEwan - an epic and intimate story of one man's life across generations and historical upheavals

• Our Missing Hearts, by Celeste Ng - an inspiring new novel about a mother's unbreakable love in a world consumed by fear

• The Marriage Portrait, by Maggie O'Farrell - the world of Renaissance Italy comes alive in this unforgettable fictional portrait of a captivating young duchess as she makes her way in a troubled court

• Mad Honey, by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan - a soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past and what we choose to leave behind

• Carrie Soto Is Back, by Taylor Jenkins Reid - a retired athlete comes back to reclaim her record in this vulnerable and emotional story

• Poster Girl, by Veronica Roth - experience the search for a missing girl after the collapse of an oppressive dystopian regime

• Sea of Tranquility, by Emily St John Mandel - a charming sci fi novel of art, time travel, love, and plagues

• Lucy by the Sea, by Elizabeth Strout - a poignant, pitch-perfect novel about a divorced couple stuck together during lockdown, from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author

• Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt - a charming and witty exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin - two friends come together as creative partners, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality

Mysteries & Thrillers - for the voracious reader

• No Plan B: A Jack Reacher Novel, by Lee Child and Andrew Child - when another homicide is ruled an accident, Jack Reacher is relentless in making things right

• Daisy Darker, by Alice Feeney - a family reunion leads to murder in a delightfully twisty and atmospheric thriller

• All Good People Here, by Ashley Flowers - a must-read for fans of the Crime Junkie podcast!

• The Paris Apartment, by Lucy Foley - a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide

• The Boys from Biloxi, by John Grisham - two sons of immigrant families grow up as friends, but ultimately find themselves on opposite sides of the law

• Wrong Place Wrong Time, by Gillian McAllister - a mother witnesses her teenage son stab a man and seizes on an unconventional way to try to save him

• The Prisoner, by B. A. Paris - a woman marries into a family with deadly intentions

• Run, Rose, Run, by James Patterson and Dolly Parton - a young singer-songwriter is on the rise and on the run, and determined to do whatever it takes to survive

• A World of Curiosities, by Louise Penny - the latest addition to the ongoing Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series

• Killers of a Certain Age, by Deanna Raybourn - Golden Girls meets James Bond. Enough said.

• The House Across the Lake, by Riley Sager - a woman suddenly vanishes, but there's more to the story than meets the eye

• Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six, by Lisa Unger - a weekend getaway at an isolated luxury cabin in the woods quickly turns into a nightmare

• The It Girl, by Ruth Ware - a woman goes searching for answers a decade after her friend's murder

Horror - for the macabre

• Leech, by Hiron Ennes - a surreal and horrifying debut that defies our understanding of identity, heredity, and bodily autonomy

• What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher - a new retelling of Edgar Allan Poe's classic The Fall of the House of Usher

• Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films, by Nina Nesseth - a pop-science look at fear, how and why horror films get under our skin, and why we keep coming back for more

• The Vessel, by Adam Nevill - a routine job soon becomes a battle for a woman's sanity and the control of her child

• The Butcher and the Wren, by Alaina Urquhart - a thrilling debut novel told from the dueling perspectives of a notorious serial killer and the medical examiner following his trail

• Little Eve, by Catriona Ward - a heart-pounding tale of faith and family, with a devastating twist

Romance - for the hopeless romantic

• The American Roommate Experiment, by Elena Armas - the eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Spanish Love Deception

• Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, by Jenny Bayliss - a city bookshop owner heads to the English countryside for a holiday reunion, only to face her childhood enemy

• You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty, by Akwaeke Emezi - a fresh and seductive novel about a young woman seeking joy while healing from loss

• Every Summer After, by Carley Fortune - a big, sweeping nostalgic story of love and the people and choices that mark us forever

• Husband Material, by Alexis Hall - the sweet and funny sequel to the bestselling rom com, Boyfriend Material

• Love on the Brain, by Ali Hazelwood - a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis--with explosive results!

• Book Lovers, by Emily Henry - a cutthroat literary agent meets a bookish brooding editor in this enemies-to-lovers rom com

• It Starts with Us, by Colleen Hoover - the highly-anticipated sequel to Hoover's bestselling novel, It Ends with Us

• I Kissed Shara Wheeler, by Casey McQuiston - a young adult romantic comedy about chasing down what you want, only to find what you need

• A Merry Little Meet Cute, by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone - a steamy holiday rom-com about an adult film star who is accidentally cast in a family-friendly Christmas movie

• The Dead Romantics, by Ashley Poston - a ghostwriter who falls in love with a ghost? Yes, please!

• Love in the Time of Serial Killers, by Alicia Thompson - one woman learns how to give love a chance when she's used to suspecting the worst

Fantasy - for the escapist

• The Atlas Paradox, by Olivie Blake - the long-awaited sequel to the New York Times bestseller and dark academic sensation, The Atlas Six

• Babel, by R F Kuang - an alternative fantastical history that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire

• Fire & Blood: 300 Years Before a Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin - perfect for fans of the show!

• Ordinary Monsters, by J. M. Miro - journey to the Victorian era, as children with mysterious powers are hunted by a figure of darkness in a battle of good vs. evil

• The Golden Enclaves, by Naomi Novik - saving the world is a test no school of magic can prepare you for in the conclusion to Novik's bestselling trilogy

Young Adult - fiction for teens and pre-teens

• The Door of No Return, by Kwame Alexander - a novel in verse about a young boy's fight for his life after his world is turned upside down

• This Blood that Binds Us, by S. L. Cokeley - the first in a series that explores the true meaning of family, making peace with the past, and finding friendships in unexpected places (plus, vampires!)

• Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, by Shea Ernshaw - read Sally's story in this companion to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas

• Foul Lady Fortune, by Chloe Gong - an ill-matched pair of spies pose as a married couple to investigate a series of brutal murders in 1930s Shanghai

• The Weight of Blood, by Tiffany D. Jackson - a suspenseful YA novel following a biracial teenager as her Georgia high school hosts its first integrated prom

• Cursed, by Marissa Meyer - the sequel and conclusion to Gilded, a haunted fairytale

• I Was Born for This, by Alice Oseman - from the bestselling creator of Heartstopper, a deeply funny and deeply moving exploration of identity, friendship, and fame

• Gallant, by V. E. Schwab - a dark and original tale about the place where the world meets its shadow, and the young woman beckoned by both sides

• The First to Die at the End, by Adam Silvera - a prequel to the New York Times bestseller They Both Die at the End

• How to Survive Your Murder, by Danielle Valentine - a terrifying stand-alone horror novel for young adults

Biographies & Memoirs - for the inspired

• Finding Me: A Memoir, by Viola Davis - my customers can’t stop raving about this one!

• Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard, by Tom Felton - perfect for the Harry Potter fan in your life!

• Down and Out in Paradise: The Life of Anthony Bourdain, by Charles Leerhsen - a new unauthorized biography

• I'm Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy - the surprise hit of the summer!

• And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle, by Jon Meacham

• The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir, by Paul Newman

• The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, by Michelle Obama - the follow-up to her bestselling memoir Becoming

• Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir, by Matthew Perry

• Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman, by Alan Rickman

• Shy: The Alarmingly Outspoken Memoirs of Mary Rodgers, by Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green

• Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships, by Nina Totenberg - chronicles a nearly fifty-year friendship with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

• Making a Scene, by Constance Wu

• Solito: A Memoir, by Javier Zamora - a young poet's unforgettable migration from El Salvador to the United States

Sociology, Psychology & Self-Help - for those seeking guidance

• Find Your People: Building Deep Community in a Lonely World, by Jennie Allen

• Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, by Annie Duke

• Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions, by Temple Grandin

• Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto, by Tricia Hersey

• The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, by Gabor Maté, MD with Daniel Maté

• The Buddhist Enneagram: Nine Paths to Warriorship, by Susan Piver

• Lighter: Let Go of the Past, Connect with the Present, and Expand the Future, by Yung Pueblo

• Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization, by Neil Degrasse Tyson

Cookbooks - for the family chef

• Cooking from the Spirit: Easy, Delicious, and Joyful Plant-Based Inspirations, by Tabitha Brown - if you don’t already follow Tabitha Brown on Tiktok, you’re missing out!

• Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, by Ina Garten

• Preppy Kitchen: Recipes for Seasonal Dishes and Simple Pleasures, by John Kanell

• Art of the Chicken: A Master Chef's Paintings, Stories, and Recipes of the Humble Bird, by Jacques Pépin

• Somebody Feed Phil the Book: Untold Stories, Behind-The-Scenes Photos and Favorite Recipes, by Jenn Garbee & Phil Rosenthal - read the book, then watch the series on Netflix!

Juvenile Fiction & Children’s Books - for the youngest readers in your life

• Odder, by Katherine Applegate and Charles Santoso - for ages 8-12

• The Three Billy Goats Gruff, by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen - for ages 8-12

• The Bad Guys in the Others?! (the Bad Guys #16), by Aaron Blabey - for ages 7-10

• The Last Kids on Earth and the Forbidden Fortress, by Max Brallier and Douglas Holgate - for ages 9-12

• Narwhalicorn and Jelly (a Narwhal and Jelly Book #7), by Ben Clanton - for ages 6-9

• Pete the Cat Plays Hide-And-Seek, by James Dean and Kimberly Dean - for ages 4-8

• Spy School Project X, by Stuart Gibbs - for ages 8-12

• Noodle and the No Bones Day, by Jonathan Graziano and Dan Tavis - for ages 4-8, featuring everyone’s Internet star!

• Diper Överlöde (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 17), by Jeff Kinney - for ages 9-12

• The Stars Did Wander Darkling, by Colin Meloy - for ages 9-12

• Big Nate: Release the Hounds! (Volume 27), by Lincoln Peirce - for ages 8-11

• Cat Kid Comic Club: Collaborations (Cat Kid Comic Club #4), by Dav Pilkey - for ages 7-10

• Creepy Crayon, by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown - for ages 4-8

• The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster, by Mo Willems - for ages 3-5

Don’t forget your Well Worn Books merch and gift cards - for yourself or others!

• Hoodies, t-shirts, mugs and totes are now available on our website! (Holiday order deadline is December 12th.)

• Visit us in-store to pick up a gift card for any amount that can be used in our Middletown, NY location.

• If you prefer to shop online or aren’t local to Middletown, buy a gift card from our partners at Bookshop.org, where you can shop online and have books delivered directly to your door while still supporting your favorite indie bookshop.

• If you prefer audiobooks, make the switch to Libro.fm. Gift cards and purchases made through this link directly support our store.

Need a more personalized recommendation? Visit us in store or send us an email at hello@wellwornbooks.com and we’d be happy to help!