Every National Book Award for Fiction winner, 1950–2025

The National Book Award for Fiction has gone to 83 books since 1950; in 1973, 1974 and 1975 the prize was shared. From 1980 to 1983 it was given separately to a hardcover and a paperback book. The latest winner is The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine (2025). Of the 74 winners on ReadingRate, the most readable is The World According to Garp by John Irving (difficulty 27/100, about 9.5 hours); the hardest is Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (84/100). The quickest of them to finish is The Waters of Kronos by Conrad Richter, at about 2.9 hours.

How book difficulty is measured

2025

• The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine
• A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar — finalist
• The Antidote by Karen Russell — finalist
• North Sun by Ethan Rutherford — finalist
• Palaver by Bryan Washington — finalist
• Flashlight by Susan Choi — longlist
• The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy — longlist
• The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri — longlist
• Only Son by Kevin Moffett — longlist
• The Pelican Child by Joy Williams — longlist

2024

• James by Percival Everett — difficulty 51/100, about 4.5 hours
• Ghostroots by Pemi Aguda — finalist
• Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar — finalist
• All Fours by Miranda July — finalist
• My Friends by Hisham Matar — finalist
• The Most by Jessica Anthony — longlist
• Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio — longlist
• Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner — longlist
• Yr Dead by Sam Sax — longlist
• Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte — longlist

2023

• Blackouts by Justin Torres — difficulty 62/100, about 6.5 hours
• Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah — finalist
• Temple Folk by Aaliyah Bilal — finalist
• This Other Eden by Paul Harding — finalist
• The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen — finalist
• Ponyboy by Eliot Duncan — longlist
• Loot by Tania James — longlist
• Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips — longlist
• A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power — longlist
• Holler, Child by LaToya Watkins — longlist

2022

• The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty — difficulty 57/100, about 7.8 hours
• The Birdcatcher by Gayl Jones — finalist
• The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories by Jamil Jan Kochai — finalist
• All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews — finalist
• The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela — finalist
• When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar — longlist
• Shutter by Ramona Emerson — longlist
• If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery — longlist
• Nobody Gets Out Alive by Leigh Newman — longlist
• Maria, Maria & Other Stories by Marytza K. Rubio — longlist

2021

• Hell of a Book by Jason Mott — difficulty 58/100, about 8.6 hours
• Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr — finalist
• Matrix by Lauren Groff — finalist
• Zorrie by Laird Hunt — finalist
• The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr. — finalist
• Abundance by Jakob Guanzon — longlist
• The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers — longlist
• Intimacies by Katie Kitamura — longlist
• The Souvenir Museum by Elizabeth McCracken — longlist
• Bewilderment by Richard Powers — longlist

2020

• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu — difficulty 59/100, about 3 hours
• Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam — finalist
• A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet — finalist
• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw — finalist
• Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart — finalist
• The Index of Self-Destructive Acts by Christopher Beha — longlist
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett — longlist
• If I Had Two Wings by Randall Kenan — longlist
• A Burning by Megha Majumdar — longlist
• The Great Offshore Grounds by Vanessa Veselka — longlist

2019

• Trust Exercise by Susan Choi — difficulty 63/100, about 7.8 hours
• Sabrina and Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine — finalist
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James — finalist
• The Other Americans by Laila Lalami — finalist
• Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips — finalist
• Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner — longlist
• Black Light by Kimberly King Parsons — longlist
• The Need by Helen Phillips — longlist
• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong — longlist
• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead — longlist

2018

• The Friend by Sigrid Nunez — difficulty 54/100, about 3.8 hours
• A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley — finalist
• Florida by Lauren Groff — finalist
• Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson — finalist
• The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai — finalist
• Gun Love by Jennifer Clement — longlist
• The Boatbuilder by Daniel Gumbiner — longlist
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones — longlist
• There There by Tommy Orange — longlist
• Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires — longlist

2017

• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward — difficulty 58/100, about 6 hours
• Dark at the Crossing by Elliot Ackerman — finalist
• The Leavers by Lisa Ko — finalist
• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee — finalist
• Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado — finalist
• The King Is Always Above the People by Daniel Alarcón — longlist
• Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig — longlist
• Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan — longlist
• A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton — longlist
• Barren Island by Carol Zoref — longlist

2016

• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead — difficulty 65/100, about 8.1 hours
• The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder — finalist
• News of the World by Paulette Jiles — finalist
• The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan — finalist
• Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson — finalist
• What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell — longlist
• Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett — longlist
• The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie — longlist
• Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet — longlist
• Miss Jane by Brad Watson — longlist

2015

• Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson — difficulty 53/100, about 4.8 hours
• Refund by Karen Bender — finalist
• The Turner House by Angela Flournoy — finalist
• Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff — finalist
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara — finalist
• A Cure for Suicide by Jesse Ball — longlist
• Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg — longlist
• Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson — longlist
• Honeydew by Edith Pearlman — longlist
• Mislaid by Nell Zink — longlist

2014

• Redeployment by Phil Klay — difficulty 47/100, about 5.9 hours
• An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine — finalist
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr — finalist
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel — finalist
• Lila by Marilynne Robinson — finalist
• The UnAmericans by Molly Antopol — longlist
• Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle — longlist
• Thunderstruck & Other Stories by Elizabeth McCracken — longlist
• Orfeo by Richard Powers — longlist
• Some Luck by Jane Smiley — longlist

2013

• The Good Lord Bird by James McBride — difficulty 55/100, about 9.4 hours
• The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner — finalist
• The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri — finalist
• Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon — finalist
• Tenth of December by George Saunders — finalist
• Pacific by Tom Drury — longlist
• The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver — longlist
• A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra — longlist
• Someone by Alice McDermott — longlist
• Fools by Joan Silber — longlist

2012

• The Round House by Louise Erdrich — difficulty 56/100, about 8.1 hours
• This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz — finalist
• A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers — finalist
• Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain — finalist
• The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers — finalist

2011

• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward — difficulty 54/100, about 6 hours
• The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak — finalist
• The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht — finalist
• The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka — finalist
• Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman — finalist

2010

• Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon — difficulty 52/100, about 5 hours
• Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey — finalist
• Great House by Nicole Krauss — finalist
• So Much for That by Lionel Shriver — finalist
• I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita — finalist

2009

• Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann — difficulty 52/100, about 8.8 hours
• American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell — finalist
• In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin — finalist
• Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips — finalist
• Far North by Marcel Theroux — finalist

2008

• Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen — difficulty 61/100, about 19 hours
• The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon — finalist
• Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner — finalist
• Home by Marilynne Robinson — finalist
• The End by Salvatore Scibona — finalist

2007

• Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson — difficulty 78/100, about 28 hours
• Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski — finalist
• Varieties of Disturbance by Lydia Davis — finalist
• Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris — finalist
• Like You'd Understand, Anyway by Jim Shepard — finalist

2006

• The Echo Maker by Richard Powers — difficulty 59/100, about 9.9 hours
• Only Revolutions by Mark Z. Danielewski — finalist
• A Disorder Peculiar to the Country by Ken Kalfus — finalist
• Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta — finalist
• The Zero by Jess Walter — finalist

2005

• Europe Central by William T. Vollmann — difficulty 69/100, about 32 hours
• The March by E. L. Doctorow — finalist
• Veronica by Mary Gaitskill — finalist
• Trance by Christopher Sorrentino — finalist
• Holy Skirts by René Steinke — finalist

2004

• The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck — difficulty 56/100, about 4.6 hours
• Madeleine Is Sleeping by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum — finalist
• Florida by Christine Schutt — finalist
• Ideas of Heaven by Joan Silber — finalist
• Our Kind by Kate Walbert — finalist

2003

• The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard — difficulty 55/100, about 5.9 hours
• Drop City by T. C. Boyle — finalist
• The Known World by Edward P. Jones — finalist
• A Ship Made of Paper by Scott Spencer — finalist
• Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins — finalist

2002

• Three Junes by Julia Glass — difficulty 57/100, about 11 hours
• Big If by Mark Costello — finalist
• You Are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett — finalist
• Gorgeous Lies by Martha McPhee — finalist
• The Heaven of Mercury by Brad Watson — finalist

2001

• The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen — difficulty 59/100, about 16 hours
• Among the Missing by Dan Chaon — finalist
• Look at Me by Jennifer Egan — finalist
• The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich — finalist
• Highwire Moon by Susan Straight — finalist

2000

• In America by Susan Sontag — difficulty 54/100, about 6.9 hours
• The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter — finalist
• The Diagnosis by Alan Lightman — finalist
• Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates — finalist
• Blue Angel by Francine Prose — finalist

1999

• Waiting by Ha Jin — difficulty 54/100
• House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III — finalist
• Plainsong by Kent Haruf — finalist
• Hummingbird House by Patricia Henley — finalist
• Who Do You Love by Jean Thompson — finalist

1998

• Charming Billy by Alice McDermott — difficulty 48/100, about 4.6 hours
• Kaaterskill Falls by Allegra Goodman — finalist
• The Healing by Gayl Jones — finalist
• Damascus Gate by Robert Stone — finalist
• A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe — finalist

1997

• Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier — difficulty 47/100, about 11 hours
• Underworld by Don DeLillo — finalist
• Le Divorce by Diane Johnson — finalist
• Echo House by Ward Just — finalist
• The Puttermesser Papers by Cynthia Ozick — finalist

1996

• Ship Fever and Other Stories by Andrea Barrett
• Atticus by Ron Hansen — finalist
• The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken — finalist
• Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser — finalist
• The River Beyond the World by Janet Peery — finalist

1995

• Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth — difficulty 60/100, about 13 hours
• All Souls' Rising by Madison Smartt Bell — finalist
• Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat — finalist
• Interstate by Stephen Dixon — finalist
• The House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferré — finalist

1994

• A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis — difficulty 76/100, about 28 hours
• Moses Supposes by Ellen Currie — finalist
• White Man's Grave by Richard Dooling — finalist
• The Bird Artist by Howard Norman — finalist
• The Collected Stories by Grace Paley — finalist

1993

• The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx — difficulty 56/100, about 8 hours
• Come to Me by Amy Bloom — finalist
• The Pugilist at Rest by Thom Jones — finalist
• Operation Wandering Soul by Richard Powers — finalist
• Swimming in the Volcano by Bob Shacochis — finalist

1992

• All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy — difficulty 42/100, about 6.3 hours
• Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison — finalist
• Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García — finalist
• Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones — finalist
• Outerbridge Reach by Robert Stone — finalist

1991

• Mating by Norman Rush — difficulty 60/100, about 9.7 hours
• Wartime Lies by Louis Begley — finalist
• Frog by Stephen Dixon — finalist
• The MacGuffin by Stanley Elkin — finalist
• Beyond Deserving by Sandra Scofield — finalist

1990

• Middle Passage by Charles Johnson — difficulty 75/100, about 7.9 hours
• Chromos by Felipe Alfau — finalist
• Paradise by Elena Castedo — finalist
• Dogeaters by Jessica Hagedorn — finalist
• Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart by Joyce Carol Oates — finalist

1989

• Spartina by John Casey — difficulty 41/100, about 7.6 hours
• Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow — finalist
• Geek Love by Katherine Dunn — finalist
• The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos — finalist
• The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan — finalist

1988

• Paris Trout by Pete Dexter — difficulty 52/100, about 5.6 hours
• Libra by Don DeLillo — finalist
• Vanished by Mary McGarry Morris — finalist
• Wheat That Springeth Green by J. F. Powers — finalist
• Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler — finalist

1987

• Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann — difficulty 54/100, about 4.1 hours
• That Night by Alice McDermott — finalist
• Beloved by Toni Morrison — finalist
• The Northern Lights by Howard Norman — finalist
• The Counterlife by Philip Roth — finalist

1986

• World's Fair by E. L. Doctorow — difficulty 53/100, about 6.9 hours
• Whites by Norman Rush — finalist
• A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor — finalist

1985

• White Noise by Don DeLillo — difficulty 65/100, about 9.4 hours
• Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin — finalist
• The Tree of Life by Hugh Nissenson — finalist

1984

• Victory Over Japan by Ellen Gilchrist — difficulty 54/100, about 5.3 hours
• Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie — finalist
• The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth — finalist

1983

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker — difficulty 49/100, about 4.6 hours, hardcover
• The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty — paperback
• A Mother and Two Daughters by Gail Godwin — finalist
• Shiloh and Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason — finalist
• The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux — finalist
• Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler — finalist
• The Chaneysville Incident by David Bradley — finalist
• The Company of Women by Mary Gordon — finalist
• Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson — finalist
• A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone — finalist

1982

• Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike — difficulty 57/100, about 13 hours, hardcover
• So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell — paperback
• Ellis Island and Other Stories by Mark Helprin — finalist
• The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving — finalist
• A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone — finalist
• Dad by William Wharton — finalist
• Loon Lake by E. L. Doctorow — finalist
• The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard — finalist
• The Second Coming by Walker Percy — finalist
• Morgan's Passing by Anne Tyler — finalist

1981

• Plains Song by Wright Morris — difficulty 55/100, about 4.6 hours, hardcover
• The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever — difficulty 61/100, about 28 hours, paperback
• The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard — finalist
• So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell — finalist
• The Second Coming by Walker Percy — finalist
• The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty — finalist
• The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan — finalist
• The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer — finalist
• Endless Love by Scott Spencer — finalist
• War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk — finalist

1980

• Sophie's Choice by William Styron — difficulty 51/100, about 10 hours, hardcover
• The World According to Garp by John Irving — difficulty 27/100, about 9.5 hours, paperback
• Just Above My Head by James Baldwin — finalist
• The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer — finalist
• The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth — finalist
• Endless Love by Scott Spencer — finalist
• Collected Stories by Paul Bowles — finalist
• Violet Clay by Gail Godwin — finalist
• Too Far to Go by John Updike — finalist
• Miss MacIntosh, My Darling by Marguerite Young — finalist

1979

• Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien — difficulty 65/100, about 8.7 hours
• The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever — finalist
• The World According to Garp by John Irving — finalist
• Lying Low by Diane Johnson — finalist
• The Family by David Plante — finalist

1978

• Blood Tie by Mary Lee Settle — difficulty 49/100, about 6.4 hours
• The Public Burning by Robert Coover — finalist
• Madder Music by Peter De Vries — finalist
• Elbow Room by James Alan McPherson — finalist
• Union Dues by John Sayles — finalist

1977

• The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner — difficulty 72/100, about 8.1 hours
• Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? by Raymond Carver — finalist
• The Balloonist by MacDonald Harris — finalist
• Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin — finalist
• A Fine Romance by Cynthia Propper Seton — finalist

1976

• J R by William Gaddis
• Humboldt's Gift by Saul Bellow — finalist
• The Collected Stories of Hortense Calisher by Hortense Calisher — finalist
• Other People's Lives by Johanna Kaplan — finalist
• Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories by Vladimir Nabokov — finalist
• Beyond the Bedroom Wall by Larry Woiwode — finalist

1975

• Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone — difficulty 54/100, about 7.5 hours, joint winner
• The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams — joint winner
• Guilty Pleasures by Donald Barthelme — finalist
• The Odd Woman by Gail Godwin — finalist
• Something Happened by Joseph Heller — finalist
• Sula by Toni Morrison — finalist
• Look at the Harlequins! by Vladimir Nabokov — finalist
• Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley — finalist
• My Life as a Man by Philip Roth — finalist
• The Death of the Detective by Mark Smith — finalist

1974

• Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon — difficulty 84/100, about 52 hours, joint winner
• A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer — joint winner
• Beasts of the Southern Wild and Other Stories by Doris Betts — finalist
• The World of Apples by John Cheever — finalist
• Apostles of Light by Ellen Douglas — finalist
• Searches and Seizures by Stanley Elkin — finalist
• Nickel Mountain by John Gardner — finalist
• Black Conceit by John Leonard — finalist
• Ninety-Two in the Shade by Thomas McGuane — finalist
• People Will Always Be Kind by Wilfrid Sheed — finalist
• Burr by Gore Vidal — finalist
• State of Grace by Joy Williams — finalist

1973

• Chimera by John Barth — difficulty 64/100, about 8.3 hours, joint winner
• Augustus by John Williams — joint winner
• The Late Great Creature by Brock Brower — finalist
• Hermaphrodeity by Alan H. Friedman — finalist
• Geronimo Rex by Barry Hannah — finalist
• The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins — finalist
• The Prince by R. M. Koster — finalist
• Transparent Things by Vladimir Nabokov — finalist
• Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed — finalist
• The Confessions of a Child of the Century by Thomas Rogers — finalist
• Enemies, A Love Story by Isaac Bashevis Singer — finalist
• The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty — finalist

1972

• The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor — difficulty 58/100, about 16 hours
• Lion Country by Frederick Buechner — finalist
• The Book of Daniel by E. L. Doctorow — finalist
• The Dick Gibson Show by Stanley Elkin — finalist
• Farragan's Retreat by Tom McHale — finalist
• Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates — finalist
• The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories by Cynthia Ozick — finalist
• Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy — finalist
• A Garden of Sand by Earl Thompson — finalist
• Rabbit Redux by John Updike — finalist

1971

• Mr. Sammler's Planet by Saul Bellow — difficulty 60/100, about 7.8 hours
• Deliverance by James Dickey — finalist
• The Bay of Noon by Shirley Hazzard — finalist
• Bech: A Book by John Updike — finalist
• Losing Battles by Eudora Welty — finalist

1970

• them by Joyce Carol Oates — difficulty 56/100, about 9.3 hours
• Fat City by Leonard Gardner — finalist
• Going Places by Leonard Michaels — finalist
• The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford by Jean Stafford — finalist
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut — finalist

1969

• Steps by Jerzy Kosiński — difficulty 63/100, about 3.1 hours
• Lost in the Funhouse by John Barth — finalist
• A Fan's Notes by Frederick Exley — finalist
• Expensive People by Joyce Carol Oates — finalist
• The Pursuit of Happiness by Thomas Rogers — finalist

1968

• The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder — difficulty 55/100, about 11 hours
• Why Are We in Vietnam? by Norman Mailer — finalist
• A Garden of Earthly Delights by Joyce Carol Oates — finalist
• The Chosen by Chaim Potok — finalist
• The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron — finalist

1967

• The Fixer by Bernard Malamud — difficulty 55/100, about 7.4 hours
• The Embezzler by Louis Auchincloss — finalist
• All in the Family by Edwin O'Connor — finalist
• The Last Gentleman by Walker Percy — finalist
• A Dream of Kings by Harry Mark Petrakis — finalist
• Office Politics by Wilfrid Sheed — finalist

1966

• The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter by Katherine Anne Porter — difficulty 55/100, about 9.2 hours
• The Liberation of Lord Byron Jones by Jesse Hill Ford — finalist
• At Play in the Fields of the Lord by Peter Matthiessen — finalist
• The (Diblos) Notebook by James Merrill — finalist
• Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor — finalist
• Pericles on 31st Street by Harry Mark Petrakis — finalist

1965

• Herzog by Saul Bellow — difficulty 56/100, about 9.8 hours
• The Rector of Justin by Louis Auchincloss — finalist
• Second Skin by John Hawkes — finalist
• The Martyred by Richard E. Kim — finalist
• To an Early Grave by Wallace Markfield — finalist
• The Defense by Vladimir Nabokov — finalist
• Short Friday and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer — finalist

1964

• The Centaur by John Updike — difficulty 61/100, about 8 hours
• Idiots First by Bernard Malamud — finalist
• The Group by Mary McCarthy — finalist
• V. by Thomas Pynchon — finalist
• The Will by Harvey Swados — finalist

1963

• Morte d'Urban by J. F. Powers — difficulty 55/100, about 5.5 hours
• Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov — finalist
• Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter — finalist
• The Golden Spur by Dawn Powell — finalist
• Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories by John Updike — finalist

1962

• The Moviegoer by Walker Percy — difficulty 57/100, about 5.1 hours
• False Entry by Hortense Calisher — finalist
• Among the Dangs by George P. Elliott — finalist
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller — finalist
• A New Life by Bernard Malamud — finalist
• The Chateau by William Maxwell — finalist
• Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger — finalist
• The Spinoza of Market Street and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer — finalist
• The Pawnbroker by Edward Lewis Wallant — finalist
• The Morning and the Evening by Joan Williams — finalist
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates — finalist

1961

• The Waters of Kronos by Conrad Richter — difficulty 59/100, about 2.9 hours
• The House of Five Talents by Louis Auchincloss — finalist
• Generation Without Farewell by Kay Boyle — finalist
• The Child Buyer by John Hersey — finalist
• A Separate Peace by John Knowles — finalist
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee — finalist
• Ceremony in Lone Tree by Wright Morris — finalist
• The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor — finalist
• The Light in the Piazza and Other Italian Tales by Elizabeth Spencer — finalist
• The Christening Party by Francis Steegmuller — finalist
• Rabbit, Run by John Updike — finalist
• The Body of a Young Man by Mildred Walker — finalist

1960

• Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth — difficulty 56/100, about 5.8 hours
• Pursuit of the Prodigal by Louis Auchincloss — finalist
• The Light Infantry Ball by Hamilton Basso — finalist
• Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow — finalist
• Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell — finalist
• The Mansion by William Faulkner — finalist
• Wake Up, Stupid by Mark Harris — finalist
• The War Lover by John Hersey — finalist
• Men Die by H. L. Humes — finalist
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson — finalist
• The Third Choice by Elizabeth Janeway — finalist
• The Pistol by James Jones — finalist
• The Cool World by Warren Miller — finalist
• Malcolm by James Purdy — finalist
• The Return of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N by Leo Rosten — finalist
• The Poorhouse Fair by John Updike — finalist
• The Cave by Robert Penn Warren — finalist
• The Devil's Advocate by Morris West — finalist

1959

• The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud — difficulty 55/100, about 4.5 hours
• The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy — finalist
• Home from the Hill by William Humphrey — finalist
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov — finalist
• From the Terrace by John O'Hara — finalist
• The Lost Country by J. R. Salamanca — finalist
• The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton — finalist
• Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver — finalist

1958

• The Wapshot Chronicle by John Cheever — difficulty 59/100, about 8.5 hours
• A Death in the Family by James Agee — finalist
• By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens — finalist
• Something About a Soldier by Mark Harris — finalist
• The Velvet Horn by Andrew Nelson Lytle — finalist
• The Assistant by Bernard Malamud — finalist
• Love Among the Cannibals by Wright Morris — finalist
• Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov — finalist
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand — finalist
• The Return of Lady Brace by Nancy Wilson Ross — finalist
• The Birth of a Grandfather by May Sarton — finalist

1957

• The Field of Vision by Wright Morris — difficulty 58/100, about 4.8 hours
• A Walk on the Wild Side by Nelson Algren — finalist
• Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin — finalist
• Seize the Day by Saul Bellow — finalist
• Greenwillow by B. J. Chute — finalist
• These Thousand Hills by A. B. Guthrie — finalist
• A Single Pebble by John Hersey — finalist
• Generations of Men by John Clinton Hunt — finalist
• The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor — finalist
• The Presence of Grace by J. F. Powers — finalist
• The Voice at the Back Door by Elizabeth Spencer — finalist
• Further Fables for Our Time by James Thurber — finalist

1956

• Ten North Frederick by John O'Hara — difficulty 53/100, about 7.2 hours
• The Spider's House by Paul Bowles — finalist
• The Black Prince, and Other Stories by Shirley Ann Grau — finalist
• Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor — finalist
• A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor — finalist
• Faithful Are the Wounds by May Sarton — finalist
• Band of Angels by Robert Penn Warren — finalist
• The Bride of the Innisfallen and Other Stories by Eudora Welty — finalist
• Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk — finalist

1955

• A Fable by William Faulkner — difficulty 75/100, about 20 hours
• The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow — finalist
• The View from Pompey's Head by Hamilton Basso — finalist
• The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb — finalist
• Pictures from an Institution by Randall Jarrell — finalist
• The Last Hunt by Milton Lott — finalist
• Lord Grizzly by Frederick Manfred — finalist
• The Bad Seed by William March — finalist
• The Huge Season by Wright Morris — finalist
• The Courts of Memory by Frank Rooney — finalist
• Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck — finalist

1954

• The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow — difficulty 58/100, about 19 hours

1953

• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison — difficulty 75/100, about 22 hours
• Many Mansions by Isabel Bolton — finalist
• Winds of Morning by H. L. Davis — finalist
• The Gathering Darkness by Thomas Gallagher — finalist
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway — finalist
• Jefferson Selleck by Carl Jonas — finalist
• The Landsmen by Peter Martin — finalist
• A Shower of Summer Days by May Sarton — finalist
• The Catherine Wheel by Jean Stafford — finalist
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck — finalist
• The Build-Up by William Carlos Williams — finalist

1952

• From Here to Eternity by James Jones — difficulty 48/100, about 24 hours
• The Morning Watch by James Agee — finalist
• The Grass Harp by Truman Capote — finalist
• Requiem for a Nun by William Faulkner — finalist
• The Strange Children by Caroline Gordon — finalist
• The Holy Sinner by Thomas Mann — finalist
• Melville Goodwin, USA by John P. Marquand — finalist
• The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger — finalist
• Lie Down in Darkness by William Styron — finalist
• The Witch Diggers by Jessamyn West — finalist
• The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk — finalist

1951

• Collected Stories of William Faulkner by William Faulkner
• The Trouble of One House by Brendan Gill — finalist

1950

• The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren — difficulty 56/100, about 11 hours

Questions

Who won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2025?

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine.

Which National Book Award for Fiction winner should I read first?

For the gentlest start, The World According to Garp by John Irving: the easiest of the 74 winners on ReadingRate to read, with a difficulty of 27/100 and about 9.5 hours of reading. For the quickest, The Waters of Kronos by Conrad Richter, about 2.9 hours.

Which National Book Award for Fiction winner is the hardest to read?

Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, with a difficulty of 84/100; it takes about 52 hours.

Who has won the National Book Award for Fiction more than once?

William Faulkner (1951 and 1955), Saul Bellow (1954, 1965 and 1971), Wright Morris (1957 and 1981), John Cheever (1958 and 1981), Bernard Malamud (1959 and 1967), Philip Roth (1960 and 1995), John Updike (1964 and 1982), William Gaddis (1976 and 1994) and Jesmyn Ward (2011 and 2017).

How long would it take to read every National Book Award for Fiction winner?

About 747 hours at an average reading pace, for the 73 winners with a measured length.

Winners from Wikipedia, checked 2026-10-31.

Other prizes: Nobel Prize in Literature, Booker Prize, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, International Booker Prize, Women's Prize for Fiction, Hugo Award for Best Novel, Nebula Award for Best Novel, Prix Goncourt, Dublin Literary Award, PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, National Book Award for Nonfiction, Costa Novel Award, Albert J. Beveridge Award, Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. Every literary prize; every winner of 2026.