Here is the standout fiction and nonfiction of the year, selected by the staff of The New York Times Book Review.

L ate ​ in Claire-Louise Bennett’s novel Big Kiss, Bye-Bye, the unnamed protagonist goes to Montevideo to participate in a ‘panel discussion about violent scenes from movies’. She had hesitated to ...

Accessing rivers and streams is a “fundamental component of our culture and identity,” says an unnamed narrator in the ...