Southwest Books of the Year 2025 for AdultsLike this list

35 items

• The Arizona Triangle

  a Jo Bailen Detective Novel

  Graves, Sydney, 1962-

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  TOP PICK. Mystery Fiction - This desert noir features complex characters trapped in an ugly, emotional past. The vivid details and beauty of the Arizona landscape are in sharp contrast to the repellent secrets of a killer. -Library Journal Review

• The Paranormal Ranger

  a Navajo Investigator's Search for the Unexplained

  Milford, Stanley, Jr

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  TOP PICK. Memoir - From the publisher: Former Navajo Ranger Stanley Milford Jr.'s chilling and clear-eyed memoir of his investigations into bizarre cases of the paranormal and unexplained over the course of his illustrious career serving the Navajo…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Horse

  a Novel

  Vlautin, Willy

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  TOP PICK. Fiction - Kirkus Reviews: Helping a sick horse gives a washed-up musician in his 60s a chance to make peace with his past... Anyone who's hit rock bottom can still get a shot at redemption if they're willing to do what it takes.

• A Race to the Bottom of Crazy

  Dispatches From Arizona

  Grant, Richard, 1963-

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  TOP PICK. Memoir - From the publisher: Grant mixes memoir, research, and reporting in a quest to understand what makes Arizona such a confounding and irresistible place.

• Cactus Country

  a Boyhood Memoir

  Bossiere, Zoë, 1992-

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  TOP PICK. Memoir - From Foreword Magazine Reviews: Cactus Country is a sensitive, searching memoir about gender fluidity. Cactus Country is the Tucson trailer park where Bossiere lived as a child, all year round, in a harsh desert environment that…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Walk in the Park

  the True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon

  Fedarko, Kevin

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  TOP PICK. Memoir - From Kirkus Reviews: Fedarko expansively describes the journey—"a misguided odyssey through the heart of perhaps the harshest and least forgiving, but also the most breathtakingly gorgeous, landscape feature on earth"—with a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mojave Ghost

  a Novel Poem

  Gander, Forrest, 1956-

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  TOP PICK. Poetry - From the publisher: Mojave Ghost initiates an unusually tender bond with the reader as it chronicles an intimate relationship with arresting honesty and vividness. Moving through grief and loss towards a renewal that never…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Malas

  a Novel

  Fuentes, Marcela (Fiction writer)

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  TOP PICK. Fiction - From the publisher: A novel with alternating timelines in which the consequences of one old woman's questionable curse reverberate through the generations of a Tejano family

• Whiskey Tender

  a Memoir

  Taffa, Deborah Jackson, 1969-

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  TOP PICK. Memoir - From the publisher: Whiskey Tender is a memoir of family and survival, coming-of-age on and off the reservation, and the frictions between being raised to strive towards the American dream while also coming into an understanding…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The University of Arizona

  a History in 100 Stories

  McNamee, Gregory

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  TOP PICK. Nonfiction - From the publisher: A serious but entertaining history of the University of Arizona, this book is a celebration of the people, ideas, inventions, teaching, and structures that have been part of the school's growth from a small…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• City in Ruins

  a Novel

  Winslow, Don, 1953-

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  TOP PICK. Fiction - From Publisher's Weekly Reviews: Bolstered by careful plotting and meticulous attention to character, Winslow's ambitious narrative culminates with an exhilarating climax that beautifully wraps up the series' many plot threads.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Mystery Lights

  Stories

  Valencia, Lena, 1986-

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  TOP PICK. Fiction - From the all-too-real horror of a sexual predator on a college campus to a lost sister transformed by cave-dwelling creatures, Lena Valencia's debut collection of stories, 'Mystery Lights', grapples with terrors both familiar and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The New Mexicans

  1981-83

  Bubriski, Kevin

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  TOP PICK. Art & Photography - This book is a gift to New Mexicans, holding up a mirror for us to see ourselves back in the day. The New Mexicans, 1981–83 will also captivate those not acquainted with the state, providing insight into the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Molino

  a Memoir

  Martinez, Melani, 1977-

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  TOP PICK. Memoir - Set in one of Tucson's first tamal and tortilla factories, The Molino is a hybrid memoir exploring the transformation of a family's foodways, faith, and belonging in Tucson's historic Barrio Presidio

• Life After Dead Pool

  Lake Powell's Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River

  Podmore, Zak

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  TOP PICK. Nature & Science - Through an arresting mix of science and storytelling, Life After Dead Pool debunks the notion that the West’s water challenges are unsolvable and invites us to secure a future where the Colorado River once again runs…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A Guide to the Bars and Restaurants of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul

  Macpherson, Aimee

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  Nonfiction pick.

• Last Acts

  a Novel

  Sammartino, Alexander

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  Fiction pick.

• Lost Birds

  Hillerman, Anne, 1949-

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  Fiction pick.

• Candlelight Bridge

  a Novel

  Lee, Cara Lopez

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  Fiction pick.

• Off the Air

  Estes, Christina

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  Fiction pick.