Genre designations and bookshelf aisles are obviously useful tools for those of us with a lifelong reading habit. When you’re looking for your next book, you need a place to start.
 
But there are other ways to sort through the never-ending stacks of great books out there. In this specially curated collection, we’ve compiled a set of books for end-of-year reading using some different sorting strategies. These categories aren’t the standard genre tags, but you may find that they’re ultimately more useful.
 
Perhaps you’re looking for a time-traveling reading experience. We’ve got that. Or maybe you’d like to escape your own family drama by reading up on some fictional families. We’ve got that, too. Creative cookbooks to inspire your holiday menus? Warm-weather vibes? Twisty mysteries? That elusive Hallmark movie feeling?
 
Scroll through the categories below to find sorted recommendations from the collective wisdom of the Goodreads editorial squad. We’ve even included some short story and essay collections that will be easy to pick up and put down if your end-of-year time is hectic.
 
As always, you can click on the book cover images to get further details on each title, including reviews and discussion from your fellow Goodreads members. If you find some good leads, use the Want to Read button to add them to your own personal digital shelf.