Waterstones Book of the Year

2012:

• Polpo: A Venetian Cookbook (of Sorts) by Russell Norman (winner)
• HHhH by Laurent Binet
• Patrick Leigh Fermor by Artemis Cooper
• On the Map by Simon Garfield
• The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane
• Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel

2013

• Stoner by John Williams (winner)

2014

• The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton (winner)
• Everyday Sexism by Laura Bates
• The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
• Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East and Beyond by Sabrina Ghayour
• Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers
• The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan
• H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonlad
• Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty

2015:

• The Fox and the Star by Coralie Bickford-Smith (winnner)
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
• My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks
• Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
• SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

2016

• The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry (winner)
• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J K Rowling
• The Optician of Lampedusa by Emma Jane Riley
• The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots by Beatrix Potter (with Quentin Blake)
• Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts by Christopher de Hamel
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthi

2017:

• Le Belle Sauvage (Book of Dust volume 1) by Philip Pullman (winner)
• Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesco Cavallo
• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
• Mr Lear by Jenny Uglow
• Talking to my Daughter About the Economy by Yanis Varoufakis
• A Skinful of Shadows by Francis Hardinge
• The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

2018:

• Normal People by Sally Rooney (winner)
• Why We Get the Wrong Politicians by Isabel Hardman
• The Colour of Time: A New History of the World 1850 - 1960 by Dan Jones and Marina Amaral
• The Secret Barrister by The Secret Barrister
• Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
• The Penguin Classics Book by Henry Eliot
• Circe by Madeleine Miller
• I Am the Seed that Grew the Tree by Fiona Waters and Frann Preston-Gannon

2019:

• The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (winner)
• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
• Queenie by Candace Carty-Williams
• The Binding by Bridget Collins
• Underland by Robert Macfarlane
• Lanny by Max Porter
• No One is Too Small to Make a Difference by Greta Thunberg

2020:

• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (winner)
• Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dar McAnulty
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• Ex Libris by Michiko Kakutani
• Island Dreams by Gavin Francis
• The Ratline by Philippe Sands
• One, Two, Three, Four: the Beatles in Time by Craig Brown
• Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan
• Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola
• Black and British: A Short Essential History by David Olusoga
• Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright by Fiona Waters with Britta Teckentrup (illus.)
• The Book of Hopes by Rundell Katherine (ed)

2021:

• The Lyrics by Paul McCartney with Paul Muldoon (ed) (winner)
• Around the World in 80 Plants by Jonathan Drori with Lucille Clerc (illus)
• The Appeal by Janice Hallett
• Julia and the Shark by Kiran Millwood Hargrave with Tom de Freston (illus)
• Greek Myths by Charlotte Higgins with Chris Ofili (illus)
• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Storyland by Amy Jeffs
• Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
• You Are a Champion by Marcus Rashford and Carl Anka
• Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
• They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
• Amur River by Colin Thubron
• British Museum: History of the World in 25 Cities by Tracey Turner and Andrew Donkin with Libby VanderPloeg (illus)

2022:

• The Story of Art without Men by Katy Hessel (winner)
• The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
• Heartstopper volume 1 by Alice Oseman
• Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
• The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland
• Otherlands by Thomas Halliday
• In the Golden Mole by Katherine Rundell with Talya Baldwin (illus)
• Cooking by Jeremy Lee
• Babel by R F Kuang
• Skandar and the Unicorn Thief by A F Steadman

2023:

• Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell (winner; Children's Book of the Year)
• In Memoriam by Alice Winn (novel of the year)
• Murdle by G T Karber (gift of the year)
• Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard
• Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad
• The Wager by David Grann
• How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney by Mac Barnett
• Yellowface by R F Kuang
• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
• A Whale of a Time by Lou Peacock
• The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
• The Fraud by Zadie Smith
• Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken
• Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros