No Time Like the Present: 10 Books We'll Finally Read in 2016

If you've read and loved The Goldfinch and The Secret History, the novel Tartt wrote in between is perfect for your 2016 pile. In Alexandria, Mississippi, a woman named Harriet sets out to uncover why her brother died twelve years before, but to do so she must confront family secrets and her town's rigid lines of race and class.

Some of us at Off the Shelf have read this one, and now it's time for everyone to read it. Márquez's novel follows the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of a family. Its characters are unforgettable, and its words will have you savoring every moment. It's been on our shelves for some time, but at least it hasn't been a century!

If, as you binge-watch Game of Thrones, you're constantly telling yourself "This is the year that I read the book!" make it happen in 2016. Leading into the series' new season, the person on everyone's mind will be Jon Snow. Though the plotlines between page and screen are diverging, nothing compares to Martin's drama — and you've got a few books to get through!

An equally long but equally fantastic staple on to-read lists everywhere. This epic is set in twelfth-century England and follows the lives of those involved in the building of a great Gothic cathedral. This one has it all: good versus evil, romance, intrigue, adventure, and architecture.

It's perhaps the greatest literary Catch-22 (see what we did there?) that although classics are beloved, they're often passed over in favor of more recent hits, since we know the classics aren't going anywhere. So, we're resolving to dive deep into Humbert Humbert's obsessive and doomed passion for Dolores this year and cross this one off the to-read list.

A 2013 Man Booker Prize winner, this collection showcases the humor, insight, and irony in the everyday moments of ordinary lives. If you're seeking an entry point into Davis's prolific body of work, look no further.

In this masterwork of reporting, Dave Cullen takes us back to the event that shocked the nation and arguably began the modern age of gun violence: the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, police files, and tapes, Cullen presents a close-up portrait of the killers, but also of the community and country that they forever changed. Sadly, this is still so relevant today.

The ultimate holiday homecoming novel. Enid Lambert wants her family together for one perfect Christmas, but there are a few things in her way: her husband's Parkinson's disease and the personal dramas of her grown children. Though this book feels somewhat tragic, it's also smart, funny, and unfiltered — quintessential Franzen.

If this book's tenure on the bestseller list isn't enough to make you finally pick it up, maybe the recent news will: Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are adapting this nonfiction thriller about murder and mayhem at the 1893 World's Fair, and you'll definitely want to read it before catching it on the big screen.

In this landmark investigation of a landmark event, Fink's medical and journalism backgrounds come together to show what happened at Memorial Medical Center in the five days following the landfall of Hurricane Katrina. Though many of us know how the story ends, the book reads like a suspense novel, introducing a number of memorable characters and the question that we frequently ask ourselves when disaster strikes: "What would I do?"

Here are more great book recommendations from our friends at Off the Shelf: