Love book lists? Check out the British Book Awards' top thirty picks!

How did you celebrate your thirtieth birthday?

If you're the British Book Awards, the answer is: often.

First, they’ve picked the thirty best books from the past three decades, trying — but not always succeeding — to hit each year exactly once. (1998 proved particularly challenging.)

One of those books will earn its author the honor of being declared the best in thirty years; that writer will be revealed in May.

But first, in March, the thirty books will be whittled into a shortlist that also adds a “wild-card” entry, according to the Guardian.

Check out the honorees, which include plenty of blockbusters as well as dark horses, in the Guardian.