Reddit mentions of Baccano!, Vol. 1: The Rolling Bootlegs - light novel (Baccano! (1))

To answer seriously: Well, from what I remember, it didn't sell well, and it was hampered by a bad/dead timeslot on TV. It pains me still.

The upsetting thing is is that there's so much more left unadapted -- there are currently 21 novels in the Baccano! series published so far, and I believe Narita plans on writing maybe 3-5 more to round out the series (he's got the climax of the 1935 arc and the 2003 epilogue/arc left to write). It's been over two years since he published a Baccano! LN though (he's been busy with DRRR!!, especially since Durarara!! finally managed to get a second season. It was always the most popular of his light novel series).

Now, I've read the fan-translations of the novels, and I'd love for there to be a season two of Baccano! someday -- or rather, a reboot, since the 2007 anime left out several recurring characters that are important in their own rights and COMPLETELY ALTERED the 1932 timeline. Making a season 2 following the 2007 anime while adapting Narita's work would obviously run into problems thanks to the changes. What Baccano! really needs, anime-wise, is a reboot.

Don't despair though, because 2015-2016 has had some of the most exciting news for Baccano! fans in years. A new Baccano! manga is currently being published--and more relevantly, it has an official English simulpub translation. There are eight chapters so far, all available on Amazon (kindle) in English for $1.99 each (link to chapter 1 here). The first few chapters contain a short arc detailing events that take place in 1927, before segwaying into the main 1930 timeline we're familiar with.

Even more crucially, Yen Press officially licensed the Baccano! series last year, which means that we're going to get official English translations of at least the first four novels (presumably if they sell well, Yen Press will translate beyond #4). The first novel is already available for pre-order on Amazon here (hardcover and kindle) and will be officially released May 24. I have preordered both versions and I hope you and others will consider looking into it as well.

Edit - I should clarify that out of the 21 novels in the series, the Baccano! anime largely covers the first four novels: #1 (1930) The Rolling Bootlegs | #2 (1931) The Grand Punk Railroad - Local Episode | #3 (1931) The Grand PUnk Railroad - Express Episode | #4 (1932) Drugs & The Dominoes (albeit heavily edited) with episode 7 addressing the [events](/s "aboard the Advenna Avis in the 1700s") -- and the OVAs adapt part of #14 (1931) Another Junk Railroad. Some scenes in the anime were completely made up (Elmer and Sylvie [novel spoilers](/s "don't reunite until 2001 in the novels") and Elmer and Huey [](/s "haven't seen each other since 1711; the jail cell scene in the anime is made up, adapting dialogue from a conversation between Victor and Huey in 1931"). So, you know.

...basically what I'm saying is is that there are around 17 currently published novels in the series yet to be adapted for the screen. It is a LOT of content.

Here's my list. Linked to their translations too if they have any.

1. Kino no Tabi (Official Translation dropped)
   
2. 2409 Kai no Kanojo
   
3. Monster Hunter Series
   
4. AURA: Maryuuin Kouga Saigo no Tatakai
   
5. Baccano!
   
6. Log Horizon
   
7. Ballad of a Shinigami
   
8. Durarara!!
   
9. The Girl Who Ate Death (Web Novel) (Published Novel)
   
10. Tabi ni Deyou, Horobiyuku Sekai no Hate Made

Below includes links to the amazon page, which has identification numbers you can use for other sites, but since many of these titles share comic/manga names, it can be confusing telling the difference. Also, I think everything but Another and Baccano have a good fan translation done as of now, and he may have already read it (at least first volumes) and is not interested in a physical copy of them, so I would ask.

If he likes the idea of a game esque world (very popular right now for some reason), I would recomend Rising of the Shield Hero, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon, and Log Horizon.

For more typical fantasy styled light novels, Spice and Wolf, Another, A certain Magical Index, No Game, No Life, The Devil Is A Part-Timer, and soon to be release Baccano.

So, a basic rundown.

The novel series currently spans 22 volumes, with a 23rd coming in.... sometime in the future, who knows. After that, we expect at least one more, maybe more.

In english, the novels are officially at Volume 10, which you can see at the right of the reddit page: "1934 Peter Pan in Chains: Finale", and each novel in English has about 4 months between each release. You can buy them off Yen Press, I think the most common resource is Amazon. Personally, however, I use the digital store BookWalker for most LN and manga related stuff, so that's an alternative.

If you're curious about the new content you'll be seeing and such, just as an fyi, the anime adapted the first 4 volumes of the series into the 13 episode run of the show, and it also adapted a short story (which eventually became Volume 14 afterwards) into the 3 special episodes at the end of the series.

While you can technically skip the first 3 volumes of the books, I would recommend against it just so you can have a better perspective on the canon of the books and how they differ from the novels, since some of those minor changes will confuse you in later novels. Additionally, Volume 4 was only partially adapted, and there's many more things left unseen from it in the anime, so that's more reason to start from the beginning.

Last point, there's a lot of just random side content that is apparently canon in one way or another. It's probably best to look into those once you're a few volumes into the book series, I would say, so for now, stick to the books.