Reading this many books definitely made coming up with my top 10 very hard... I really had to spend a long time thinking about each book, so I'm hoping that the list is still meaningful. I definitely feel like it's a good one this year. So with that, let's get to it!
Here are the usual disclaimers and caveats: This year, I read 80 books. The books on this list are ones that I completed reading between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017. These books were not necessarily published in 2017 (though most of them were published within the last three years) and anything that I have reread this year is not eligible for the Top 10. At the end of the top list, you'll find the list of all the books I have read this year which include asterisks for honorable mentions. Also, the titles of the Top 10 books link to the book on Amazon (but go buy it in a bookstore).
Stephanie's Top 10(ish?) Books of 2017
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: This book blew my mind. I have always loved a good multi-generational, epic-feeling story and this fit that bill. The story starts with Sunja, working in her mother's boarding house in the early 1900s in Korea. Through a series of events, Sunja moves to Japan where Koreans are looked down on. The familial relationships are fascinating in themselves, but what really caught my attention were the descriptions of life as a Korean immigrant in Japan, the history and complexities of which I knew nothing. I truly thought that this should have won the National Book Award (though I did also enjoy Sing, Unburied, Sing) but the storytelling, character development, and historical aspects combined into a really enjoyable, lasting book for me.
- Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich: Note: this is probably NOT the book you want to read while you're pregnant... but even still, I'm so glad I did. I've been an Erdrich fan since college and this was definitely a departure for her and she knocked it out of the park. The story's protagonist is Cedar, a Native American woman adopted by a white family, who is pregnant. Which all sounds lovely except that the world is turning upside down and evolution is starting to go backwards, making pregnant women a commodity and something to be controlled and Cedar ends up on the run from the powers that be. This is not your average dystopian novel and I highly highly recommend.
- Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller: Beautifully written and captivating, I loved this book and for a really long time this year, it as my number 1. Ingrid is in an unhappy woman who uses letters that she hides in her husband's extensive book collection as an outlet. The chapters alternate between the letters which lay out Ingrid's marriage and life and the story of the present day from the point of view of her daughter which takes place 12 years after Ingrid's disappearance. A really lovely story about hidden realities.
- I Am Lucy Barton and Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout: I know this is cheating because it's 2 books, but I make the rules around here, so there! :) I Am Lucy Barton is an amazing, spare, profoundly written book centering on Lucy Barton as she recovers from a simple surgery. Her mother, whom she hasn't seen in years, has come to help her recover and during her time reminisces about life in their small home town which Lucy left long ago. Hidden beneath the stories is the truth of Lucy's experience and why she left. Anything is Possible can probably not be considered a sequel, but it takes place in the same universe and Lucy plays a role. More of a short story collection, it again brings blunt, thoughtful prose to simple but effective stories. I'd recommend reading both!
- The Leavers by Lisa Ko: Another National Book Award shortlist-er that I actually think was better than Sing, Unburied, Sing! Another story of immigration and the attempt at a better life--Deming and his mother live in New York after emigrating from China. One day his mother doesn't come home and Deming is adopted by a white family and his name is changed to Daniel. This is a well-executed story about identity, familial bonds, home, and the longing to understand oneself.
- The Nix by Nathan Hill: When Samuel Andreson-Anderson sees his mother on the news for throwing rocks at a conservative politician, it is the first time he has seen her in years. Her lawyer gets in touch with Samuel, a failing professor obsessed with online gaming, to ask him to write a book about his mother in order to gain sympathy for her trial, except that Samuel's mother abandoned him and his father when he was a young, impressionable boy and he has never fully recovered. But he takes the challenge and goes on a hunt for the actual story of his mother's life which touches on Norwegian fairy-tales and the 1968 Democratic National Convention. I laughed out loud several times and just could not put it down.
- Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan: I was so looking forward to this book coming out and the wait was worth it. Egan definitely did her research here--after her father disappears seemingly without a trace, Anna takes up a job in Brooklyn at the Naval Yard where she is part of the war effort. Eventually, she becomes the first female diver, helping repair damaged ships. In some twists of fate and faint memories from childhood, Anna begins learning about her father's life and what might have happened to him. A thriller-style telling, this book kept me enchanted with the information about women's roles in WWII and enthralled with the plot twists and turns.
- My Life with Bob: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues by Pamela Paul: Pamela Paul is my spirit animal. Really--we are sisters from another mister. And all I want to do is sit down and talk to her. Pamela Paul has kept a notebook (or BOB, Book of Books) for years in a similar fashion to me. The her memoir is about what these books tell her about herself and how the books she has read have enhanced, informed, and shaped her life. She details a few of her life experiences (which has been much more interesting than mine) in light of some of the books she's read. It's really a love letter to books, reading, and the truth that adventures can happen without having to leave your chair.
- The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild: Perhaps not the most literary of the choices here, this was a really fun book that kept me up past my bedtime reading. Annie is a chef who is getting over a recent breakup by dating a man she knows is not quite what she wants. She sees a painting in an antique store that catches her eye and she buys it for her new beau only to get stood up. Of course, you can probably guess that the painting is far more valuable than she believed and there are other people who want to get the painting back by any means necessary. A fun cultural romp in the art world, I highly recommend for a fun, exciting read.
- Moonglow by Michael Chabon, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie, Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, and Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong. See? I told you it was hard to choose only 10 out of the 80 books! I loved all of these books for different reasons --Moonglow for the storytelling, A Gentleman in Moscow for the beautiful characters and limited plot, Home Fire for its interesting perspective and brutal telling, Sing, Unburied, Sing for its raw nature, and Goodbye, Vitamin for its laugh-out-loud tragedy. Sorry, just couldn't choose.
And that's all she wrote! This was a really good year and sorry for the cop-out but it was hurting my brain too much to make a decision on that last book so I threw in the ol' towel on it. If this year has taught me anything it's that reading just never gets old for me and as long as there are good books to read, I'll be there to read them.
Below is the list of all of the books I read this year. Honorable mentions have an asterisk (*) and anything on the top 10 list was a carat (^).
- News of the World by Paulette Jiles
- *Books for Living by Will Schwalbe
- *The Mothers by Brit Bennett
- ^The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
- The Orphan Mother by Robert Hicks
- Beginners by Raymond Carver
- After You by Jojo Moyes
- History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund (nominee for weirdest this year?)
- 100 Days of Happiness by Fausto Brizzi
- *Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
- The Mare by Mary Gaitskill
- *Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
- ^My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
- *The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- *Quiet: ThePower of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
- The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill
- *A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline
- ^Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller
- Perfect Little World by Kevi Wilson
- South and West by Joan Didion
- ^Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
- A Long Way Home by Sara Brierley
- ^Moonglow by Michael Chaob
- *Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thein
- *Swing Time by Zadie Smith
- *The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
- John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead
- ^A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
- The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares
- Caraval by Stephanie Garber (winner of most disappointing?)
- *The Road to Jonestown by Jeff Guinn
- *Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
- The Dinner Party by Joshua Ferris
- *Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan
- ^Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
- The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
- Trajectory by Richard Russo
- ^My Life With Bob by Pamela Paul
- Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig
- Mother Land by Paul Theroux
- *Theft by Finding by David Sedaris
- ^The Leavers by Lisa Ko
- Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
- ^The Nix by Nathan Heller
- Everybody's Son by Thrity Umrigar
- What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons
- The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti
- The Art of Death by Edwidge Danticat
- No One is Coming to Save Us by Stephanie Powell Watts
- *American Fire by Monica Hesse
- Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt
- Hunger by Roxane Gay
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J,K. Rowling
- 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster
- *Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
- Dark at the Crossing by Elliot Ackerman
- *Autumn by Ali Smith
- ^Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
- ^Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
- ^Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong
- A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wlkerson Sexton
- The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Byne
- Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder
- The Refugees Viet Thanh Nguyen
- *The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- Impossible Views of the World by Lucy Ives
- Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
- ^Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
- The King is Always Above the People by Daniel Alarcon
- *Beartown by Fredrik Backman
- ^Future Home of the Living God by Louise Edrich
- Elmet by Fiona Mozley
- The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott
- *The Opposite of Spoiled by Ron Leiber
I'm glad you stopped by and I hope that your 2017 was rife with great books and that 2018 gives you the gift of even more good ones!
Stephanie
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