Books of 2017

There are so many great books out there to discover and I wish I had more time to read!  This year I completed my Reading Challenge, thanks to my wonderful book club (also known as the Thursday night wine club) as well as suggestions from friends.  My book club read mostly fiction this year, but we did explore some nonfiction titles that were especially relevant considering the current political climate.  This year I also read the National Book Award winner for fiction (Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward) and the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad), plus some award winners from previous years.  I listened to audio books, especially during my drive to work or while walking the dog, but I spent more time on Podcasts this year.  Ady is already developing a love of books too!  I remember my amazement the first time I watched her turn a page in the correct direction.  Right now she's really into books with textured pages or ones with animals, and though she rarely sits still long enough to get through a whole book in one setting, she's learning the routine of reading and it will be a part of her life as she continues to grow. 


My Top 20 of 2017 (in no particular order):

State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett
Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
In the Woods, by Tana French
The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards
Woman No. 17, by Edan Lepucki
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, by David Lagercrantz
A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah
Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen
Strangers in Their Own Land, by Arlie Russell Hochschild
Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan
Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
Beartown, by Fredrik Backman
Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate
A Well-Tempered Heart, by Jan-Philipp Sendker
Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Sisters Chase, by Sarah Healy
The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, by Kathleen Rooney


     

   

    

   

   



And the complete list for 2017...

Fiction:

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott

Wives of War, by Soraya Lane

In the Woods, by Tana French

Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward

The Wonder, by Emma Donoghue

Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, by David Lagercrantz

Happy Dreams, by Jia Pingwa

The Pilot’s Wife, by Anita Shreve

Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate

A Well-Tempered Heart, by Jan-Philipp Sendker

Texts from Jane Eyre: And Other Conversations with Your Favorite Literary Characters, by Mallory Ortberg

The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen

The Leavers, by Lisa Ko

Love and Other Consolation Prizes, by Jamie Ford

Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid

Into the Water, by Paula Hawkins

Mrs. Fletcher, by Tom Perrotta

The Bette Davis Club, by Jane Lotter

Shadow Tag, by Louise Erdrich

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel

The Refugees, by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Excellent Lombards, by Jane Hamilton

Tara Road, by Maeve Binchy

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

Rules of Civility, by Amor Towles

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, by Katarina Bivald

The Sisters Chase, by Sarah Healy

A Piece of Cake, by Cupcake Brown

My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante

North Haven, by Sarah Moriarty

Woman No. 17, by Edan Lepucki

Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

American War, by Omar El Akkad

Perfect Little World, by Kevin Wilson

The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Good Girl, by Mary Kubica

A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles

Always Happy Hour: Stories, by Mary Miller

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards

State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, by Kathleen Rooney

Fever Dream, by Samantah Schweblin

Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline

After You, by Jojo Moyes

Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi

Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett

The Sleepwalker, by Chris Bohjalian

A Fine Balance, by Mistry Rohinton

The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead

Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult

Hag-Seed: The Tempest Retold, by Margaret Atwood

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly

Truly Madly Guilty, by Liane Moriarty

Nonfiction:

What Happened, by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman

Better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance, by Atul Gawande

Parenting Beyond Pink & Blue: How to Raise Your Kids Free of Gender Stereotypes, by Christina Brown Spears

The Wholesome Baby Food Book, by Maggie Meade

Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, by Arlie Russell Hochschild

When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi

The New Basics: A-to-Z Baby and Child Care for the Modern Parent, by Michel Cohen

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, by Elizabeth Gilbert

Crawling: A Father’s First Year, by Elisha Cooper

Toddlers Are A**holes: It’s Not Your Fault, by Bunmi Laditan

Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson

Audio Books:

Faithful, by Alice Hoffman

The Innocent, by David Baldacci

Here’s to Us, by Elin Hilderbrand

Flight Patterns, by Karen White

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman

Behind Closed Doors, by B. A. Paris

Paris for One, and Other Stories, by Jojo Moyes

Memory Man, by David Baldacci

Hollow City, by Ransom Riggs

The Identicals, by Elin Hilderbrand

Beartown, by Fredrik Backman

Pretty Girls, by Karin Slaughter

Turbo Twenty-Three, by Janet Evanovich

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, by Barack Obama

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, by Fredrik Backman

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

Modern Romance, by Aziz Ansari

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J.D. Vance

The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain, by Phoebe Robinson

We Should All Be Feminists, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King

Today Will Be Different, by Maria Semple

The Last Mile, by David Baldacci

The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware

Scrappy Little Nobody, by Anna Kendrick

Gray Mountain, by John Grisham

End of Watch, by Stephen King

Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Pecan Man, by Cassie Dandridge Selleck

Britt-Marie Was Here, by Fredrik Backman

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah

And finally, a few titles I look forward to in 2018:

Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng

Goodbye, Vitamin, by Rachel Khong

This is Your Life, Harriet Chance!, by Jonathan Evison

The Little Friend, by Donna Tartt

Future Home of the Living God, by Louise Erdrich

We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver

Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett

Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood

Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver

Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee

Happy reading!