Books of 2017


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And just like that, 2017 is half over (what?!).  In six months I have traveled to four states, celebrated my sister's wedding, hosted almost a dozen visitors, watched a newborn baby learn to crawl, sit, and eat solid food, started Half Marathon training, maximized my crock pot use, savored "me time" with a happy hours and a few pedicures, and read a lot of great books.  Here are a few of my favorites from the first half of the year, with my complete 6-month list below.  (Ady's favorite books, for the record, are ones about animals, especially if the pages contain fuzzy textures!)  Ahh, if only there were enough time to read everything.

 Top 10 so far for 2017...
A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, by Kim Edwards
Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, by Kathleen Rooney
The Last Mile, by David Baldacci
North Haven, by Sarah Moriarty
State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, by Fredrik Backman
The Complete List...
Fiction:
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 Samantha 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:
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:
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

I'm still enjoying Audiobooks, both on Audible and from the library using the Overdrive app, but I have also gotten really into Podcasts lately.  I like the New Yorker, TED radio hour, This American Life, 2 Dope Queens, and Stuff You Should Know.  What other Podcasts do my blog followers recommend?? 




Story time with Grandma Darla and Nana Patty!

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