Our top 10 books of 2017
In lieu of our traditional monthly recap, we are posting our list of top ten books published in 2017. Keep reading to see which books made the cut and let us know whether you agree or disagree. Add your favorite books to the list in the comments section.
Jen: I read 35 books published in 2017 and overall it was a pretty good reading year for me in terms of quality books. My top 10 published in 2017 (U.S. publication date used) are…
10. Days Without End by Sebastian Barry. I didn’t love this book overall but I did love the writing and think it merits a spot on the top ten for the writing alone.
9. 4321 by Paul Auster
8. The Leavers by Lisa Ko
7. Stephen Florida by Game Habash
6. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
5. Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor
4. Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
3. Solar Bones by Mike McCormack
2. Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
1. Autumn by Ali Smith
Most of my top ten were Man Booker nominees and you can found our reviews on this blog. My hands down favorite was Ali Smith’s Autumn and I’m hoping I feel similarly about the next one in the series.
Book Worm: I am not as organised as Jen so I don’t know how many books published in 2017 that I have read this year. I guess I need to get my act together for next year…
My true top 10 features books not published in 2017 so this top 10 is a mix of 5 and 4 star rated books published in 2017.
The top 5 are my 5 star reads the rest are 4 stars
- Gnomon by Nick Harkaway – my absolute favourite of the year
- Autumn by Ali Smith
- Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie
- White Tears by Hari Kunzru
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
- The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
- Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill
- Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor
- History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
- Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
All of these have been reviewed on the blog and like Jen’s list a lot of them, half in fact, were this years Man Booker nominees.
We want to hear from you. Which were your favorites published in 2017?
Stay tuned for our list of most anticipated 2018 books.
jenp27
Nicole Del Sesto
The Reader's Room 
Wow that’s a lot of books published in 2017! I don’t usually get to read new books til 2-3 years after they’re published. I think the only books I read published in 2017 were A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab and NK Jemisin’s The Stone Sky. I loved both of them!
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I really need to read more of Jemisin’s books!
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The broken earth trilogy is really good!
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Sadly I don’t think I read anything published this year, but it’s not a total loss as I accidentally read All That We Cannot See and feel in love with books all over again.
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I’m glad to hear that. Finding books you love is wonderful
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Great lists . . .especially like that I read a bunch of them thanks to you both. I read 22 books that were published this year. I expect that’s a record for me in terms of reading books in the year they were published. I’ll just put down my top 5. The first three were 5 star reads for me.
1. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
2. Lincoln in the Bardo
3. Beartown
4. 4321
5. History of Wolves
Least favorite: Beneath a Scarlet Sky
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Oh dang, I didn’t realize that Anything is Possible was published this year. That makes 23 books, and that would definitely be on my list. Revised (sorry, I don’t think I can edit lol).
1. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
2. Anything is Possible
3. Lincoln in the Bardo
4. Beartown
5. 4321
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ARGH. 24. Apparently tracking the publishing year is not my forte, lol.
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Ok, so on Goodreads, it says Autumn was actually published in 2016? Is that right?
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Solar Bones also is listed as 2016. This is why my list was short, lol. 😉
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oh sure, rub it in (Scarlet Sky)
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Ha ha ha, sorry Nicole. I really didn’t like it. I think you should thank me for setting your expectations nice and low. You’ll probably like it now.
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Thanks for sharing – useful info. I hadn’t heard of/about GNOMON – thanks for tip off.
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I’m not done reading for the year yet… but I can say that it has been a good reading year. I’ve read 41 books published this year.
Favorite Novel: Autumn by Ali Smith. But I also loved Lincoln in the Bardo, The Power by Naomi Alderman, Salt Houses by Hala Alyan, and Sing Unburied, Sing.
Favorite (only) YA: The Hate U Give.
Favorite Graphic: My Favorite Thing is Monsters. Another category I don’t follow a lot.
Favorite short stories: Her Body And Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado. Because I actually liked most of these, and this year has seen a lot of SS collections.
Favorite memoir: Hunger by Roxane Gay. So raw and honest.
Favorite nonfiction published this year: American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee.
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You need to stop adding to my TBR 😂 Actually I’ve read most of them and loved them too. I have a copy of her Body and Other parties but Anita’s review was deterring me but now I’ll add it back.
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Sadly I now compare every short story collection to Saunders’ Tenth of December (which I loved), and that’s a high bar. Excited to see what you think about Her Body and Other Parties.
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I was just cleaning out my TBR yesterday and almost removed Angelmaker from my list. I guess I’d better read that someday.
Here’s my top books for ’17 heavily influenced by Booker for which I am grateful to Jen.
Exit West – Moshin Hamid
Lincoln in the Bardo – George Saunders
History of Wolves – Emily Friedland
Autumn – Ali Smith
Solar Bones – Mike McCormack
Beloved – Toni Morrison
Roots: The Saga of an American Family – Alex Haley
Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
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My favorite was Down Bohicket Road by artist Mary Whyte. Haven’t read any of your faves other than My Favorite Monsters– looks like I need to. I have an arc of 4321–it is SO thick!
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