Book Lists
For the third year in a row, I have made a list of my favorite books from the past twelve months. Though this has been my best reading year in terms of numbers (220 books!), I actually didn’t fall in love with as many books. This year’s list includes 45 books, which is a mere 20% of my total 2017 reading. Oh, well. Maybe 2018 will be my best reading year ever. But until then, here are the best books that I read in 2017.
1. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng This book absolutely broke my heart. Celeste Ng’s writing is gorgeous and she so perfectly captures the way a family grieves after an unthinkable tragedy. (I also recommend following her on Twitter. She’s a delight.) 2. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff The main characters in this novel are so incredibly unique and I spent most of the novel wishing that I knew people like them. Or that I could be like them. They were fascinating and I was disappointed when the book ended because I wanted to spend more time living in their world. 3. All Grown Up by Jami Attenberg As a single woman who isn’t terribly worried about getting married and having children, I related to almost every word in this novel (except the drug stuff). I don’t know if married people or parents would enjoy it as much as I did, though, because the narrator has some pretty strong opinions about marriage and children. Also, fair warning to anyone who reads it (or listens to the audiobook like I did), you might spend the last chapter bawling in the parking lot in front of your apartment. 4. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn I mean, it’s Gillian Flynn. She hasn’t written a word I haven’t loved. 5. The Mothers by Brit Bennett This was one of my first books in 2017, and it held the number one spot for a very long time. The writing is gorgeous and the characters are so beautifully tragic. Plus, the titular “mothers,” who were actually the older women from the church, formed a sort of Greek chorus to provide frequent narration, which really appealed to my theatre nerd side. 6. Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll As much as I hate the phrase “the next Gone Girl,” this one is probably the closest I’ve come to the same feeling I get from Gillian Flynn’s novels. Obviously this one wasn’t as suspenseful and surprising as Flynn’s books, but the twists were very well done. 7. Bang by Barry Lyga I honestly don’t know if I would have loved this book as much if I’d read it at the beginning of the year. It’s about a teenage boy dealing with the guilt he feels regarding the death of his little sister ten years before. If I’d read this before a personal tragedy in August, it likely wouldn’t have had the same effect. But, as it was, I cried through most of this book. 8. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald It’s not the best book ever written, and the romance is pretty cheesy, but this book is basically what I want my life to be someday. A woman comes to a small town and opens a bookstore. What more could you possibly want out of life? 9. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness All you need to know about this book is that it’s extremely heartbreaking. Anything more would spoil things. Just go read it. 10. Reality Boy by A.S. King A.S. King is probably one of my favorite authors. Her books are super weird and I’m not 100% sure I always understand them, but I love them. And this one, while the most “normal,” was also probably her funniest novel. 11. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern I want this book to become a movie and a television series and a musical and a graphic novel and every other type of adaptation imaginable. Because I want to live inside the world of this novel forever. 12. Natchez Burning by Greg Iles A book about white supremacists couldn’t possibly be relevant in 2017, right? 13. The Pact by Jodi Picoult Like most Jodi Picoult books, this one made me feel things. Mostly anger and sadness. I don’t like to feel things, but I’m willing to do so for the sake of her writing. 14. Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo I love books that introduce me to cultures and countries I don’t know much about. In this case, I learned so much about Nigeria and how women are expected to behave within a marriage. 15. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick The characters in this book are painfully real, especially if you’ve spent much time with high school students. It broke my heart, but also gave me a little hope that maybe not all teenagers suck all the time. 16. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson I think this was one of the first books I read in 2017, and I honestly don’t remember a lot about it. I remember that Kate Atkinson included a whole bunch of backstory for the characters, though, and that’s probably what I liked so much about it. I’m a sucker for some good backstory. 17. Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer Teenagers’ heads are randomly exploding and no one can figure out why. Enough said. 18. What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler The events in this book are loosely based on the Steubenville High School rape case from a few years ago. As with any book about sexual assault, this one is difficult to read at times, and every character will piss you off at some point. But it’s such an important topic, and Aaron Hartzler does a great job with it. 19. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah Like most World War II novels, this one was not a quick read for me. But I love Kristin Hannah’s writing and I quickly became attached to the two sisters at the center of the novel. I also bawled through most of the end of this one. 20. You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott It’s a mystery novel about competitive gymnasts! What more could you want? 21. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows If you like alternate histories, you’ll probably like this one. Especially if you like alternate histories that are completely ridiculous. 22. Siracusa by Delia Ephron This is a novel all about rich white people’s problems and for some reason I am completely here for it. 23. The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen I really loved dystopian YA novels until I read 5 million of them. But this is definitely not YA and it’s kind of like dystopia meets grown-up fairy tales. Which, I guess, is right in my wheelhouse. 24. A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro I have a slight obsession with Sherlock Holmes, so of course I loved this modern, gender-flipped version of literature’s best detective. 25. The Circle by Dave Eggers To be perfectly honest, I was tempted to delete all of my social media accounts after I read this. I didn’t, because that would be insane. But I thought about it. The rest are just going to be listed. Because I’m lazy. And I want to get started on my 2018 reading. But, as always, if you want more information on any of these, just let me know. And don’t hesitate to drop me a few recommendations if you feel so inclined. 26. That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor by Anne Sebba 27. The Pain Eater by Beth Goobie 28. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi 29. Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool 30. Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King 31. The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty 32. Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf 33. Ask the Passengers by A.S. King 34. You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day 35. Beautiful Broken Girls by Kim Savage 36. The Sound of Rain by Gregg Olsen 37. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware 38. Lookaway, Lookaway by Wilton Barnhardt 39. Scar Tissue by M.C. Domovitch 40. Walk Into Silence by Susan McBride 41. Windy City Blues by Renee Rosen 42. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys 43. Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain 44. All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda 45. Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia
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Jacinta M. CarterProfessional Book Nerd Archives
December 2018
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