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Best Books 2017 This year we used 28 review sources to choose the best of the best. Every fiction book was mentioned on at least 5 lists and each nonfiction was mentioned on at least 3.
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"Winners" in Fiction and Nonfiction
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Sing, Unburied, Sing : a novel
by Jesmyn Ward
Living with his grandparents and toddler sister on a Gulf Coast farm, Jojo navigates the challenges of his tormented mother's addictions and his grandmother's terminal cancer before the release of his father from prison prompts a road trip of danger and hope. By the National Book Award-winning author of Salvage the Bones. Appeared on 19 lists.
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Killers of the Flower Moon : the Osage murders and the birth of the FBI by David GrannThe best-selling author of The Lost City of Z presents a true account of the early 20th-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. (true crime). Appeared on 15 lists.
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The Power : a novel
by Naomi Alderman
In a novel of speculative fiction, an award-winning author contemplates a world where teenage girls now have immense physical power—they can cause agonizing pain and even death, drastically resetting the balance of the world. By the author of The Liars' Gospel. Appeared on 6 lists.
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Manhattan Beach : a novel
by Jennifer Egan
Years after she is placed in the hands of a stranger vital to her family's survival, Anna takes a job at the Brooklyn Naval Yard during the war while meeting with the man who helped them and learning important truths about her father's disappearance. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad. Appeared on 12 lists.
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Exit West : a novel
by Mohsin Hamid
The internationally best-selling author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist presents the story of two young lovers whose furtive affair is shaped by local unrest on the eve of a civil war that erupts in a cataclysmic bombing attack, forcing them to abandon their previous home and lives. Appeared on 16 lists.
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Magpie Murders
by Anthony Horowitz
Ignoring the troubling behavior of an eccentric crime writer with whom she has worked for years, editor Susan Ryeland is dismayed when a subplot hidden in the author's latest manuscript reveals a real-world murder. By the best-selling author of Moriarty. Appeared on 8 lists.
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Goodbye, Vitamin : a novel
by Rachel Khong
Struggling with disillusionment in the aftermath of a broken engagement, Ruth moves back home with her parents to discover that her professor father's erratic memory loss and her mother's eccentricity are manifesting in near-comical ways that help Ruth transform her grief. A first novel. Appeared on 5 lists.
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The Leavers : a novel
by Lisa Ko
An award-winning debut novel follows the experiences of a Chinese youth who when his undocumented worker mother fails to return home is adopted by a family that attempts to make him over as an American teen while he struggles to reconcile his new life with memories of the family he left behind. Appeared on 6 lists.
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White Tears
by Hari Kunzru
Two ambitious young musicians—one shy, the other a glamorous heir—are drawn into the dark underworld of blues-record collecting while navigating the ghosts of a repressive past and the fallout of a scam involving one's claim that a viral video of an unknown singer is the long-lost recording of a famous blues musician. Appeared on 6 lists.
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Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee
In early 1900s Korea, prized daughter Sunja finds herself pregnant and alone, bringing shame on her family until a young tubercular minister offers to marry her and bring her to Japan, in the saga of one family bound together as their faith and identity are called into question. Appeared on 9 lists.
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Her Body and Other Parties : stories
by Carmen Maria Machado
Bordering psychological realism and science fiction, a collection of stories explore the reality of women's lives and the violence inflicted upon their bodies. Appeared on 8 lists.
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Little Fires Everywhere
by Celeste Ng
Fighting an ugly custody battle with an artistic tenant who has little regard for the strict rules of their progressive Cleveland suburb, a straitlaced family woman who is seeking to adopt a baby becomes obsessed with exposing the tenant's past, only to trigger devastating consequences for both of their families. Appeared on 9 lists.
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The Refugees
by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer presents a new collection of stories, written over a 20-year period, which explores questions of home, family, immigration, the American experience and the relationships and desires for self-fulfillment that define our lives. Appeared on 6 lists.
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Glass Houses
by Louise Penny
When a mysterious figure travels through Three Pines and leaves a dead body in its wake, Armand Gamache pursues a difficult investigation that yields unexpected consequences and forces him into a battle with his own conscience. Start with the first in the series, Still Life. Appeared on 7 lists.
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The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
by Arundhati Roy
A provocative love story by the award-winning author of The God of Small Things meanders through a spectrum of powerful emotions experienced by diverse protagonists, including a grieving father who writes a letter profiling the people who came to his 5-year-old daughter's funeral and two longtime friends at a guest house who sleep wrapped around each other like newlyweds. Appeared on 9 lists.
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Lincoln in the Bardo : a novel
by George Saunders
A long-awaited first novel by the National Book Award-nominated, New York Times best-selling author of Tenth of December traces a night of solitary mourning and reflection as experienced by the 16th President after the death of his 11-year-old son at the dawn of the Civil War. Appeared on 18 lists.
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Home Fire
by Kamila Shamsie
Given a chance to resume a deferred dream years after raising her troubled siblings, Isma worries about the influence of a powerful politician's son who drives the family to choose between love and loyalty, with devastating consequences. By the award-winning author of Broken Verses. Appeared on 7 lists.
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Anything Is Possible
by Elizabeth Strout
Two sisters, one who trades self-respect for a wealthy husband and one who discovers a kindred spirit in the pages of a book, struggle with intimate human dramas at the sides of their community members and a returned Lucy Barton. By the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Olive Kitteridge. Appeared on 9 lists.
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Sour Heart : stories
by Jenny Zhang
The award-winning author of the poetry collection, Dear Jenny, We Are All Find presents a debut story collection that explores the hearts and inner lives of a group of adolescent girls from China and Taiwan who come of age and come to terms with their pasts in a New York City artist community. Appeared on 5 lists.
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You Don't Have to Say You Love Me : a memoir
by Sherman Alexie
The National Book Award-winning author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian presents a literary memoir of poems, essays and intimate family photos that reflect his complicated feelings about his disadvantaged childhood on a Native American reservation with his siblings and alcoholic parents. Appeared on 11 lists.
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Grant
by Ron Chernow
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Washington: A Life presents a meticulously researched portrait of the complicated Civil War general and 18th President, challenging the views of his critics while sharing insights into his prowess as a military leader, the honor with which he conducted his administration and the rise and fall of his fortunes. Appeared on 10 lists.
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What Happened
by Hillary Rodham Clinton
A new book of essays by the former secretary of state includes entries describing her experiences in the 2016 presidential campaign and incorporates hundreds of inspirational quotes that have shaped her life and work. Appeared on 6 lists.
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We Were Eight Years in Power : an American tragedy
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A compelling portrait of the historic Barack Obama era, combining new and annotated essays from the National Book Award-winning author of Between the World and Me, includes the articles, "Fear of a Black President" and "The Case for Reparations" as well as two new pieces on the Obama administration and what is coming next. Appeared on 9 lists.
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Between Them : remembering my parents
by Richard Ford
Presents a memoir in two parts on the lives of the author's parents in the Depression-era South that explores their motivations and dreams, his traveling salesman father's early death, and the family's transient lives in a series of hotels. Appeared on 3 lists.
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Prairie Fires : the American dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
by Caroline Fraser
A comprehensive historical portrait of Laura Ingalls Wilder draws on unpublished manuscripts, letters, diaries and official records to fill in the gaps in Wilder's official story, sharing lesser-known details about her pioneer experiences while challenging popular misconceptions about how her books were ghostwritten. Appeared on 4 lists.
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Hunger : a memoir of (my) body
by Roxane Gay
The popular Tumblr blogger and best-selling author of Bad Feminist explores the devastating act of violence that triggered her personal challenges with food and body image, sharing advice for caring for oneself and eating in healthful and satisfying ways. Appeared on 12 lists.
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The Future is History : how totalitarianism reclaimed Russia
by Masha Gessen
The award-winning Russian-American journalist and author of the best-selling The Man Without a Face traces how within the space of a generation, Russia has succumbed to a more virulent and resistant strain of autocracy as demonstrated by the experiences of four prototype individuals born at the once-presumed dawn of Russian democracy. Appeared on 9 lists.
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Endurance : a year in space, a lifetime of discovery
by Scott Kelly
An illustrated memoir by the astronaut who spent a record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station shares candid reminiscences of his voyage, his colorful formative years and the off-planet journeys that shaped his early career. Appeared on 4 lists.
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An American Family : a memoir of hope and sacrifice
by Khizr Khan
The Pakistani immigrant turned U.S. citizen, Gold Star parent and popular DNC speaker documents the story of his family's pursuit of the American dream, urging readers to respond to today's tumultuous challenges by stepping forward and advocating on behalf of what they find most important. Appeared on 3 lists.
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The Rules Do Not Apply : a memoir
by Ariel Levy
An award-winning New Yorker staff writer and author of Female Chauvinist Pigs shares a profound, hopeful memoir of her own experiences with devastating loss to council fellow survivors about the healing aspects of accepting difficult life challenges that are beyond our control. Appeared on 4 lists.
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The Undoing Project : a friendship that changed our minds
by Michael Lewis
Examines the history of behavioral economics, discussing the theory of Israeli psychologists who wrote the original studies undoing assumptions about the decision-making process and the influence it has had on evidence-based regulation. Appeared on 3 lists.
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Priestdaddy
by Patricia Lockwood
The author of Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals presents a darkly comic memoir about her relationship with her unconventional married Catholic priest father, describing emblematic moments from her youth and the crisis that led the author and her non-religious husband to briefly live in her parents' rectory. Appeared on 9 lists.
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I was Told to Come Alone : my journey behind the lines of jihad
by Souad Mekhennet
The Washington Post national security correspondent who broke the "Jihadi John" story draws on her personal experience as a multicultural woman with unique access to the world of jihad to share insights into the rise of Islamic radicalism and the gap between the Muslim world and the West. Appeared on 4 lists.
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The Lost City of the Monkey God : a true story
by Douglas J Preston
The co-author of the FBI Agent Pendergast series presents a high-suspense account of the discovery of a lost civilization, contemporaries of the Mayans who lived deep in the Honduran jungle. Appeared on 6 lists.
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Option B : facing adversity, building resilience, and finding joy
by Sheryl Sandberg
Combining personal insights with research on finding strength in the face of adversity, the COO of Facebook and a top psychologist explore how to move beyond hardships, grief, and loss to persevere, build resilience, and rediscover joy. Appeared on 3 lists.
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Theft by Finding : diaries (1977-2002)
by David Sedaris
An anthology of personal favorite diary entries by the best-selling author of Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls features excerpts that have inspired his famed autobiographical essays and shares insights into the intimate arenas of his life. Appeared on 4 lists.
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The Blood of Emmett Till
by Timothy B Tyson
Draws on previously untapped firsthand testimonies and recovered court transcripts to present a scholarly account of the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and its role in launching the civil rights movement. By the award-winning author of Blood Done Sign My Name. (United States history). Appeared on 3 lists.
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