Year-End Lists

A hand-curated, browsable index of notable year-end lists. Follow the link for each list to see essential commentary from its author, at the source.
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Highlights

2016 Books

Maria Popova: 16 Favorite Books of 2016

22 December 2016

The Lonely City - Olivia Laing

Maria Popova: 16 Favorite Books of 2016

[see also 2018 • 2015]

  1. The Lonely City
    Adventures in the Art of Being Alone
    Olivia Laing
  2. Hope in the Dark
    Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities
    Rebecca Solnit
  3. Upstream
    Selected Essays
    Mary Oliver
  4. Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space
    Janna Levin
  5. Time Travel
    A History
    James Gleick
  6. The View from the Cheap Seats
    Selected Nonfiction
    Neil Gaiman
  7. Hold Still
    A Memoir with Photographs
    Sally Mann
  8. Anger and Forgiveness
    Resentment, Generosity, Justice
    Martha C. Nussbaum
  9. Unforbidden Pleasures
    Rethinking Authority, Power, and Vitality
    Adam Phillips
  10. The Course of Love
    A Novel
    Alain de Botton
  11. The Gutsy Girl
    Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure
    Caroline Paul
  12. Hidden Figures
    The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race
    Margot Lee Shetterly
  13. Becoming Wise
    An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living
    Krista Tippett
  14. The Abundance
    Narrative Essays Old and New
    Annie Dillard
  15. When Breath Becomes Air
    Paul Kalanithi
  16. Pinocchio
    The Origin Story
    Alessandro Sanna

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Year-end lists are fingerprints; aggregate statistics are smudges. Therefore, I make no tallies.