Year-End Lists

Powell's Books: Best Fiction of 2017

[see also Best Nonfiction of 2023 • Best Fiction of 2023 • Best Nonfiction of 2022 • Best Fiction of 2022 • The 14 Best Nonfiction Books of 2021 • The 18 Best Novels of 2021 • Best Fiction of 2020 • Best Nonfiction of 2020 • Best Fiction of 2019 • Best Nonfiction of 2019 • Best Fiction of 2018 • Best Nonfiction of 2018 • Best Nonfiction of 2017 • Best Fiction of 2016 • Best Nonfiction of 2016 • Best Nonfiction Books of 2015 • Best Fiction Books of 2015 • Best Fiction of 2014 • Best Nonfiction of 2014]

• American War
  Omar El Akkad
• History of Wolves
  Emily Fridlund
• The Child Finder
  Rene Denfeld
• Swallowing Mercury
  Wioletta Greg
• Her Body and Other Parties
  Carmen Maria Machado
• Homesick for Another World
  Ottessa Moshfegh
• Lincoln in the Bardo
  George Saunders
• My Absolute Darling
  Gabriel Tallent
• The Refugees
  Viet Thanh Nguyen
• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  Jesmyn Ward
• Universal Harvester
  John Darnielle
• Bunkie Spills
  Bradley K. Rosen
• Autumn
  Ali Smith
• The Dark Dark
  Samantha Hunt
• What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
  Lesley Nneka Arimah
• The Invented Part
  Rodrigo Fresán
• The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter
  Kia Corthron
• Loner
  Teddy Wayne
• Paris in the Present Tense
  Mark Helprin
• My Cat Yugoslavia
  Pajtim Statovci
• Exit West
  Mohsin Hamid

Northern Transmissions: Top 10 Albums of 2017

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018]

1. american dream
   LCD Soundsystem
2. Pure Comedy
   Father John Misty
3. Sleep Well Beast
   The National
4. Antisocialites
   Alvvays
5. DAMN.
   Kendrick Lamar
6. Relatives in Descent
   Protomartyr
7. A Deeper Understanding
   The War on Drugs
8. Slowdive
   Slowdive
9. Flower Boy
   Tyler, The Creator
10. This Old Dog
    Mac DeMarco

Honorable mentions

• MASSEDUCTION
  St. Vincent
• Crack-Up
  Fleet Foxes

This year’s installment of David Ehrlich’s always enjoyable video countdown: 25 Best Films of 2017. See also his notes about the films.

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Call Me by Your Name
   Luca Guadagnino
2. Dunkirk
   Christopher Nolan
3. A Ghost Story
   David Lowery
4. Personal Shopper
   Olivier Assayas
5. The Florida Project
   Sean Baker
6. Columbus
   Kogonada
7. Lady Bird
   Greta Gerwig
8. Faces Places
   Agnès Varda and JR
9. The Post
   Steven Spielberg
10. Phantom Thread
    Paul Thomas Anderson
11. A Quiet Passion
    Terence Davies
12. Okja
    Bong Joon-ho
13. Wonderstruck
    Todd Haynes
14. Good Time
    Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
15. The Beguiled
    Sofia Coppola
16. Get Out
    Jordan Peele
17. Thelma
    Joachim Trier
18. The Big Sick
    Michael Showalter
19. Foxtrot
    Samuel Maoz
20. A Fantastic Woman
    Sebastián Lelio
21. Lady Macbeth
    William Oldroyd
22. mother!
    Darren Aronofsky
23. Baby Driver
    Edgar Wright
24. The Lure
    Agnieszka Smoczynska
25. All These Sleepless Nights
    Michal Marczak

Gorilla vs. Bear: 62 Favorite Albums of 2017

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2010s • 2019 • 2018 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Yaeji
   yaeji
1. EP2
   yaeji
2. Kelly Lee Owens
   Kelly Lee Owens
3. Sugar at the Gate
   TOPS
4. Party
   Aldous Harding
5. Dust
   Laurel Halo
6. Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines
   Shabazz Palaces
6. Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star
   Shabazz Palaces
7. Playboi Carti
   Playboi Carti
8. Faye Webster
   Faye Webster
9. The OOZ
   King Krule
10. Happy Together
    Mega Bog
11. Boo Boo
    Toro y Moi
12. Big Fish Theory
    Vince Staples
13. Real High
    Nite Jewel
14. Willowbank
    Yumi Zouma
15. AVANTI
    Alessandro Cortini
16. Antisocialites
    Alvvays
17. Plunge
    Fever Ray
18. Nektyr
    Demen
19. Tailwhip
    Men I Trust
20. You Tried
    Hater
21. Routines
    Hoops
22. Ariadna
    Kedr Livanskiy
23. Chthonic
    Julia Lucille
24. Good Time (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
    Oneohtrix Point Never
25. Not Even Happiness
    Julie Byrne
26. Lovers
    Anna of the North
27. She-Devils
    She-Devils
28. Ctrl
    SZA
29. Mister Mellow
    Washed Out
30. Colón Man
    Equiknoxx
31. Love What Survives
    Mount Kimbie
32. Tenderness
    Blue Hawaii
33. Wildly Idle (Humble Before the Void)
    Hand Habits
34. Capacity
    Big Thief
35. DAMN.
    Kendrick Lamar
36. Do you mind
    SASSY 009
37. Grafts
    Kara-Lis Coverdale
38. Images
    You’ll Never Get to Heaven
39. Modern Species
    DJ Sports
40. Black Origami
    Jlin
41. Painted Ruins
    Grizzly Bear
42. Take Me Apart
    Kelela
43. The Kid
    Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
44. Won’t Be There
    Luke Reed
45. Phases
    Angel Olsen
46. Purple Moonlight
    Chopstars
47. Please Be Mine
    Molly Burch
48. Windswept
    Johnny Jewel
49. Aytche
    Joseph Shabason
50. Lust for Life
    Lana Del Rey
51. The Demonstration
    Drab Majesty
52. 3:33am
    Amber Mark
53. Dry Your Eyes
    Exit Someone
54. Number 1 Angel
    Charli XCX
55. The Garden
    Carla dal Forno
56. Imaginations
    Molly Nilsson
57. Screen Memories
    John Maus
58. Pharma
    Nmesh
59. Music For People In Trouble
    Susanne Sundfør
60. Phobiza “Noite” Vol. 2
    RAMZi

cléo journal: 12 Films That Stayed with Us

• Lady Bird
  Greta Gerwig
• I Am Not a Witch
  Rungano Nyoni
• On Body and Soul
  Ildikó Enyedi
• Girls Trip
  Malcolm D. Lee
• Suleiman Mountain
  Elizaveta Stishova
• Maison du bonheur
  Sofia Bohdanowicz
• Risk
  Laura Poitras
• Scary Mother
  Ana Urushadze
• Thor: Ragnarok
  Taika Waititi
• Faces Places
  Agnès Varda and JR
• Personal Shopper
  Olivier Assayas
• Call Me by Your Name
  Luca Guadagnino

Anne Thompson: 12 Best Films of 2017, as published by IndieWire

[see also 2019 • 2016 • 2015 • 2011]

1. The Shape of Water
   Guillermo del Toro
2. Lady Bird
   Greta Gerwig
3. Faces Places
   Agnès Varda and JR
4. Blade Runner 2049
   Denis Villeneuve
5. Darkest Hour
   Joe Wright
6. Loveless
   Andrey Zvyagintsev
7. Dunkirk
   Christopher Nolan
8. First They Killed My Father
   Angelina Jolie
9. The Florida Project
   Sean Baker
10. The Big Sick
    Michael Showalter
11. Mudbound
    Dee Rees
12. The Breadwinner
    Nora Twomey

Jim DeRogatis: The Best Albums of 2017, as aired on Sound Opinions

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011]

1. Feel Your Feelings Fool!
   The Regrettes
2. Cost of Living
   Downtown Boys
3. DAMN.
   Kendrick Lamar
4. Nothing Feels Natural
   Priests
5. Rips
   Rips
6. Mental Illness
   Aimee Mann
7. The Autobiography
   Vic Mensa
8. In Between
   The Feelies
9. Silver / Lead
   Wire
10. Lotta Sea Lice
    Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile

Chicago Public Library: 10 Best Books of 2017

[see also 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014]

• Electric Arches
  Eve L. Ewing
• Exit West
  Mohsin Hamid
• Hunger

  A Memoir of (My) Body
  Roxane Gay
• Killers of the Flower Moon

  The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
  David Grann
• Lincoln in the Bardo
  George Saunders
• Little Fires Everywhere
  Celeste Ng
• Manhattan Beach
  Jennifer Egan
• My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
  Emil Ferris
• Pachinko
  Min Jin Lee
• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  Jesmyn Ward

Eric Kohn: 17 Best Movies of 2017, as published by IndieWire

[see also 2023 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2012]

1. Get Out
   Jordan Peele
2. Foxtrot
   Samuel Maoz
3. Lady Bird
   Greta Gerwig
4. A Fantastic Woman
   Sebastián Lelio
5. Phantom Thread
   Paul Thomas Anderson
6. Good Time
   Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
7. The Florida Project
   Sean Baker
8. The Ornithologist
   João Pedro Rodrigues
9. Menashe
   Joshua Z Weinstein
10. The Death of Louis XIV
    Albert Serra
11. Ex Libris: New York Public Library
    Frederick Wiseman
12. mother!
    Darren Aronofsky
13. Rat Film
    Theo Anthony
14. A Ghost Story
    David Lowery
15. Faces Places
    Agnès Varda and JR
16. Personal Shopper
    Olivier Assayas
17. Kedi
    Ceyda Torun

The Los Angeles Times: 36 Best Books of 2017

Fiction

• The Power
  Naomi Alderman
• Ill Will
  Dan Chaon
• Shadowbahn
  Steve Erickson
• So Much Blue
  Percival Everett
• Exit West
  Mohsin Hamid
• A Legacy of Spies
  John le Carré
• Ka

  Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr
  John Crowley
• Dinner at the Center of the Earth
  Nathan Englander
• The Leavers
  Lisa Ko
• Her Body and Other Parties
  Carmen Maria Machado
• The Burning Girl
  Claire Messud
• A Book of American Martyrs
  Joyce Carol Oates
• Songy Of Paradise
  Gary Panter
• Mrs. Fletcher
  Tom Perrotta
• Wonder Valley
  Ivy Pochoda
• Lincoln in the Bardo
  George Saunders
• Home Fire
  Kamila Shamsie
• Borne
  Jeff VanderMeer
• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  Jesmyn Ward

Nonfiction

• Coach Wooden and Me

  Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court
  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me
  Sherman Alexie
• Wrestling With His Angel

  The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln Vol. II, 1849-1856
  Sidney Blumenthal
• What Happened
  Hillary Rodham Clinton
• We Were Eight Years in Power

  An American Tragedy
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• World Without Mind

  The Existential Threat of Big Tech
  Franklin Foer
• The Great Quake

  How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet
  Henry Fountain
• High Noon

  The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic
  Glenn Frankel
• Shirley Jackson

  A Rather Haunted Life
  Ruth Franklin
• Hunger

  A Memoir of (My) Body
  Roxane Gay
• The Future Is History

  How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
  Masha Gessen
• Killers of the Flower Moon

  The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
  David Grann
• Calder: The Conquest of Time: The Early Years: 1898-1940
  Jed Perl
• Jonathan Swift

  The Reluctant Rebel
  John Stubbs
• The Blood of Emmett Till
  Timothy B. Tyson
• Bunk

  The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News
  Kevin Young
• Why Poetry
  Matthew Zapruder