Year-End Lists

Notable, browsable lists of the year's best music, movies, books, and TV shows. Year-end lists are fingerprints; aggregate statistics are smudges. Therefore, we make no tallies. Follow the link for each list to see essential commentary from its authors, at the source.
2016 Books

Maria Popova: 16 Favorite Books of 2016

22 December 2016

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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