Year-End Lists

Gina Vaynshteyn: 27 Best Books of 2017, as published by Hello Giggles

1. Little Fires Everywhere
   Celeste Ng
2. The Hate U Give
   Angie Thomas
3. The Idiot
   Elif Batuman
4. The Rules Do Not Apply
   Ariel Levy
5. Forest Dark
   Nicole Krauss
6. Exit West
   Mohsin Hamid
7. Difficult Women
   Roxane Gay
8. Sour Heart
   Jenny Zhang
9. Like a Beast
   Carly Joy Miller
10. Stay with Me
    Ayobami Adebayo
11. Rabbit Cake
    Annie Hartnett
12. How to Murder Your Life
    Cat Marnell
13. We Are Never Meeting in Real Life.
    Samantha Irby
14. Priestdaddy
    Patricia Lockwood
15. Weird in a World That’s Not

    A Career Guide for Misfits
    Jennifer Romolini
16. Startup
    Doree Shafrir
17. Woman No. 17
    Edan Lepucki
18. All the Lives I Want

    Essays About My Best Friends Who Happen to Be Famous Strangers
    Alana Massey
19. A Separation
    Katie Kitamura
20. Things That Happened Before the Earthquake
    Chiara Barzini
21. Eat Only When You’re Hungry
    Lindsay Hunter
22. Spineless

    The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone
    Juli Berwald
23. New People
    Danzy Senna
24. The Bright Hour

    A Memoir of Living and Dying
    Nina Riggs
25. Touch
    Courtney Maum
26. Pachinko
    Min Jin Lee
27. Sing, Unburied, Sing
    Jesmyn Ward

Alex Balk: Favorite Books of 2017, as published by The Awl

• Priestdaddy
  Patricia Lockwood
• Other Minds

  The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
  Peter Godfrey-Smith
• Shrinking Violets

  The Secret Life of Shyness
  Joe Moran
• O Sing unto the Lord

  A History of English Church Music
  Andrew Gant
• The Secret Life of the American Musical

  How Broadway Shows Are Built
  Jack Viertel
• Border

  A Journey to the Edge of Europe
  Kapka Kassabova
• No Friends but the Mountains

  Dispatches from the World’s Violent Highlands
  Judith Matloff
• Pale Rider

  The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World
  Laura Spinney
• Asia’s Reckoning

  China, Japan, and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Century
  Richard McGregor
• The Future Is History

  How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
  Masha Gessen
• Istanbul

  A Tale of Three Cities
  Bettany Hughes
• The Attention Merchants

  The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads
  Tim Wu
• Admissions

  Life as a Brain Surgeon
  Henry Marsh
• Behave

  The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
  Robert M. Sapolsky
• Why Buddhism is True

  The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
  Robert Wright
• Beyond the Self

  Conversations between Buddhism and Neuroscience
  Matthieu Ricard and Wolf Singer
• My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
  Emil Ferris
• Hostage
  Guy Delisle
• Fear City

  New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics
  Kim Phillips-Fein
• Uncommon People

  The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars
  David Hepworth
• The Best We Could Do

  An Illustrated Memoir
  Thi Bui
• Bunk

  The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News
  Kevin Young
• The Illustrated Dust Jacket, 1920-1970
  Martin Salisbury
• Peach
  Emma Glass
• Red Winter
  Anneli Furmark
• Victorious Century

  The United Kingdom, 1800-1906
  David Cannadine
• God Save Texas

  A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State
  Lawrence Wright
• Dancing Bears

  True Stories of People Nostalgic for Life Under Tyranny
  Witold Szablowski
• Amiable with Big Teeth
  Claude McKay

Joseph Salvatore: Best 50 Books of 2017, as published by The Brooklyn Rail

Nonfiction

1. China Lake

   A Journey into the Contradicted Heart of a Global Climate Catastrophe
   Barret Baumgart
2. The Best We Could Do

   An Illustrated Memoir
   Thi Bui
3. Cornell ’77

   The Music, the Myth, and the Magnificence of the Grateful Dead’s Concert at Barton Hall
   Peter Conners
4. Je Suis L’Autre

   Essays & Interrogations
   Kristina Marie Darling
5. Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
   Reni Eddo-Lodge
6. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
   Dan Egan
7. The Doubles
   Scott Esposito
8. Do I Make Myself Clear?

   Why Writing Well Matters
   Harold Evans
9. Abandon Me
   Melissa Febos
10. World Without Mind

    The Existential Threat of Big Tech
    Franklin Foer
11. Shirley Jackson

    A Rather Haunted Life
    Ruth Franklin
12. Hunger

    A Memoir of (My) Body
    Roxane Gay
13. Sunshine State
    Sarah Gerard
14. Killers of the Flower Moon

    The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
    David Grann
15. Knowing Knott

    Essays on an American Poet
    Edited by Steven Huff
16. Question Like a Face
    Christine Hume and Jeff Clark
17. Literary Witches

    A Celebration of Magical Women Writers
    Taisia Kitaiskaia
18. After Kathy Acker
    Chris Kraus
19. Tell Me How It Ends

    An Essay in 40 Questions
    Valeria Luiselli
20. Draft No. 4

    On the Writing Process
    John McPhee
21. After the Eclipse

    A Mother’s Murder, a Daughter’s Search
    Sarah Perry
22. The Mother of All Questions
    Rebecca Solnit
23. The Blood of Emmett Till
    Timothy B. Tyson
24. Among the Living and the Dead

    A Tale of Exile and Homecoming on the War Roads of Europe
    Inara Verzemnieks
25. The Show That Never Ends

    The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock
    David Weigel

Fiction

1. The Power
   Naomi Alderman
2. The Hunger Saint
   Olivia Kate Cerrone
3. So Many Olympic Exertions
   Anelise Chen
4. American War
   Omar El Akkad
5. Future Home of the Living God
   Louise Erdrich
6. The Gypsy Moth Summer
   Julia Fierro
7. The Iliac Crest
   Cristina Rivera Garza
8. The Epiphany Machine
   David Burr Gerrard
9. The Gargoyle Hunters
   John Freeman Gill
10. Bad Dreams and Other Stories
    Tessa Hadley
11. Exit West
    Mohsin Hamid
12. A Separation
    Katie Kitamura
13. The Leavers
    Lisa Ko
14. Stranger, Father, Beloved
    Taylor Larsen
15. Pachinko
    Min Jin Lee
16. Dear Cyborgs
    Eugene Lim
17. Her Body and Other Parties
    Carmen Maria Machado
18. The Ninth Hour
    Alice McDermott
19. My Heart Hemmed In
    Marie NDiaye
20. Little Fires Everywhere
    Celeste Ng
21. The Standard Grand
    Jay Baron Nicorvo
22. Heritage of Smoke
    Josip Novakovich
23. Refrigerated Music for a Gleaming Woman
    Aimee Parkison
24. Wait Till You See Me Dance
    Deb Olin Unferth
25. Sour Heart
    Jenny Zhang

The Michigan Daily: Top 10 Books of 2017

1. We Were Eight Years in Power

   An American Tragedy
   Ta-Nehisi Coates
2. Hunger

   A Memoir of (My) Body
   Roxane Gay
3. Gather the Daughters
   Jennie Melamed
4. Little Fires Everywhere
   Celeste Ng
5. They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us
   Hanif Abdurraqib
6. A Column of Fire
   Ken Follett
7. Ill Will
   Dan Chaon
8. The Idiot
   Elif Batuman
9. Goodbye, Vitamin
   Rachel Khong
10. Mean
    Myriam Gurba

Book Riot: Best Books of 2017

• A Conjuring of Light
  V.E. Schwab
• All Grown Up
  Jami Attenberg
• An Extraordinary Union
  Alyssa Cole
• Bluebird, Bluebird
  Attica Locke
• Don’t Call Us Dead
  Danez Smith
• Exit West
  Mohsin Hamid
• Hate to Want You
  Alisha Rai
• Her Body and Other Parties
  Carmen Maria Machado
• Hunger

  A Memoir of (My) Body
  Roxane Gay
• Lincoln in the Bardo
  George Saunders
• Little Fires Everywhere
  Celeste Ng
• My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
  Emil Ferris
• One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter
  Scaachi Koul
• Pachinko
  Min Jin Lee
• Priestdaddy
  Patricia Lockwood
• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  Jesmyn Ward
• The Changeling
  Victor LaValle
• The Fact of a Body

  A Murder and a Memoir
  Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
• The Gauntlet
  Karuna Riazi
• The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
  Mackenzi Lee
• The Hate U Give
  Angie Thomas
• The Prey of Gods
  Nicky Drayden
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
  Taylor Jenkins Reid
• The Wanderers
  Meg Howrey
• We Are Okay
  Nina LaCour
• We Were Eight Years in Power

  An American Tragedy
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
  Lesley Nneka Arimah
• When Dimple Met Rishi
  Sandhya Menon
• White Tears
  Hari Kunzru
• You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me
  Sherman Alexie

Shelf Awareness: Best Books of 2017

[see also 2018]

Fiction

• A Horse Walks into a Bar
  David Grossman
• Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
  Balli Kaur Jaswal
• Exit West
  Mohsin Hamid
• Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan
  Ruth Gilligan
• Since I Laid My Burden Down
  Brontez Purnell
• So Much Blue
  Percival Everett
• Sour Heart
  Jenny Zhang
• South Pole Station
  Ashley Shelby
• Stay with Me
  Ayobami Adebayo
• The Bear and the Nightingale
  Katherine Arden
• The Girl in Green
  Derek B. Miller
• The Marsh King’s Daughter
  Karen Dionne
• The Year of the Comet
  Sergei Lebedev
• What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky
  Lesley Nneka Arimah
• White Tears
  Hari Kunzru

Nonfiction

• A Really Big Lunch

  Meditations on Food and Life from the Roving Gourmand
  Jim Harrison
• Ants Among Elephants

  An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern India
  Sujatha Gidla
• Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet

  Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene
  Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Nils Bubandt, Elaine Gan, Heather Anne Swanson
• Cuz

  The Life and Times of Michael A.
  Danielle S. Allen
• Ghost of the Innocent Man

  A True Story of Trial and Redemption
  Benjamin Rachlin
• Give a Girl a Knife
  Amy Thielen
• Hunger

  A Memoir of (My) Body
  Roxane Gay
• Insomniac City

  New York, Oliver Sacks, and Me
  Bill Hayes
• Killers of the Flower Moon

  The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
  David Grann
• No One Cares About Crazy People

  The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America
  Ron Powers
• Priestdaddy
  Patricia Lockwood
• The Best We Could Do

  An Illustrated Memoir
  Thi Bui
• The Lost City of the Monkey God

  A True Story
  Douglas Preston
• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
  Reni Eddo-Lodge
• You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me
  Sherman Alexie

The Stranger: Top 20 Books of 2017, plus a list of “besties”

• Difficult Women
  Roxane Gay
• The Mother of All Questions
  Rebecca Solnit
• This Is How It Always Is
  Laurie Frankel
• Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History
  Kurt Andersen
• In the Long Run We Are All Dead

  Keynesianism, Political Economy, and Revolution
  Geoff Mann
• The Rules Do Not Apply
  Ariel Levy
• Nomadland

  Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
  Jessica Bruder
• Did It! From Yippie To Yuppie

  Jerry Rubin, An American Revolutionary
  Pat Thomas
• Love and Trouble

  A Midlife Reckoning
  Claire Dederer
• Afterglow (a dog memoir)
  Eileen Myles
• World Without Mind

  The Existential Threat of Big Tech
  Franklin Foer
• Vinyl Freak

  Love Letters to a Dying Medium
  John Corbett
• (v.)
  Anastacia Renee
• Priestdaddy
  Patricia Lockwood
• Ranger Games

  A Story of Soldiers, Family and an Inexplicable Crime
  Ben Blum
• Conflict Is Not Abuse

  Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair
  Sarah Schulman
• The Best We Could Do

  An Illustrated Memoir
  Thi Bui
• There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce
  Morgan Parker
• All Grown Up
  Jami Attenberg
• What Happened
  Hillary Rodham Clinton

Besties

• Lincoln in the Bardo
  George Saunders
• We Were Eight Years in Power

  An American Tragedy
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Future Is History

  How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
  Masha Gessen
• The Raincoats
  Jenn Pelly
• Good Booty

  Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music
  Ann Powers
• The Trouble with Reality

  A Rumination on Moral Panic in Our Time
  Brooke Gladstone
• Bunk

  The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News
  Kevin Young
• Ugly Time
  Sarah Galvin
• Catcall
  Holly Melgard
• Other Russias
  Victoria Lomasko
• Boyfriends
  Tara Atkinson
• Nature Poem
  Tommy Pico
• While Standing in Line for Death
  CAConrad
• Unreal City
  D.J. Bryant
• Why Poetry
  Matthew Zapruder
• My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
  Emil Ferris
• Sour Heart
  Jenny Zhang
• Dreaming the Beatles

  The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World
  Rob Sheffield
• The State of Affairs

  Rethinking Infidelity
  Esther Perel
• Why We Sleep

  Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
  Matthew Walker
• Homo Deus

  A Brief History of Tomorrow
  Yuval Harari

The Week: Best Books of 2017, divided into novels and nonfiction

Novels

1. Lincoln in the Bardo
   George Saunders
2. Sing, Unburied, Sing
   Jesmyn Ward
3. Exit West
   Mohsin Hamid
4. White Tears
   Hari Kunzru
5. Manhattan Beach
   Jennifer Egan

Nonfiction

1. Killers of the Flower Moon

   The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
   David Grann
2. The Future Is History

   How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
   Masha Gessen
3. We Were Eight Years in Power

   An American Tragedy
   Ta-Nehisi Coates
4. Grant
   Ron Chernow
5. Hunger

   A Memoir of (My) Body
   Roxane Gay

Barack Obama: Best Books I Read in 2017

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

• The Power
  Naomi Alderman
• Grant
  Ron Chernow
• Evicted

  Poverty and Profit in the American City
  Matthew Desmond
• Janesville

  An American Story
  Amy Goldstein
• Exit West
  Mohsin Hamid
• Five-Carat Soul
  James McBride
• Anything Is Possible
  Elizabeth Strout
• Dying
  Cory Taylor
• A Gentleman in Moscow
  Amor Towles
• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  Jesmyn Ward

Bonus for hoops fans

• Coach Wooden and Me

  Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court
  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
• Basketball (and Other Things)

  A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated
  Shea Serrano

Harper’s Bazaar: Best Books of 2017

[see also 2020 • 2018 • 2016 • 2015]

1. Pachinko
   Min Jin Lee
2. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
   Gail Honeyman
3. Saints for All Occasions
   J. Courtney Sullivan
4. Exit West
   Mohsin Hamid
5. Anything Is Possible
   Elizabeth Strout
6. Little Fires Everywhere
   Celeste Ng
7. Lincoln in the Bardo
   George Saunders
8. Hunger

   A Memoir of (My) Body
   Roxane Gay
9. What We Lose
   Zinzi Clemmons
10. A Separation
    Katie Kitamura
11. How to Murder Your Life
    Cat Marnell
12. Joni

    The Anthology
    Barney Hoskyns
13. Marlena
    Julie Buntin
14. South and West

    From a Notebook
    Joan Didion
15. The Golden House
    Salman Rushdie
16. My Life with Bob

    Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues
    Pamela Paul
17. The Rules Do Not Apply
    Ariel Levy
18. Theft by Finding

    Diaries (1977-2002)
    David Sedaris
19. Debriefing

    Collected Stories
    Susan Sontag