Year-End Lists

Powell's Books: Best Nonfiction 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 Fiction 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]

• Hourglass

  Time, Memory, Marriage
  Dani Shapiro
• On Tyranny

  Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
  Timothy Snyder
• Killers of the Flower Moon

  The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
  David Grann
• World Without Mind

  The Existential Threat of Big Tech
  Franklin Foer
• Surpassing Certainty

  What My Twenties Taught Me
  Janet Mock
• Tell Me How It Ends

  An Essay in 40 Questions
  Valeria Luiselli

The A.V. Club: 24 Favorite Books of 2017

[see also 2021 • 2020 • 2018 • 2015]

• What We Lose
  Zinzi Clemmons
• The Book of Dust

  La Belle Sauvage (Volume 1)
  Philip Pullman
• The Answers
  Catherine Lacey
• Lincoln in the Bardo
  George Saunders
• The Mother of All Questions
  Rebecca Solnit
• Exit West
  Mohsin Hamid
• Homesick for Another World
  Ottessa Moshfegh
• Theft by Finding

  Diaries (1977-2002)
  David Sedaris
• A Separation
  Katie Kitamura
• 21st-Century Yokel
  Tom Cox
• Idaho
  Emily Ruskovich
• Imaginary Cities

  A Tour of Dream Cities, Nightmare Cities, and Everywhere in Between
  Darran Anderson
• The Unwomanly Face of War

  An Oral History of Women in World War II
  Svetlana Alexievich
• Paperbacks from Hell

  The Twisted History of ’70s and ’80s Horror Fiction
  Grady Hendrix
• Word by Word

  The Secret Life of Dictionaries
  Kory Stamper
• Strange the Dreamer
  Laini Taylor
• Out in the Open
  Jesús Carrasco
• Sour Heart
  Jenny Zhang
• The Last Days of Café Leila
  Donia Bijan
• Vacationland

  True Stories from Painful Beaches
  John Hodgman
• Flâneuse

  Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London
  Lauren Elkin
• Why I Am Not A Feminist

  A Feminist Manifesto
  Jessa Crispin
• 300 Arguments
  Sarah Manguso
• Turtles All the Way Down
  John Green

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

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

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

The New York Times: 10 Best Books of 2017

[see also The 10 Best Books of 2023 • 100 Notable Books of 2023 • The 10 Best Books of 2022 • 100 Notable Books of 2022 • The 10 Best Books of 2021 • 100 Notable Books of 2021 • The 10 Best Books of 2020 • 100 Notable Books of 2020 • 100 Notable Books of 2019 • The 10 Best Books of 2019 • 10 Best Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2017 • 10 Best Books of 2016 • 10 Best Books of 2015 • The 10 Best Books of 2014 • The 10 Best Books of 2013 • 100 Notable Books of 2012 • 10 Best Books of 2012 • 100 Notable Books of 2011 • Ten Best Books of 2011]

Fiction

• Autumn
  Ali Smith
• Exit West
  Mohsin Hamid
• Pachinko
  Min Jin Lee
• The Power
  Naomi Alderman
• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  Jesmyn Ward

Nonfiction

• The Evolution of Beauty

  How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World – and Us
  Richard O. Prum
• Grant
  Ron Chernow
• Locking Up Our Own

  Crime and Punishment in Black America
  James Forman Jr.
• Prairie Fires

  The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
  Caroline Fraser
• Priestdaddy
  Patricia Lockwood

The Washington Post: 10 Best Books of 2017

[see also The 10 Best Books of 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2023 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2022 • The 10 Best Books of 2022 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2021 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2021 • The 10 Best Books of 2021 • 10 Best Books of 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020 • 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2020 • Best Books of 2019 • 10 Best Books of 2018 • 100 Notable Books of 2018 • The 10 Best Books of 2016 • 10 Best Books of 2015 • The Ten Best Books of 2014 • Top 10 Books of 2013 • The 10 Best Books of 2012]

• Behave

  The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
  Robert M. Sapolsky
• The Future Is History

  How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
  Masha Gessen
• I Can’t Breathe

  A Killing on Bay Street
  Matt Taibbi
• I Was Told to Come Alone

  My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad
  Souad Mekhennet
• Less
  Andrew Sean Greer
• Lincoln in the Bardo
  George Saunders
• The Power
  Naomi Alderman
• Rising Star

  The Making of Barack Obama
  David Garrow
• Saints for All Occasions
  J. Courtney Sullivan
• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  Jesmyn Ward

National Book Award: Fiction 2017

[see also Fiction 2023 • Nonfiction 2023 • Fiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2022 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2020 • Nonfiction 2020 • Fiction 2019 • Nonfiction 2019 • Fiction 2018 • Nonfiction 2018 • Nonfiction 2017 • Fiction 2016 • Nonfiction 2016 • Fiction 2013 • Nonfiction 2013]

Winner

• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  Jesmyn Ward

Finalists

• Dark at the Crossing
  Elliot Ackerman
• The Leavers
  Lisa Ko
• Pachinko
  Min Jin Lee
• Her Body and Other Parties
  Carmen Maria Machado

Longlist

• The King Is Always Above the People
  Daniel Alarcón
• Miss Burma
  Charmaine Craig
• Manhattan Beach
  Jennifer Egan
• A Kind of Freedom
  Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
• Barren Island
  Carol Zoref

National Book Award: Nonfiction 2017

[see also Fiction 2023 • Nonfiction 2023 • Fiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2022 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2020 • Nonfiction 2020 • Fiction 2019 • Nonfiction 2019 • Fiction 2018 • Nonfiction 2018 • Fiction 2017 • Fiction 2016 • Nonfiction 2016 • Fiction 2013 • Nonfiction 2013]

Winner

• The Future Is History

  How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
  Masha Gessen

Finalists

• Never Caught

  The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge
  Erica Armstrong Dunbar
• The Evangelicals

  The Struggle to Shape America
  Frances FitzGerald
• Killers of the Flower Moon

  The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
  David Grann
• Democracy in Chains

  The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America
  Nancy MacLean

Longlist

• Locking Up Our Own

  Crime and Punishment in Black America
  James Forman Jr.
• No Is Not Enough

  Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need
  Naomi Klein
• The Color of Law

  A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
  Richard Rothstein
• The Blood of Emmett Till
  Timothy B. Tyson
• Bunk

  The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News
  Kevin Young

Kirkus Prize: Nonfiction 2017, awarded by Kirkus Reviews

[see also Fiction 2023 • Nonfiction 2023 • Nonfiction 2022 • Fiction 2022 • Nonfiction 2021 • Fiction 2021 • Nonfiction 2020 • Fiction 2020 • Nonfiction 2019 • Fiction 2019 • Nonfiction 2018 • Fiction 2018 • Fiction 2017 • Nonfiction 2016 • Fiction 2016 • Nonfiction 2015 • Fiction 2015 • Nonfiction 2014 • Fiction 2014]

Winner

• The Gulf

  The Making of An American Sea
  Jack E. Davis

Finalists

• The Seeds of Life

  From Aristotle to da Vinci, from Sharks' Teeth to Frogs' Pants, the Long and Strange Quest to Discover Where Babies Come From
  Edward Dolnick
• Priestdaddy
  Patricia Lockwood
• Tell Me How It Ends

  An Essay in 40 Questions
  Valeria Luiselli
• The Cooking Gene

  A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South
  Michael Twitty
• Henry David Thoreau

  A Life
  Laura Dassow Walls