Year-End Lists

The A.V. Club: 20 Best Albums of 2017

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

1. DAMN.
   Kendrick Lamar
2. MASSEDUCTION
   St. Vincent
3. A Deeper Understanding
   The War on Drugs
4. What Now
   Sylvan Esso
5. Ctrl
   SZA
6. Nothing Feels Natural
   Priests
7. Plunge
   Fever Ray
8. Turn Out the Lights
   Julien Baker
9. Big Fish Theory
   Vince Staples
10. Out in the Storm
    Waxahatchee
11. A Hairshirt of Purpose
    Pile
12. Process
    Sampha
13. Mirror Reaper
    Bell Witch
14. Sleep Well Beast
    The National
15. Utopia
    Björk
16. Guppy
    Charly Bliss
17. Melodrama
    Lorde
18. V
    The Horrors
19. You Can’t Stay Here
    Iron Chic
20. american dream
    LCD Soundsystem

IndieWire: 10 Best TV Shows of 2017

[see also 2022 • 2010s • 2018 • 2016]

1. The Leftovers
2. Better Things
3. Twin Peaks: The Return
4. The Handmaid’s Tale
5. BoJack Horseman
6. Dear White People
7. Halt and Catch Fire
8. Better Call Saul
9. Master of None
10. American Vandal

Ann Hornaday: 12 Best Movies of 2017, as published by The Washington Post. Her article highlights a number of other favorites, too, “honorables duly mentioned”.

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

1. Mudbound
   Dee Rees
2. Lady Bird
   Greta Gerwig
3. The Post
   Steven Spielberg
4. The Big Sick
   Michael Showalter
5. Get Out
   Jordan Peele
6. Call Me by Your Name
   Luca Guadagnino
7. Faces Places
   Agnès Varda and JR
8. Dawson City: Frozen Time
   Bill Morrison
9. A Ghost Story
   David Lowery
10. Dunkirk
    Christopher Nolan
10. Darkest Hour
    Joe Wright
10. Their Finest
    Lone Scherfig

Craig Jenkins: 11 Best Albums of 2017, as published by New York Magazine’s Vulture

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

1. DAMN.
   Kendrick Lamar
2. Slowdive
   Slowdive
3. A Crow Looked at Me
   Mount Eerie
4. 50 Song Memoir
   The Magnetic Fields
5. If All I Was Was Black
   Mavis Staples
6. From A Room: Volume 1
   Chris Stapleton
6. From A Room: Volume 1
   Chris Stapleton
7. Take Me Apart
   Kelela
8. Melodrama
   Lorde
9. Process
   Sampha
10. Hug of Thunder
    Broken Social Scene

Christian Science Monitor: 30 Best Books of 2017

[see also 2018]

Fiction

• Dark at the Crossing
  Elliot Ackerman
• Lincoln in the Bardo
  George Saunders
• The Hate U Give
  Angie Thomas
• Strange the Dreamer
  Laini Taylor
• The Golden Legend
  Nadeem Aslam
• The Leavers
  Lisa Ko
• Salt Houses
  Hala Alyan
• The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories
  Penelope Lively
• Anything Is Possible
  Elizabeth Strout
• The Essex Serpent
  Sarah Perry
• The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
  Arundhati Roy
• Glass Houses
  Louise Penny
• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  Jesmyn Ward

Nonfiction

• The New Odyssey

  The Story of the Twenty-First Century Refugee Crisis
  Patrick Kingsley
• The Souls of China

  The Return of Religion After Mao
  Ian Johnson
• Thunder in the Mountains

  Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War
  Daniel J. Sharfstein
• I Was Told to Come Alone

  My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad
  Souad Mekhennet
• Hue 1968

  A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam
  Mark Bowden
• Sea Power

  The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans
  James Stavridis
• Be Free or Die

  The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls’ Escape from Slavery to Union Hero
  Cate Lineberry
• Reading with Patrick

  A Teacher, a Student, and a Life-Changing Friendship
  Michelle Kuo
• Henry David Thoreau

  A Life
  Laura Dassow Walls
• An Odyssey

  A Father, a Son, and an Epic
  Daniel Mendelsohn
• The Future Is History

  How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
  Masha Gessen
• Code Girls

  The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II
  Liza Mundy
• The Gourmands’ Way

  Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy
  Justin Spring
• Stanton

  Lincoln’s War Secretary
  Walter Stahr
• Grant
  Ron Chernow
• Lenin

  The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror
  Victor Sebestyen
• Calder: The Conquest of Time: The Early Years: 1898-1940
  Jed Perl

Mara Reinstein: Top 10 Movies of 2017, as published by Us Weekly

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

1. Get Out
   Jordan Peele
2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
   Martin McDonagh
3. Lady Bird
   Greta Gerwig
4. Dunkirk
   Christopher Nolan
5. The Big Sick
   Michael Showalter
6. Call Me by Your Name
   Luca Guadagnino
7. I, Tonya
   Craig Gillespie
8. The Florida Project
   Sean Baker
9. Wonder
   Stephen Chbosky
10. mother!
    Darren Aronofsky

Honorable mentions

• The Disaster Artist
  James Franco
• Battle of the Sexes
  Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
• Darkest Hour
  Joe Wright
• Wind River
  Taylor Sheridan
• The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
  Noah Baumbach
• Thor: Ragnarok
  Taika Waititi
• Ingrid Goes West
  Matt Spicer
• Good Time
  Ben Safdie and Joshua Safdie
• Girls Trip
  Malcolm D. Lee

Rob Sheffield: 20 Best TV Shows of 2017, as published by Rolling Stone

1. Twin Peaks: The Return
2. The Young Pope
3. The Leftovers
4. The Good Place
5. The Deuce
6. Patton Oswalt: Annihilation
7. Rick and Morty
8. Insecure
9. Stranger Things
10. Game of Thrones
11. Master of None
12. Difficult People
13. Halt and Catch Fire
14. Better Things
15. The Vietnam War
16. Curb Your Enthusiasm
17. Riverdale
18. Legion
19. Better Call Saul
20. I Love Dick

Entertainment Weekly: 26 Best Albums of 2017

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

1. Melodrama
   Lorde
2. DAMN.
   Kendrick Lamar
3. Ctrl
   SZA
4. MASSEDUCTION
   St. Vincent
5. All American Made
   Margo Price
6. american dream
   LCD Soundsystem
7. Big Fish Theory
   Vince Staples
8. What Now
   Sylvan Esso
9. From A Room: Volume 1
   Chris Stapleton
9. From A Room: Volume 1
   Chris Stapleton
10. Life Will See You Now
    Jens Lekman
11. Take Me Apart
    Kelela
12. This Old Dog
    Mac DeMarco
13. 4:44
    JAY-Z
14. Rainbow
    Ke$ha
15. No Shape
    Perfume Genius
16. HNDRXX
    Future
17. Glasshouse
    Jessie Ware
18. Number 1 Angel
    Charli XCX
19. Pure Comedy
    Father John Misty
20. Everybody Works
    Jay Som
21. Meaning of Life
    Kelly Clarkson
22. War & Leisure
    Miguel
23. New Energy
    Four Tet
24. Slowheart
    Kip Moore
25. Villains
    Queens of the Stone Age

Alison Herman: 10 Best TV Shows of 2017, as published by The Ringer

[see also 2023 • 2016]

1. The Young Pope
2. Twin Peaks: The Return
3. The Leftovers
4. The Keepers
5. Big Little Lies
6. Riverdale
7. Halt and Catch Fire
8. BoJack Horseman
9. The Good Place
10. Rick and Morty

The New York Times Book Review: 100 Notable 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 • 10 Best 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 & Poetry

• American War
  Omar El Akkad
• Anything Is Possible
  Elizabeth Strout
• Autumn
  Ali Smith
• Bad Dreams and Other Stories
  Tessa Hadley
• Beautiful Animals
  Lawrence Osborne
• The Book of Joan
  Lidia Yuknavitch
• A Boy in Winter
  Rachel Seiffert
• The Changeling
  Victor LaValle
• Christmas Days

  12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days
  Jeanette Winterson
• Dance of the Jakaranda
  Peter Kimani
• The Dark Flood Rises
  Margaret Drabble
• The Dinner Party

  Stories
  Joshua Ferris
• The Essex Serpent
  Sarah Perry
• Exit West
  Mohsin Hamid
• Fast
  Jorie Graham
• Five-Carat Soul
  James McBride
• Forest Dark
  Nicole Krauss
• 4 3 2 1
  Paul Auster
• Fresh Complaint
  Jeffrey Eugenides
• Future Home of the Living God
  Louise Erdrich
• Giving Godhead
  Dylan Krieger
• History of Wolves
  Emily Fridlund
• Home Fire
  Kamila Shamsie
• Homesick for Another World
  Ottessa Moshfegh
• A Horse Walks into a Bar
  David Grossman
• The Idiot
  Elif Batuman
• Ill Will
  Dan Chaon
• A Kind of Freedom
  Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
• Less
  Andrew Sean Greer
• Lincoln in the Bardo
  George Saunders
• Manhattan Beach
  Jennifer Egan
• Mrs. Osmond
  John Banville
• My Absolute Darling
  Gabriel Tallent
• New People
  Danzy Senna
• The Ninth Hour
  Alice McDermott
• Pachinko
  Min Jin Lee
• The Power
  Naomi Alderman
• The Refugees
  Viet Thanh Nguyen
• Selection Day
  Aravind Adiga
• A Separation
  Katie Kitamura
• Sing, Unburied, Sing
  Jesmyn Ward
• Six Four
  Hideo Yokoyama
• Stay with Me
  Ayobami Adebayo
• The Stone Sky
  N.K. Jemisin
• Ties
  Domenico Starnone
• Transit
  Rachel Cusk
• Waking Lions
  Ayelet Gundar-Goshen
• WHEREAS
  Layli Long Soldier
• White Tears
  Hari Kunzru
• Who Is Rich?
  Matthew Klam

Nonfiction

• Age of Anger

  A History of the Present
  Pankaj Mishra
• American Fire

  Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land
  Monica Hesse
• Animals Strike Curious Poses
  Elena Passarello
• The Blood of Emmett Till
  Timothy B. Tyson
• Born a Crime

  Stories from a South African Childhood
  Trevor Noah
• Bunk

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

  The Fight for Freedom
  Thomas E. Ricks
• The Collected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick
  Elizabeth Hardwick
• A Colony in a Nation
  Chris Hayes
• The Color of Law

  A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
  Richard Rothstein
• The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution

  Why Economic Inequality Threatens Our Republic
  Ganesh Sitaraman
• The Dawn Watch

  Joseph Conrad in a Global World
  Maya Jasanoff
• The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
  Dan Egan
• Destined for War

  Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?
  Graham Allison
• Devil’s Bargain

  Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency
  Joshua Green
• The Evangelicals

  The Struggle to Shape America
  Frances FitzGerald
• The Evolution of Beauty

  How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World – and Us
  Richard O. Prum
• Fasting and Feasting

  The Life of Visionary Food Writer Patience Gray
  Adam Federman
• Flâneuse

  Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London
  Lauren Elkin
• Friends Divided

  John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
  Gordon S. Wood
• The Future Is History

  How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
  Masha Gessen
• Generation Revolution

  On the Front Line Between Tradition and Change in the Middle East
  Rachel Aspden
• The Glass Universe

  How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars
  Dava Sobel
• Grant
  Ron Chernow
• Greater Gotham

  A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919
  Mike Wallace
• The Gulf

  The Making of An American Sea
  Jack E. Davis
• Hamlet Globe to Globe

  Two Years, 193,000 Miles, 197 Countries, One Play
  Dominic Dromgoole
• Henry David Thoreau

  A Life
  Laura Dassow Walls
• The House of Government

  A Saga of the Russian Revolution
  Yuri Slezkine
• The Invention of Angela Carter

  A Biography
  Edmund Gordon
• Janesville

  An American Story
  Amy Goldstein
• Killers of the Flower Moon

  The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
  David Grann
• Krazy

  George Herriman, a Life in Black and White
  Michael Tisserand
• Lenin

  The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror
  Victor Sebestyen
• Letterman

  The Last Giant of Late Night
  Jason Zinoman
• Locking Up Our Own

  Crime and Punishment in Black America
  James Forman Jr.
• Looking for The Stranger

  Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic
  Alice Kaplan
• The Lost City of the Monkey God

  A True Story
  Douglas Preston
• Nomadland

  Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
  Jessica Bruder
• Notes on a Foreign Country

  An American Abroad in a Post-American World
  Suzy Hansen
• Prairie Fires

  The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
  Caroline Fraser
• Priestdaddy
  Patricia Lockwood
• The Songs We Know Best

  John Ashbery’s Early Life
  Karin Roffman
• Tenements, Towers & Trash

  An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City
  Julia Wertz
• To Siri with Love

  A Mother, Her Autistic Son, and the Kindness of Machines
  Judith Newman
• The Undoing Project

  A Friendship That Changed Our Minds
  Michael Lewis
• We Were Eight Years in Power

  An American Tragedy
  Ta-Nehisi Coates
• What Happened
  Hillary Rodham Clinton
• World Without Mind

  The Existential Threat of Big Tech
  Franklin Foer
• You Say to Brick

  The Life of Louis Kahn
  Wendy Lesser