Favorite Books I Read In 2017

Favorite Books I Read In 2016

These are not books that came out in 2016, but books I read in 2016. I read about 180 books in 2016, so I had some difficulty narrowing it down, so I broke it down into categories to make it more useful if people want to use them as recommendations. Here are some of my favorite reads for 2016.

Best Fiction:

The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
Tenth of December by George Saunders
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Saunders
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Read it for the first time this year)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Nobody Is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey (technically I read this in 2015)
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (a reread I love)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Best Nonfiction:

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (anthropology)
The Case for God by Karen Armstrong (history/ anthropology/ religion)
The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond (anthropology)

Undeniable by Bill Nye (biology/ evolution)
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (biology/cancer)
The Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker (biology/ nutrition)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (biology/ nutrition)
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee (biology)

The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria (foreign policy)
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (psychology/behavioral economics)

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (psychology)
Attached by Amir Levine (psychology)
Waking Up by Sam Harris (psychology/ mindfulness)

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (memoir/ social justice)
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance (memoir/ sociology)
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi (memoir/feminism)
My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem (memoir/feminism)

The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene (physics)
The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking (physics)

Fun Fiction:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (SciFi/ Fantasy/ Dystopian)
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (SciFi)
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (Chick Lit)
The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (Fantasy- a reread but one I love)




Fun Nonfiction: 

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
100 Things Virginia Fans Should Know by Brian J. Leung

How About Those 2016 Reading Resolutions?

So this is odd, my reading resolutions went extremely poorly. Except for Personal History by Katharine Graham, I haven't read any of the books I planned to read in 2016. Maybe 2016 just refused to be "expected" in any way. On the other hand, I read more books - and listened to audiobooks- than I have in many many years. I read 189 total books this year. So I'm not making any specific reading resolutions this year, but my number goal for 2017 is 200 books. Wish me luck!

How About Those 2015 Reading Resolutions

I read 24 books this years but they weren't all the ones I prioritized the most. Below is my 2015 list with the one I read highlighted:

• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
• Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munroe 
• Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Also fun reads (bonus):

• the rest of Game of Thrones 
• GOT 4
• GOT 5
• GOT 6 (got so boring, can't decide whether to push through)
• the third Magicians 
• Enders Game 

2013 Review

In trying to decide how to pick my books in 2014, I decided to make this list of books I read in 2013 to get a feel for what happens when I have no plan. Here's my breakdown.

My favorite novel I read this year was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark because of its psychological component. I would recommend it to everyone. My favorite nonfiction book was Poor Economics, not just because of its application to the developing world but because of its applications to all political and social problems everywhere. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is pretty amazing itself, and might be set an inspirational tone for the new year if you haven't read it already.

Novels:
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, 12/30/13
Our Man in Iraq by Robert Perišić, 9/8/13
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes, 7/24/13
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, 7/17/13
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, 6/16/13
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach, 4/30/13
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, 2/27/13

Short Story Collections:
Pastoralia by George Saunders, 11/27/13

Sci-Fi:
Galaxies Like Grains of Sand by Brian W. Aldiss, 10/4/13

Trashy Reads:
Pledged by Alexandra Robbins, 11/5/13
The Day I Turned Uncool: Confessions of a Reluctant Grown-up by Dan Zevin, 11/4/13
The Magician King by Lev Grossman, 4/28/13
The Magicians by Lev Grossman, 4/6/13
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, 3/28/13
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, 3/25/13
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, 3/4/13

Nonfiction:
Poor Economics by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo, 5/9/13
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 4/8/13
The Book of Drugs: A Memoir by Mike Doughty, 3/24/13
How to Live on 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett, 1/5/2013

Baby-related Non-fiction:
NurtureShock by Po Bronson, 11/26/13
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, 11/6/13
From Conception to Birth: A Life Unfolds by Alexander Tsiaras 11/3/13
Your Pregnancy Week by Week by Glade B. Curtis 11/1/13
What to Expect When You're Expecting by Heidi Murkoff, 10/30/13
Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, Toni Weschler, 8/9/13