Over the last year I decided to keep track of all the books I read in a journal. The process had its good points and its bad. On the one hand, it was nice to be able to go back and find the name of “that one book with the bear” without having to autopsy a vague list of Google results. On the other, I’m HIGHLY competitive, even with myself. A lot of the time, I found myself buzzing through books just to get them on The List without actually losing myself in the story. That sucked. On the other, OTHER, hand, I get to make this cool list. It all evens out. I’ve included the cover art and buy links for my favorites of the year.
AUGUST 2016
The Three by Sarah Lotz
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
Just Like Beauty by Lisa Lerner
SEPTEMBER 2016
The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente
Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain
Coconut Cowboy by Tim Dorsey
Stormy Weather by Carl Hiassen
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
Razor Girl by Carl Hiassen
Story Genius by Lisa Cron
OCTOBER 2016
The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood
We’re All Damaged by Matthew Norman
The Vanishing Year by Kate Moretti
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
Broken Piano for President by Patrick Wensink
Red Queen by Christina Henry
NOVEMBER 2016
Mile Marker Zero by William McKeen
Leisel and Po by Lauren Oliver
Radiance by Catherynne M Valente
Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch
Shrill by Lindy West
Eric by Terry Prachett
Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
Moscow but Dreaming by Ekaterina Sedia
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch (His Peter Grant series is addicting, obvs.)
Best State Ever by Dave Berry
Palimpsest by Catherynne M Valente
Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes
Under the Big Top by Bruce Feiler
The Children’s Home by Charles Lambert
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
DECEMBER 2016
Speak Easy by Catherynne M Valente
Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
New Yorked by Rob Hart
How to Ruin Everything by George Watsky
Still Life With Tornado by A.S. King
Blood Red, Snow White by Marcus Sedgwick
The Resurrectionist by E.B. Hudspeth
The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan
JANUARY 2017
From the Forest by Sara Maitland
Little Nothing by Marisa Silver
City of Rose by Rob Hart
Walk Through Walls by Marina Abromovic
The First Book of Calamity Leek by Paula Lichtarowicz
Girl Bomb by Janice Erlbaum
The Good, the Bad, and the Smug by Tom Holt
The Morning They Came for Us by Janine di Giovanni
The Clay Girl by Heather Tucker
The Summer that Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel
What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund
The Apartment by S. L. Grey
Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra
The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
FEBRUARY 2017
Behind her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough
The Last Place You’d Look by Carole Moore
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Crime Beat by Michael Connolley
The End of Everything by Megan Abbott
The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer
The Song is You by Megan Abbott
Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon
You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott
MARCH 2017
The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp
Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman
Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healy
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver
The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
Tell Me Exactly What Happened by Caroline Burau
The Collector by John Fowles
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
APRIL 2017
Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century by Peter Graham
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Day Four by Sarah Lotz
Faithful Place by Tana French
Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
The Secret Place by Tana French
The Next Queen of Heaven by Gregory Maguire
Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield
MAY 2017
Burntown by Jennifer McMahon
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Where’d You Go, Bernadette? By Maria Semple
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
This One is Mine by Maria Semple
Fly by Night by Frances Hardinge
In the Woods by Tana French
Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown
JUNE 2017
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Before This is Over by Amanda Hickie
The Facts of Life and Death by Brenda Bauer
Danger to Self by Paul Linde
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel
The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland
I Crawl Through It by A.S. King
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
JULY 2017
Party of One by Dave Holmes
The Good Daughter by Alexandra Burt
Lucky You by Erika Carter
Abroad by Katie Crouch
Don’t Breathe a Word by Jennifer McMahon
The Rathbones by Janice Clark
