The Best Books of 2016, According to Real Readers
by Jennifer Ridgway
‘Tis the time of year when “Best of the Year” lists, written and compiled by book critics and scholars, start coming out. While I sometimes find new titles from these roundups to add to my wish lists, I prefer to hear what “real” people loved — the books they deem the most thrilling, most entertaining, or most informative of the year. We reached out to fellow readers to find out their favorite books of 2016. Consider adding these fan-favorite fiction and nonfiction reads to your own wish list before the holidays, or buying them with all those gift cards you receive as presents!
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The Top Picks of the Year
Multiple people cited these fiction books as among their favorites from the year, listed in alphabetical order by author:
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Sweetbitter
Available from:The story of Tess Danler’s move to New York City and coming of age while waitressing at a fancy Manhattan restaurant had many readers recalling their days as waiters and waitresses, whether in NYC or elsewhere. “I could not put it down,” one reader told me. “I was turning the pages voraciously, devouring [Danler’s] use of language, all while watching Tess’s story unfold. I absolutely loved the intensity and utter rawness of this novel,” another said.
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Homegoing
Available from:Gyasi’s debut novel about several generations of families, starting with two half-sisters, begins in 18th-century Ghana and progresses through history, in both Ghana and the U.S., to the 1970s. One fan called it “beautifully written and eye opening.” Another reader said it “helps relate how we ended up where we are in race relations.” It was “superbly, lyrically written with a powerful narrative that is moving and thought-provoking.”
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Harmony
This story about a family’s desperate choice to help their developmentally challenged daughter was hailed as “unforgettable and relatable for every parent. At turns touching and shocking … The epilogue is one of the most beautiful pieces I have read about being a parent.” It “reads like a thriller,” I was told. “Highly, highly recommend,” another reader raved.
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Small Great Things
Available from:Picoult’s newest novel tackles race, privilege, and justice, and readers “couldn’t stop thinking about it.” One person said: “For such a hotly debated and sensitive subject, her writing was eloquent, honest, and real … Jodi nails humanity and also the hate that is still very present.” Others said it had them “thinking about privilege and power in a new light.”
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Underground Railroad
Available from:Bestselling author Colson Whitehead’s novel about an escaped slave who travels via an actual underground railroad was praised for its “amazing and captivating storytelling.” One reader pointed to its context in modern-day society: “While we have come a long way from slavery, we still have a long way to go with race relations in this country. This book gives you a sense of what underlies much of the ongoing tension.” And another shared, “I couldn't put it down. I loved the way Whitehead takes artistic liberties with historical fiction, and that even when the details were fictionalized, every emotion rang entirely true. It was horrifying and captivating, and I'll never forget a step of Cora's journey.”
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More Fantastic Fiction
I heard from even more fiction-lovers, and here’s some of the books that stole their hearts:
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You Will Know Me
Megan Abbot’s new novel is “such a tense page-turner that completely pulled me in to the world of competitive gymnastics. Great characters, and I loved that while I had a sense of what might have happened, things didn't completely come together for me until the end.”
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The Mothers
Available from:“All of the characters have so much depth, and the prose is gorgeous, but the story is really juicy and moves along too. I had to force myself to stop reading at night and go to sleep.”
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The Rain in Portugal: Poems
Available from:“I thought this book was fantastic; it includes plain spoken poetry that utilizes the kinds of moments we all experience every day and connects them to much bigger issues in funny and relatable ways.”
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Dark Matter
Available from:“The concept of infinite realities is both mind-blowing and even a bit overwhelming to process, but definitely keeps you hooked from beginning to end. It’s a thriller that keeps your heart racing, but also a beautiful love story that tugs at the strings.”
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American Housewife: Stories
Available from:“This sharp, funny debut nailed the obsessions and frustrations that I feel so well that I couldn't help but wonder, ‘Have I been unconsciously writing stories under the pen name Helen Ellis?’ I knew I found my soul sister when I read, ‘Sixteen Candles’ is my ‘Star Wars.’”
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The Trespasser
Available from:“Thank goodness that 2016 brought us another installment of the Dublin Murder Squad series … Murder squad politics, a prickly detective heroine, complicated familial histories, and a seemingly one-dimensional bludgeoning victim are all part of yet another ominous detective fiction title from the infallible Tana French.”
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Eleanor
Available from:Eleanor “threw me for a real loop when I read it … I loved it because it made me Ugly Cry. It stuck with me because I was blown away by how Gurley explored deep, dark familial emotions through an extremely interesting metaphysical storyline. I didn't come away from it feeling like I had just read a sci-fi book — it felt very real.”
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The Matchmakers of Minnow Bay
Kelly Harms’s new tale is “delightful. It reminded me of ‘Gilmore Girls’ and ‘The Holiday’ in the very best of ways, and I love that romantic comedy is alive and well in fiction.”
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Behold the Dreamers
Available from:“A timely and timeless story of coming to America and searching for a better life. A story of race, class, marriage, and the American dream.”
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My Name Is Lucy Barton
Available from:“There aren't many great — let alone perfect — books about a woman reconciling her past against the backdrop of her present. Elizabeth Strout's My Name Is Lucy Barton is all of this. It is everything.”
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Smoke
Available from:Dan Vyleta’s Smoke is “weird, unnerving, totally inventive, and, by the end, a wild adventure story. Vyleta has created a fascinating world, a dystopian Victorian England, in which the compelling protagonists live. I still find myself thinking about the super odd, super cool smoke. It’s the stuff dreams — or nightmares — are made of.”
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Newsworthy Nonfiction:
Lots of brand-new true-to-life reads impressed readers this year. These are some of the nonfiction recommendations I received:
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America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History
Available from:America’s War for The Greater Middle East is “a sobering, urgent history of the past 40 years of American involvement in a part of the world we can't find our way out of. Every political and military leader, in fact every American, should read it.”
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White Walls: A Memoir About Motherhood, Daughterhood, and the Mess in Between
Batalion’s memoir is “a powerful story about families, mental health, and learning and growing. Fantastic read.”
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Falling: A Daughter, a Father, and a Journey Back
“Cooper’s depiction of himself desperately attempting to come to terms with his young daughter’s cancer diagnosis is brilliantly written. With beautiful language and poignant scenes, Cooper conveys the impossible battle of maintaining external composure when a father’s worst fears become reality. He also manages to tease out an unexpected underlining of humor in his personal unraveling. I was with him every step of the way, crying and laughing as he spiraled down, and ultimately through, this heartbreaking examination of what it is to love.”
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Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
“I loved it. There was a part on goal setting that really helped me to focus myself on what I want to do now that [my son] has started kindergarten and my time as a SAHM is coming to an end.”
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When Breath Becomes Air
Available from:When Breath Becomes Air, Kalanithi’s memoir following his Stage IV cancer diagnosis, “made me cry, but [is] an amazing book.”
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Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill
Available from:“True story of Churchill escaping from a POW camp, what more do you need? From an author I've now added to my ‘must read everything she writes’ list.”
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Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Available from:“A tender and funny look at growing up in Apartheid South Africa with a white dad and black mom. He also weaves in a history of Apartheid, a subject about which I sadly only had a basic understanding.”
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American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes, and Trial of Patty Hearst
Available from:“I am very into the true crime category these days, and I loved the O. J. Simpson miniseries [‘American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson’], so I was excited to read this book since it was the same author. I knew of Patty Hearst, but I didn't really know any of the story, and it was absolutely fascinating.”
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We Are Not Such Things: The Murder of a Young American, a South African Township, and the Search for Truth and Reconciliation
“A deeply reported, self-aware, and profound and human recounting of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission — warts and all.”
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Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman
“As a woman, do you ever look around and say, ‘WTF?’ [Shrill] was alternately inspiring and infuriating, all in the style of her trademark wit. I felt compelled to wear my 'Feminist' t-shirt for about a week afterward.”
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What new books did you enjoy most this year? Let us know in the comments below!