The 12 Best Books I Read in 2017
Recommendation lists are funny things. While they aim to draw attention to the recommended items, a list often tells you just as much about the writer as the items themselves. Looking over this list, I can see that this year I've been especially drawn to comforting, inspiring, and funny reads. I also read more travel-themed books than normal, perhaps because I traveled so little. A few of these books I discovered through the 12 Genres in 12 Months reading challenge that I undertook to expand my reading horizons. The others I discovered through my normal channels: podcasts, Twitter, magazines, and pure happenstance.
I read about 120 books this year. The twelve below are ones that most surprised me while reading them and that haunted me long after I'd finished them. These are the books that made me want to read bits of them aloud to strangers and that I reluctantly returned to the library at the last possible moment so I could still reread favorite passages. These are the books I added to my "wish list" of books to purchase. I hope you find one to enjoy!
Bravetart by Stella Parks [Cookbook]
This might be the first cookbook I've read cover to cover. It tells the well-researched history of all American desserts such as vanilla wafers, brownies, and cherry pie. The author drops in little jokes and pop culture references that are delightfully unexpected. I have not tried any of the recipes, but they look to be straightforward with a nice amount of detail that helps explain why you need to do steps in a certain order or why certain ingredients work best: "Like a gingerbread house, Homeade Pop-Tarts are more like an arts-and-crafts project than a traditional recipe ..."
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas [Young Adult]
The story of a young girl who witnesses the shooting death of a friend by police is not an easy read, but certainly worth it. I made notes of a lot of beautiful lines: "Sometimes you can do everything right and things will still go wrong. The key is to never stop doing right." A movie based on the book is currently being filmed. (I was delighted to know that Amandla Stenberg was cast as the main character Starr after seeing her performance as Rue in The Hunger Games, another movie based on a young adult novel.)
How About Never - Is Never Good For You? by Bob Mankoff [Autobiography/Comics]
This book by the cartoon editor of The New Yorker is packed with cartoons as you would expect. The author gives a bit of background about his own path to cartooning, plus insights into how cartoons are chosen for the magazine and the different styles of current cartoonists. I found it particularly interesting when the author showed how sometimes artists produce very similar cartoons when being inspired by the same current events. Sometimes cartoonists are asked to make edits, which is not something I'd considered before. For some reason I'd always thought that cartoons were more set in stone than a piece of text, but that is not necessarily always the case.
Hungry Heart by Jennifer Weiner [Memoir]
So many good thoughts about writing, education, feminism, and even Twitter in these well-written essays by a New York Times bestselling author: "Being a woman with opinions on the Internet guarantees that you're going to be criticized, sometimes politely and thoughtfully, sometimes in ways that make you contemplate calling the cops." Aspiring writers will especially enjoy this book.
My Ideal Bookshelf with art by Jane Mount, edited by Tessay L Force [Literary/Essays]
If you've ever studied the bookshelves of a friend or acquaintance and found yourself wondering about their choices, you might enjoy this book. Well-known people from different fields such as Judd Apatow, Alice Waters, Malcolm Gladwell, and James Patterson were asked to pick out books to form their ideal bookshelf--"the books that have changed your life, that have made you who you are today, your favorite favorites." The artist illustrates each group of books with watercolors and ink, while the contributors describe the reasoning behind some of their choices. While it was fun to see the shelves of familiar names, I especially enjoyed a few bookshelves that seemed similar to mine that were shared by unknown-to-me people; I felt an instant connection to them.
Mary Russell's War by Laurie R. King [Mystery]
This year I've been reading the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery series. This varied collection of short stories proved a fun contrast to the more detailed, highly researched novels. The collection includes a diary from Mary Russell's early years, a story about Mary written from Sherlock Holmes' point-of-view, and one centered on the faithful housekeeper's own mystery. This book made me wish that more novelists would develop short story collections for those ideas which aren't quite full enough for a few hundred pages, but still provide a way for readers to deepen their connection to the characters.
The Outsmarting of Criminals by Steven Rigolosi [Mystery]
Despite being set in the present, the story is old-fashioned and very low-key with subtle humor. If you've read a lot of mysteries, you'll enjoy the way that this clever book pokes fun at many of the genre's conventions. For example, the local bookstore is organized by non-traditional categories such as "New York Times Best-Sellers That Nobody Reads."
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier [Suspense]
This Gothic romantic suspense is a classic with beautiful phrasing and a lot of creepy atmosphere. This book had been on my "to read" list for years; I'm glad I finally found time to read it.
Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things by Amy Dickinson [Memoir]
This beautifully written book by a popular advice columnist details her late marriage, her job, and her family. I loved this passage describing her husband falling asleep: "It is as if a factory whistle has sounded and the assembly line is shutting down, section by section. The workers grab their lunch pails and stream toward the exit after their shift, shutting off the lights with a thunk as they go. The last person out slams the factory door with a thud, and the deep snore commences."
We'll Always Have Paris by Jennifer Coburn [Memoir]
This charming memoir shares the experiences of a mother and daughter as they travel through Europe on several trips while the girl grows up. The author's memories of her own life with her father is woven in seamlessly throughout the book. This books is packed with humor, such as when the author announces "Je suit un probleme" in the Paris Metro, not realizing that she's not saying that she has a problem, but that she is one.
This fun illustrated guide shows the work of 50 female scientists, many of whom never received credit for their work. For example, Edith Clarke invented a new graphical calculator. Her employer GE still wouldn't recognize her as an engineer even after she received a patent for her work, so she quit. In the author's bio, she says that she likes to use drawing or art to make concepts easy to understand and I think she's succeeded admirably. You don't need a science background to understand and appreciate this book.
Word by Word by Kory Stamper [Autobiography/Reference]
This funny, smart book made me wonder if I would have liked being a dictionary editor. (Probably.) Society places the dictionary as the keeper of language, but that's not really its current role. Misguided people often write in to ask for words to be removed from the dictionary, assuming that if the word doesn't appear then the concept behind it will disappear, too. As the author writes, "If it were really as easy as that, don't you think we would have removed words like 'murder' and 'genocide' from the dictionary already?"
Happy reading!