Favorite Reads of 2017

So. I read a lot this year, more than I expected to. I learned a lot about myself as a reader, and I’m looking forward to putting that information to good use as I think about what and how I’d like to read in 2018. Although it was fun when 100 books began to look like it was in reach this year, I don’t necessarily have a number-of-books goal for the coming year. I imagine I’ll read about the same amount, but we will see. I know that I want to read long books if they are good ones and not worry that my tally isn’t adding up quickly enough.

By the numbers (because I’m super nerdy about such things):

According to Goodreads, I read (or listened to) 32,587 pages this year. That breaks down to 112 books, 76 of which were fiction, 35 of which were nonfiction, and 1 of which was poetry. I listened to 18(ish) audio books (3 I went back and forth between the audio and the paper version) and read 1 on Jason’s Kindle (that number will likely increase next year). I read 82 books by female authors, 27 books by male authors, and 3 books that were each coauthored by a man and a woman. Of the books I read this year, only 6 were re-reads (another number I mean to increase next year).

My favorites from the year (in no particular order except the order I happened to stack them in for the picture; I linked to the month of my original review):

• Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese
• May B., by Caroline Starr Rose
• My Name Is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok
• Exit West,  by Mohsin Hamid
• Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi
• The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson
• This Is How It Always Is, by Laurie Frankel
• The Golem and the Jinni, by Helen Wecker
• Stitches, by David Small
• Stay with Me, by Ayobami Adebayo (not pictured)

I do notice that 4 of my 10 favorites are ones I read in December. I think that it’s primarily because I read really, really great books in December, but I can’t promise that it’s not because time has made me forgetful of really great books I read earlier in the year.

Honorable Mentions:

• Lucky Boy, by Shanthi Sekaran
• The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
• Wonder, by R. J. Palacio
• Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking, by Samin Nosrat
• The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery, by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile
• Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë