New rules this year – since I’ve been doing this for a
decade, I’ve started getting a lot of repeats on my list. So, although at least half of the 144 books I
read this year were rereads (did you know that in bygone days, women could be committed
for “excessive reading”?), each of these 10 was a book I read for the first
time this year. These are my top 10 recommendations for a general audience, not
necessarily the 10 books I liked best. One of my favorites was a book on the
collection of historical medical specimens – unless you have a very strong
stomach and a passion for medical science, I would not recommend it to you.
So – 10 books I read for the first time in 2017 and would
recommend to you.
1. Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys
I read this book because I
absolutely adore Ruta Sepetys. You may remember her book Between Shades of
Gray making my list before. I think Sepetys writes some of the most compelling
novels of our time. For one thing, she chooses topics that are familiar and yet
completely new. This book is about one of the worst maritime disasters in
history. In happened during WWII but you probably never heard of it, even if
you love WWII history, because it was information known to those behind the
Iron Curtain and largely hidden from the West. The characters are compelling,
the writing beautiful.
2. Out of My Mind, Sharon Draper
Everyone was all about Wonder
this year – so I read it. And I did not care for it. I though the end was
contrived and patronizing. This book deserves all the praise – and the big
budget movie deal that Wonder got. The main character is a young girl
with cerebral palsy who is nonverbal. The story is brilliantly told from her
point of view as she attempts to communicate, to make friends, and to navigate
school. Thanks to Jennifer for lending it to me.
3. The Master Butcher’s Singing Club, Louise Erdrich
This is my friend Lolita’s second
favorite book, sandwiched between Pillars of the Earth and A Prayer
for Owen Meany. Since those are two of the greatest books of all time, I
figured I might as well read this one as well. If it tells you anything about
how good this book is, while I had pneumonia and was too sick to read, I told
myself the story of The Master Butcher’s Singing Club over and over in
my mind. Like Erdrich’s other books, the
plot involves a cast of unique, often eccentric, characters whose lives
magically intertwine. In this book, the characters include a German soldier
turned American immigrant who owns a butcher shop, a Native American veteran
who performs a balancing act in side shows, a beautiful mortician, and a
mysterious scrap gatherer who searches the night for treasure.
4. A Man Called Ove, Fredrick Backman
I’ve spoken to many people who
tell me they liked this book despite the character of Ove. I loved this book
because of Ove; because I am Ove. I am, at my core, a grumpy, anti-social old
man who checks the neighborhood parking lot every morning to see who is parking
illegally. (Okay, my neighborhood doesn’t actually have a parking lot. However,
my blood pressure markedly improved when my neighbor whose friends did not
understand the purpose of a driveway finally moved away.) This is another story with a great cast of
characters – not just the immensely lovable Ove but his neighbors – old and new
– with their own sweet, sad, and hopeful stories. Becky picked this
book for bookclub.
5. Ashfall, Mike Mullin
The Yellowstone super volcano both
fascinates and freaks me out. Even if
you don’t geek out about volcano science, you can still enjoy this post-apocalyptic
“what if” book DH recommended
to me. The worst case scenario eruption occurs at the opening of the novel,
leaving much of North American in a dark, ash filled landscape where they must
fight for the few remaining resources. Total edge of your seat kind of stuff.
6. Underground Airlines, Ben H. Winters
Brian D, who is 1000x smarter
than I, recommended this book to me. I enjoyed Winter’s Last Policeman,
but this book is on a completely different level. Winters imagines an America
where a compromise prevented the Civil War but left modern day America with
slave states. Plantations are now run by big corporations and undercover
policemen infiltrate abolitionist groups to recover runaway slaves. As
different from reality as the premise professes to be, it is the light shed on
our own society through Winter’s fiction that makes this book so enthralling.
7 The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
I adore Barbrara Kingsolver from Beantrees
to Poisonwood and back again,
so I chose to read The Lacuna this year. I was not disappointed. The
main character is taken from the United States to Mexico at a young age. There
his life becomes entangled with those of Frieda Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Leon
Trotsky. It is absolutely seamless how Kingsolver blends history with
imagination, mystery and intrigue with raw reality. And the ending is golden.
8. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins
I listened to the audiobook
version of this book because Becky told me that it had an excellent
example of an unreliable narrator. It was so much fun! It’s just a really juicy,
brain-candy mystery with a deliciously unreliable narrator. I adored it. Beach
read for sure.
9. I am the New Black, Tracy Morgan
When I heard an old episode of
Terry Gross interviewing Tracy Morgan about his book on NPR’s Fresh Air,
I knew that I wanted to read it. Yes, parts of it are as side-splittingly funny
as Morgan was on SNL and 30 Rock, but it is also deeply
emotional. Morgan writes about his struggles with a father who was a drug
addicted Vietnam veteran who recovered from addiction only to succumb to AIDS –
about Morgan’s own days selling crack on the streets – about dealing with fame
when he didn’t know who to trust. It is good to learn to understand people who
have had very different experiences from our own.
10.The Cursed Child, John Tiffany and Jack
Thorne.
Okay, so every other Harry Potter fan
in the world has probably already read
this. But I didn’t want to read it at first because JK Rowling didn’t write it
herself and despite some notable exceptions (hello, Heartless, my love)
I generally hate it when a writer tries to take on another author’s characters
(yes, I am referring to you Wide Sargasso Sea, Havisham, and Wicked
– you suck [no, not you Wicked the musical, you’re awesome sauce – just the
book by that man who likes to ruin other people’s stories]).
Yet, I finally gave in and gave Cursed Child a go. And I loved it. I
loved it so, so, so, so, so much! Thanks for letting me borrow your book, B.
PS A Christmas Carol is the greatest book of all time
period. You should read it.
