Top Ten Books (I've Read) of 2016
Life intervened with many projects and responsibilities that often kept me from curling up with a book. I would go for long stretches where I wouldn’t be reading anything.
However, I did manage (barely) to meet my GoodReads Challenge of 50 books this year. Also, I participated in a fun game with my family in which we read the following:
A book published this yearA book you can finish in a dayA book you’ve been meaning to readA book you should have read in schoolA book published before you were bornA book that intimidates youA book you previously abandonedA book you’ve already read at least once
My family has very eclectic taste, from James Baldwin to Barbara Kingsolver, from The Old Testament to The Lives of Tao, from Jonathan Livingston Seagull to The Year of Magical Thinking. We’ve already compiled the categories for 2017: A book in a genre you don’t normally read; a graphic novel; an autobiography, a book translated from a non-romance language, etc. It should be a lot of fun.
So, with that preamble out of the way, here’s the list of my favorite ten books from 2016.
To Be Young, Gifted, and Black: An Informal Autobiography, Lorraine HansberryOne of my favorite books from 2015 was A Raisin in the Sun, so when I came across this autobiography, I was excited to read it. It takes an unconventional approach: rather than a linear, memoir style, this bio is a collection of journals, letters, speeches, interviews, and excerpts from Hansberry’s plays. Instead of chronicling her life, the book focuses on themes and issues that fascinated her. She is sharp, insightful, contemplative, and witty. I came away feeling exhilarated and challenged to examine the world as I see it.
Winnie-the-Poohand The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne
After the grueling political season, I needed something uplifting. These two books were favorites when I was little. I still believe there really is the Hundred Acre Woods with all its adorable denizens. Pooh may be a bear with very little brain, but he has a heart that is gargantuan. I needed to rediscover that.
84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff Quirky and charming. An American writer has an extended correspondence with a British bookseller. Though they never meet, it doesn’t matter, because friendship transcends time and space. A true story.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara KingsolverAkin to a modern-day Walden, Kingsolver writes lovingly of the exquisite rewards of following the natural growing seasons. She and her family, for one year, grow their own produce or eat locally-sourced food. This book made me rethink my relationship to what I eat and how I shop.
A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me, Jason SchmidtSchmidt’s memoir covers his unconventional childhood: the son of a drug dealer/addict, Jason lives on the fringes of society as he and his father move up and down the west coast. For all its grueling nature, Schmidt’s memoir is very readable and sometimes quite funny.
The Chocolate War, Robert CormierSet against a fundraiser at a Catholic school, The Chocolate Warfocuses on the individual vs society. It’s one of the most frequently banned/challenged books, ostensibly for its strong language, but my guess is that adults are uncomfortable with Cormier’s chilling depiction of nonconformity and mob violence.
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, George SaundersA short story collection that is satiric, scathing, funny, and sometimes sad. Very sad. The stories are set in various metaphoric versions of a rundown Disneyland, with characters struggling for dignity and love, but are often shamed into submission. While this may not sound particularly funny, Saunders does know when to put in some quirky humor.
A Monster Calls, Patrick NessThe story of 13-year-old Conor, whose mother is dying of cancer. He is tortured by a recurring nightmare that is so frightening that he will not tell anyone about it. Then one night he subconsciously calls into an existence an ancient monster intent upon telling him three stories. There are plenty of novels about children facing enormous, heart-wrenching challenges, but Ness taps into deep, emotional currents with his fairytale-esque novel. I wish I’d written it.
A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
Dickensian in scope, Seth’s novel of 1950’s India is brimming with life. Political turmoil, social commentary, family soap opera, and of course love story. At 1500 pages, you need strong arms and commitment to read it, but it’s well worth it. I’ve read it twice.
The rest of the 50 books:
Anywhere at Once, 826CHIThe Complete Fables, AesopThe Complete Collected Poems¸ Maya AngelouTom Swift and his Motorcycle, Victor AppletonSelected Poems, Gwendolyn BrooksGirl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy ChevalierAnd Then There Were None: A Mystery Play in Three Acts, Agatha ChristieThe Children of Odin, Padraic ColumPlot, Ansen DibellI’ll Tell You Mine: Thirty Years of Essays from the Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program, ed. Hope EdelmanThe Memory Keeper’s Daughter, Kim EdwardsThe Circle, Dave EggersThe Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ralph Waldo EmersonThe Eyre Affair, Jasper FfordeSharp Objects, Gillian FlynnAsgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology, Mary H. FosterDescent, Tim JohnstonThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Mark HaddonTokyo Ghoul #1, Sui IshidaBatman: The Dark Knight Archives, Vol. 1, Bob Kane and Bill FingerScowler, Daniel KrausGoat: A Memoir, Brad LandMoon over Buffalo, Ken LudwigGrace Notes, Bernard MacLavertyHeroes of the Negro Leagues, Jack MorelliMad Tinker’s Daughter, J.S. MorinThe Best American Poetry, ed. Paul MuldoonLolita, Vladimir NabokovIn the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, Nathaniel PhilbrickThe Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann RadcliffeLibrary of Souls, Ransom RiggsThe Spaceship Under the Apple Tree, Louis SlobodkinPrivate Life, Jane SmileyApocalypticon, Clayton SmithPants on Fire: A Collection of Lies, Clayton SmithBatman, Volume 1: The Court of Owls, Scott SnyderKes, Lawrence TillFences, August WilsonNothing, Anne Marie Wirth CauchonHow Fiction Works, James Wood
However, I did manage (barely) to meet my GoodReads Challenge of 50 books this year. Also, I participated in a fun game with my family in which we read the following:
A book published this yearA book you can finish in a dayA book you’ve been meaning to readA book you should have read in schoolA book published before you were bornA book that intimidates youA book you previously abandonedA book you’ve already read at least once
My family has very eclectic taste, from James Baldwin to Barbara Kingsolver, from The Old Testament to The Lives of Tao, from Jonathan Livingston Seagull to The Year of Magical Thinking. We’ve already compiled the categories for 2017: A book in a genre you don’t normally read; a graphic novel; an autobiography, a book translated from a non-romance language, etc. It should be a lot of fun.
So, with that preamble out of the way, here’s the list of my favorite ten books from 2016.
To Be Young, Gifted, and Black: An Informal Autobiography, Lorraine HansberryOne of my favorite books from 2015 was A Raisin in the Sun, so when I came across this autobiography, I was excited to read it. It takes an unconventional approach: rather than a linear, memoir style, this bio is a collection of journals, letters, speeches, interviews, and excerpts from Hansberry’s plays. Instead of chronicling her life, the book focuses on themes and issues that fascinated her. She is sharp, insightful, contemplative, and witty. I came away feeling exhilarated and challenged to examine the world as I see it.
Winnie-the-Poohand The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne
After the grueling political season, I needed something uplifting. These two books were favorites when I was little. I still believe there really is the Hundred Acre Woods with all its adorable denizens. Pooh may be a bear with very little brain, but he has a heart that is gargantuan. I needed to rediscover that.
84, Charing Cross Road, Helene Hanff Quirky and charming. An American writer has an extended correspondence with a British bookseller. Though they never meet, it doesn’t matter, because friendship transcends time and space. A true story.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Barbara KingsolverAkin to a modern-day Walden, Kingsolver writes lovingly of the exquisite rewards of following the natural growing seasons. She and her family, for one year, grow their own produce or eat locally-sourced food. This book made me rethink my relationship to what I eat and how I shop.
A List of Things That Didn’t Kill Me, Jason SchmidtSchmidt’s memoir covers his unconventional childhood: the son of a drug dealer/addict, Jason lives on the fringes of society as he and his father move up and down the west coast. For all its grueling nature, Schmidt’s memoir is very readable and sometimes quite funny.
The Chocolate War, Robert CormierSet against a fundraiser at a Catholic school, The Chocolate Warfocuses on the individual vs society. It’s one of the most frequently banned/challenged books, ostensibly for its strong language, but my guess is that adults are uncomfortable with Cormier’s chilling depiction of nonconformity and mob violence. 
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, George SaundersA short story collection that is satiric, scathing, funny, and sometimes sad. Very sad. The stories are set in various metaphoric versions of a rundown Disneyland, with characters struggling for dignity and love, but are often shamed into submission. While this may not sound particularly funny, Saunders does know when to put in some quirky humor.
A Monster Calls, Patrick NessThe story of 13-year-old Conor, whose mother is dying of cancer. He is tortured by a recurring nightmare that is so frightening that he will not tell anyone about it. Then one night he subconsciously calls into an existence an ancient monster intent upon telling him three stories. There are plenty of novels about children facing enormous, heart-wrenching challenges, but Ness taps into deep, emotional currents with his fairytale-esque novel. I wish I’d written it.
A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
Dickensian in scope, Seth’s novel of 1950’s India is brimming with life. Political turmoil, social commentary, family soap opera, and of course love story. At 1500 pages, you need strong arms and commitment to read it, but it’s well worth it. I’ve read it twice.
The rest of the 50 books:
Anywhere at Once, 826CHIThe Complete Fables, AesopThe Complete Collected Poems¸ Maya AngelouTom Swift and his Motorcycle, Victor AppletonSelected Poems, Gwendolyn BrooksGirl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy ChevalierAnd Then There Were None: A Mystery Play in Three Acts, Agatha ChristieThe Children of Odin, Padraic ColumPlot, Ansen DibellI’ll Tell You Mine: Thirty Years of Essays from the Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program, ed. Hope EdelmanThe Memory Keeper’s Daughter, Kim EdwardsThe Circle, Dave EggersThe Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ralph Waldo EmersonThe Eyre Affair, Jasper FfordeSharp Objects, Gillian FlynnAsgard Stories: Tales from Norse Mythology, Mary H. FosterDescent, Tim JohnstonThe Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Mark HaddonTokyo Ghoul #1, Sui IshidaBatman: The Dark Knight Archives, Vol. 1, Bob Kane and Bill FingerScowler, Daniel KrausGoat: A Memoir, Brad LandMoon over Buffalo, Ken LudwigGrace Notes, Bernard MacLavertyHeroes of the Negro Leagues, Jack MorelliMad Tinker’s Daughter, J.S. MorinThe Best American Poetry, ed. Paul MuldoonLolita, Vladimir NabokovIn the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, Nathaniel PhilbrickThe Mysteries of Udolpho, Ann RadcliffeLibrary of Souls, Ransom RiggsThe Spaceship Under the Apple Tree, Louis SlobodkinPrivate Life, Jane SmileyApocalypticon, Clayton SmithPants on Fire: A Collection of Lies, Clayton SmithBatman, Volume 1: The Court of Owls, Scott SnyderKes, Lawrence TillFences, August WilsonNothing, Anne Marie Wirth CauchonHow Fiction Works, James Wood
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