2017, it seems, felt like a struggle for many. I tried to fill my reading life with stories that would help me get to know more people and more nuanced views of social issues, and in this way my life got a lot bigger. Sharing this with my students was a highlight–their passion for social justice was a highlight of my year.

I didn’t write that often because my body felt pretty tired–it was a year that started with IVF drugs and ended, so very gratefully, with a baby girl after years of waiting for her–this is how my life got a bit smaller, in the best of ways.

So we are holed up and hibernating in this cold, reading some picture books (City Cat and We Are Here are my current favorites–thanks Alison and Grace) and ebooks (very unlike me…more on that later) and drinking lots of coffee. And, of course, watching television favorites: the end of Major Crimes (deeply upsetting), making my way through Gilmore Girls (a delight), and American Vandal (hilarious satire on the real crime documentary genre). I have my Anne of Green Gables DVDs ready to go to start off 2018 well.

If you are looking to grow your nightstand stack in the new year, here are my favorites (and here are lists from 2006-2016). Please share your best books of the year–I’m always looking for good recommendations!

March by John Lewis: I’ve recommended this countless times to students and friends, in person and on this blog. This graphic novel trilogy chronicles Congressman John Lewis’s experiences during the Civil Rights movement. I would honestly call this required reading not just for those interested in history, but anyone who wants to understand today as well.

Homegoing by Yaa Guasi: This book is probably the favorite of my book club this year. It starts with two chapters that tell the story of two half sisters in Ghana in the 18th century who don’t know each other. Each chapter following covers someone in the next generation, alternating between the family lines of each sister, until modern day.

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger: Set in the early sixties, this is the story about family, coming of age, and loss–it felt like a combination of Stand by Me and To Kill a Mockingbird.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead: Having won the Pulitzer and the National Book Award, I imagine most people have heard of or read this book already. This creative book takes the reader on the protagonist Cora’s journey to escape slavery.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah: Born to a black woman and a white man, which was illegal in South Africa, Trevor Noah’s story of growing up was eye opening, poignant, and filled with enough humor to break up the heaviness that encompassed much of his life.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas: This is another book that should be required reading not just for its young adult audience, but for everyone. The protagonist, a young black woman, witnesses her best friend get killed by a police officer. This story is timely, nuanced, and urgent.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese: I mentioned this is my summer reading conclusion–I can’t believe I missed this book when it came out. Set mostly in Ethiopia, two brothers grow up in an adopted family of medical professionals. Not only is this a powerful story that completely sucked me in, it covers so many complexities about what it means to be human as well as in the medical world.

Small Mercies by Eddie Joyce: This book feels like an “easy read” in that it feels like the characters are your own family and when it ends, you wish that it could keep going. It is about an Italian family on Staten Island and how the different members deal with the loss of one of the sons.

The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott: Alice McDermott has a way of capturing the inner conflicts of her characters and the small moments in their lives in a way that feels deeply authentic and artistic. This story felt like the essence of creative writing to me. The main character is a young new mother in an Irish Catholic Brooklyn neighborhood whose husband

The Leavers by Lisa Ko: This is the first ebook I’ve read since I travelled internationally five years ago. The first week home with our new baby, I didn’t read at all and basically had an identity crisis. I realized that there were other options on my phone to occupy my time while feeding and the kindle app saved my life. This is a story about a Chinese American boy in Manhattan whose mother disappears when he is ten and he is then adopted by a white family upstate.

Looking back on 2016, it feels different from other years–election tension undergirded most of it and I wasn’t able to travel much. It was a year where we focused on things closer to home, one of the most significant being our little dog Penny, who became ours in August. Other major highlights included graduating from my Literacy Specialist program and the Cavaliers winning the NBA championship (!!!).  But of course the reading highlights. I will dedicate an entire post to this, but I did reread ten of my favorite books, which I loved. This year, my reading goal is to read more about people who are less like me, and read more books that are set around the world. I think it is so important to get to know others through literature. The following ten were the ones that stand out the most (and here are 2007-2015, if you still need some more ideas):

City on Fire: I technically started this at the end of 2015, but didn’t finish it until January. My book club read this much-hyped story with dozens of characters who are living slightly interconnected lives in New York City in the height of the 70s, with the climax of the story occurring during the infamous blackout in the summer of 1977.

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert: Another book club choice, Glibert’s book tells the life story of Alma Whitaker, a (fictional) botanist born in 1800 whose scientific mind is challenged by the spiritual. This book is for people who love to know and get lost in a character’s entire story, as it covers her birth to death.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara: The story begins by following 4 college roommates, each with a different background, all now living in New York City trying to make it in their chosen fields. That description sounds like Friends, but this is a dark, grave story. I felt immersed in the characters’ lives and found myself thinking considerably about relationships, grace, and the ability to move on from tragedy.

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiehly: This is hands-down the best young adult novel I read all year and also the most important for teenagers and adults alike. It starts with a moment of police brutality and switches between two narrators, one white who witnessed what happened to the other, who is black. So thought-provoking and so relevant.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld: This hypothetical imagining of the life of Laura Bush was another book club pick. Sittenfeld’s writing is exceptional and I was completely drawn into this story, and I think anyone would be no matter what your political leanings. I found it fascinating.

Salt by Nayirah Waheed: This book of poetry floored me. Waheed’s voice is fresh, urgent, and striking. I actually couldn’t find this collection in any of my local stores–I think she is gaining quite a following, so hopefully it will be there soon. It’s worth tracking down! And very readable, if you are thinking of dipping your toes into poetry for the first time. I can’t wait to share some of her work with my students in our poetry unit. (Speaking of poetry, I also read Mary Oliver’s New and Selected Poems Volume 2 and her latest book of essays Upstream, both of which I loved. However, I’ve written about her so much, that I thought I should share the poetry love. She is an excellent introduction to poetry as well.)

Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett: I actually can’t believe I didn’t write about this book, because I had two pages of notes going into our book club meeting. It told from the perspective of various family members as they deal with the effects of depression on 2 of the 5 members. It is so powerful and poignant, and though dark, also darkly comical and I laughed out loud a few times.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany: This was a highly anticipated read of my summer because I was in need of some literary escapism. I forced myself to parcel out its 4 acts over as many mornings on my fire escape. It wasn’t without problems–but even so, it brought a lot of joy to my summer. The parent/child themes I thought were incredibly well done.

Great House by Nicole Krauss: This was one of the books I chose to reread, and I wasn’t disappointed. I started by reading the four pages of notes I found tucked inside it, and really savored the whole book. What Krauss attempts to do in this book is pretty immense–there are four narratives that are connected only by the fact that at some point one of the characters in each owned an enormous desk that took on a metaphorical life of its own–to a point where it represented a deep kind of loneliness.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery: This was another reread, and I was devastated when it was over. Philosophical and beautiful, I’m certain I’ll be coming back to the alternating narrative of 12 year old Paloma and 54 year old Renee many more times.

2015 started with a Buckeye National Championship, and I’ve got to say– thinking back to those wins still brings me an insane amount of joy. It ended with me finishing the final 2 courses I need for my Literacy Specialist masters degree, which has been three years of a 3-train, hour-plus commute up to Teachers College for each class. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to the concept of “free time” in 2016–which I’m hoping to spend mainly pursuing painting, drawing, and photography. I just received Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic which I hope will help me to remember to not be afraid of not being good right off the bat. So much of my reading from this year, especially from this summer, helped cast a vision of what I want this year to be about–making meaning from the world around me and creating in response to it.

Highlights from this year include the beginning of my book club, a trip to Austin with my best friends, finding nature in urbanity, another great weekend in the city with my mom, teaching with the best in the business, chasing after flowers in Louisville with my dad, wandering the city with Daniel, adventures with kindreds, my first Buckeye game, laughing with family in Kentucky, Ohio, NYC, and Newport, and playing with my nieces.

But as for reading, here are the best words that illuminated the way (if available, they include links to the posts I wrote; if not, they include links to other reviews or author sites).

Fiction

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson (her Life after Life made my Top Ten a few years back–both are brilliant)

*Honorable Mention: the paired reading of To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee combined with the necessary responses and conversations that happened around its publication.

On Being/Meaning Making

Syllabus by Lynda Barry

Falling Upward by Richard Rohr (Rohr is a Catholic priest whose thinking has been the most insightful in trying to escape the binary thinking so present in both modern politics and faith communities)

Tiny, Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

New and Selected Poems, Volume 1 by Mary Oliver

*Honorable Mention: The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit and Looking at Mindfulness by Christophe Andre

Best Young Adult

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Need more books? 

Here are the past years in review since 2007 if you are looking for more books to add to your 2016 reading list.