For many years, I have been compiling a list of my ten favorite books read in the year just ended and sharing with my friends, first through e-mail and then through Facebook as well. Now that I have a blog, I'm excited not to just share my list here but also be able to go into a little more detail!
As those of you who have been receiving these lists know, it's not necessarily books published in that year, just books I read that year. Here's my list for 2017, in alphabetical order by author's last name:
Tell Me Three Things - Julie Buxbaum
The Dollhouse - Fiona Davis
The Arrangement - Sarah Dunn
The Dry - Jane Harper
Castle of Water - Dane Huckelbridge
Maybe in Another Life - Taylor Jenkins Reid
Forever Is the Worst Long Time- Camille Pagan
The Garden of Small Beginnings - Abbi Waxman
The Secret Life of Violet Grant - Beatriz Williams
Young Jane Young - Gabrielle Zevin
As always, I love to hear everyone's personal choices for favorites of the year!
And if you're interested in some more random information on these books, keep reading:
Most Favorite Favorites
So, I always share my list alphabetically because it is hard enough to pick my 10 favorites - trying to rank them from 1 to 10 might paralyze me permanently. But I can tell you that three of these books were my most favorite - "Castle of Water," "The Garden of Small Beginnings," and "Maybe In Another Life" all got 5 stars from me on Goodreads. I only gave "The Arrangement" 4.5 stars but it was a definite for the list. The others had to battle it out with each other and a variety of runner ups for a spot on this list. In fact, I had such a good reading year that I apparently gave 19 books 4.5 stars this year! And there were quite a few more 4 star books that I read this year that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend either, even if they didn't make the cut.
Genres
Two books were historical fiction ("The Dollhouse" and "The Secret Life of Violet Grant"). One book was realistic young adult fiction ("Tell Me Three Things"). One was a mystery ("The Dry"). The other six are all contemporary fiction. Interestingly only one was written by a man.
I Cry at Books a Lot
I cried reading at least 5 of these books that I recall, and for two of them my Goodreads reviews specifically mentioned that I cried my way through the endings.
Repeat Winning Authors
This is Julie Buxbaum's third appearance on one of my top 10 lists, out of three books of hers that I have read. And it's Gabrielle Zevin's second appearance out of two books of hers that I have read.
Format and Source
I read 3 of these books in paperback, and 7 on my kindle. Two of the paperbacks were lent to me by the lovely Sarah Binder. The other I received as a Goodreads Giveaway. Of the 7 books I read on my kindle, three I received copies from Netgalley, 3 I borrowed from the library, and just one of the books did I actually pay money for! (But I assure you, my reviews are never influenced by being given a promotional copy to review.)
Other Random Statistics
My favorites were all pretty recent. One book was published in 2014 ("The Secret Life of Violet Grant"), one in 2015 ("Maybe in Another Life"), two in 2016 ("The Dollhouse" and "Tell Me Two Things"), and the other six were published in 2017.
Only one of these books was over 400 pages long ("The Secret Life of Violet Grant," the paperback of which was a whopping 502 pages.) "Castle of Water" and "Forever Is the Worst Long Time" were both under 300 pages. The rest are all in the 300-400 page range, which I tend to think is the sweet spot for book lengths generally.
The book on my list with the highest average rating on Goodreads was "Castle of Water," with a 4.31. "Tell Me Three Things" and "Forever is the Worst Long Time" both had a 4.1 "The Arrangement" was the lowest-rated on Goodreads, with a 3.68.
The most read of these on Goodreads was "The Dry," which according to Goodreads has been rated by 44,595 people as of today. The least read on Goodreads was "Castle of Water," with just 711 ratings.
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