Year in Review: Best Books of 2016

It’s quite interesting; I’ve been sitting here the last few weeks trying to squeeze in some 2016 reads in the hopes of adding them to this list.  For the last two months, I haven’t been able to find many books to keep my attention.  I blame it on my inability to turn my mind off from all the insanity that is happening in our country and world.   So, I assumed this meant I had a less than spectacular reading year.

Yet, as I pulled my monthly favorites together to create this “Best of” list, it was rewarding and heartwarming to be reminded of all the great reads I experienced in 2016.

They are broken down by a mismatch of categories.  Each title is a link, which will take you to my review of that title.  There are a few titles on this list that I read, yet couldn’t seem to put my feelings into words, the titles were that good.

Literary Fiction

• The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda
• A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale
• The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez

General Fiction

• The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

Suspense/Thriller

• I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid
• You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott
• Red Right Hand by Chris Holm
• The Passenger by Lisa Lutz
• Missing Pieces by Heather Gudenkauf
• The Ex by Alafair Burke
• Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
• Three-Martini Lunch by Suzanne Rindell
• Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman

Horror/Fantasy/Paranormal

• Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
• The Family Plot by Cherie Priest
• How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather
• Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
• Yesternight by Cat Winters (Also: Historical Fiction)
• Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
• Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
• The Fireman by Joe Hill

Historical Fiction:

• A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams
• The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz
• Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
• The Girl from the Savoy by Hazel Gaynor
• Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon
• Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (so brilliant that I couldn’t possibly put it into words)
• March Trilogy by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell (graphic novel….harrowing, honest, heartwrenching, beautiful)

Nonfiction:

• Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda & Jeremy McCarter
• Lust & Wonder: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs

Middle Grade/Young Adult

• Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
• Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan
• Holding up the Universe by Jennifer Niven
• The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

What were your favorite reads of 2016?