2017 was not a banner year for me book-wise. I finished 12 books – a couple of duds, a few decent ones, and a couple of stand-outs. I do believe I should get extra credit for finishing all 1,168 pages of Atlas Shrugged.  The round-up:
I’m Just A Person by Tig Notaro
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Strangers in their own Land by Arlie Russel
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Dark Money by Jane Mayer
Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
The Magic of Motherhood by Ashlee Gadd
Best books of 2017:
City of Thieves was brilliant and beautiful and tragic and funny. Damn, Benioff can write. (From the comfort of my couch) I was in World War II Russia – I felt the cold of the frozen forests, the hunger pangs of a completely empty stomach, the desolation of streets lined with bombed, looted buildings. And I felt all the warmth of friendship and camaraderie and hard-fought victory.
I also loved Homegoing, which was fiction very much grounded in truth. It’s a story of horrific injustice and unfathomable fortitude, beautifully and cleverly woven. Read it.
Honorable mentions to Born A Crime (I liked Trevor Noah before I read his memoir but loved him afterward) and Love Warrior (Glennon Doyle Melton’s love revolution is real, folks!).
On the docket for 2018:Â
So many good things! I’ve been soliciting recommendations from some of my most trusted confidantes and am feeling pretty pumped about my queue:
For fun:Â A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
For introspection:Â Practicing Resurrection by Nora Gallagher
For understanding:  Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
For a dose of “classic”:Â The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
For rainy, quiet Friday nights:Â Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson