The New York Times Top 10 Best Books of 2017
The year’s best books, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review.
Autumn
By Ali Smith
Narrated by Melody Grove / 5 hours 27 minutes
Autumn. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. That's what it felt like for Keats in 1819. How about Autumn 2016? Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic, once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand-in-hand with hopelessness.... Read More »
Exit West
A Novel
By Mohsin Hamid
Narrated by Mohsin Hamid / 4 hours 41 minutes
Exit West
“Exit West will take your breath away as it magically weaves together a story of falling in love while the world falls apart. Spirited Nadia captures the heart of the thoughtful Saeed, but as their different paths in life converge, ordinary life gives way to the insults of war. Mohsin Hamid conveys the story of these young refugees with tenderness, humanizing the horrors that we too often see as merely headlines. As chaos touches so many lives around the globe, Hamid writes eloquently of the beauty found in our struggle to survive. This is more than a timely story; this is a remarkable work of art.”
Luisa Smith, Book Passage
Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist)
By Min Jin Lee
Narrated by Allison Hiroto / 18 hours 15 minutes
Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist)
“A father's gentle nature, a mother's sacrifice, a daughter's trust, and a son's determination are the cornerstones of this grand, multilayered saga. Pachinko follows one family through an ever-changing cultural landscape, from 1910 Korea to 1989 Japan. As the bonds of family are put to the test in the harsh realities of their world, Sunja and those she holds dear manage to carve themselves a place to call home with hard work, self sacrifice, and a little kimchi. Through it all is a message about love, faith, and the deep-rooted bonds of family. Min Jin Lee gives us a phenomenal story about one family's struggle that resonates with us today. It will take hold of you and not let go!”
Jennifer Steele, Boswell Book Company
The Power
By Naomi Alderman
Narrated by Naomi Alderman / 12 hours 5 minutes
One of the New York Times's Ten Best Books of 2017 A Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2017 One of the Washington Post's Ten Best Books of 2017 An NPR Best Book of 2017 One of Entertainment Weekly's Ten Best Books of 2017 A Bustle Best Book of 2017 A Paste Magazine Best Novel of 2017 A San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2017 Winner of the... Read More »
Sing, Unburied, Sing
A Novel
By Jesmyn Ward
Narrated by Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Chris Chalk & Rutina Wesley / 8 hours 22 minutes
Sing, Unburied, Sing
“Sing, Unburied, Sing is a dark and gorgeous song of love and heartbreak, haunting and tragic and disorienting in its timelessness. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill anchors Ward's tale to Mississippi today, which is almost indistinguishable from its notorious yesterday, a present and past (ironically) made more alive in the novel by ghosts and where everyone suffers from the cancers of buried sins. On Jojo's 13th birthday, while Mam is dying and Pop struggles to keep everyone safe, Leonie plans a road trip to the prison to pick up Michael, Jojo and baby Kayla's father. It's The Odyssey meets the Delta blues meets William Faulkner and Toni Morrison and some ineffable something that is Jesmyn Ward's own magic.”
Sara Hinckley, Hudson Booksellers
The Evolution of Beauty
How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World - and Us
By Richard O. Prum
Narrated by Dan Woren / 13 hours 37 minutes
A FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, SMITHSONIAN, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL
A major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the animal world.
In the great... Read More »
Grant
By Ron Chernow
Narrated by Mark Bramhall / 47 hours 58 minutes
The #1 New York Times bestseller.
Named one of the 10 Best Books of 2017 by The New York Times Book Review.
Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow returns with a sweeping and dramatic portrait of one of our most compelling generals and presidents, Ulysses S. Grant.
Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is... Read More »
Locking Up Our Own
Crime and Punishment in Black America
By James Forman Jr.
Narrated by Kevin R. Free / 8 hours 39 minutes
An original and consequential argument about race, crime, and the law Today, Americans are debating our criminal justice system with new urgency. Mass incarceration and aggressive police tactics-and their impact on people of color-are feeding outrage and a consensus that something must be done. But what if we only know half the story? In Locking... Read More »
Prairie Fires
The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
By Caroline Fraser
Narrated by Christina Moore / 21 hours 26 minutes
The first comprehensive historical biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the beloved author of the Little House on the Prairie book series Millions of readers of Little House on the Prairie believe they know Laura Ingalls-the pioneer girl who survived blizzards and near-starvation on the Great Plains, and the woman who wrote the famous... Read More »