2016 Year In Review: Favorite Books

Here’s my annual list of my ten favorite books read in the year.  As always, this is merely the best books I read this year and not necessarily books published in 2016.  For previous years see 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006. You may also want to check out My Favorite Books of All Time or see Every Book I’ve Ever Read cataloged in Library Thing.

In alphabetical order:

• The Clancys of Queens by Tara Clancy
• The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
• A History of Boston in 50 Artifacts by Joseph M. Bagley
• Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park
• Listen, Liberal, or, What ever happened to the party of the people? by Thomas Frank
• The new Jim Crow : mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
• The Strange and beautiful sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
• The Witches by Stacy Schiff

 

And, here is every book I read this year with rankings.  (A) is for audiobook.

The books are rated on a scale from 1 to 5 stars with links to summary reviews.

Here’s a thumbnail of what the ratings mean:

• 5 stars – all-time classic (I’m very stingy with these)
• 4 stars – a particularly interesting, well-written, or important book
• 3 stars – a good book from start to finish
• 2 stars – not a good book on the whole but has some good parts
• 1 star or less – basically a bad book with no redeeming values

 

January

• Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello (A) – **
• The big necessity : the unmentionable world of human waste and why it matters by Rose George – ****
• Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds in the Third Great Age of Discovery by Stephen J. Pyne – **
• Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell (A) – ****
• My Misspent Youth by Megan Daum (A) – **
• Tinkering toward utopia : a century of public school reform by David B. Tyack – ***1/2
• Wild Women of Boston by Dina Vargo  – ***1/2
• Civil War on Sunday by Mary Pope Osborne – ***1/2
• Gretel and the dark by Eliza Granville  (A) – **1/2
• The case of the best pet ever by James Preller – ***
• Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell  (A) – ***

February

• The new Jim Crow : mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness by Michelle Alexander – ****1/2
• Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis – ***
• H Is for Hawk by Helen McDonald (A) – ***
• The Strange and beautiful sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton – ****
• The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore (A) – ***
• Step Aside, Pops : A Hark! A Vagrant Collection by Kate Beaton – ***
• Sunset of the Sabertooth by Mary Pope Osborne – ***
• The Inventor’s Secret by Andrea Cremer (A) -**
• Dept. of speculation By Jenny Offill (A) – ***
• Rat Queens Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe – **
• The Walking Dead Vol. 24: Life and Death by Robert Kirkman – **1/2

March

• My American Revolution: Crossing the Delaware and I-78 by Robert Sullivan (A) – **1/2
• Soccer Star Cristiano Ronaldo by John Albert Torres – ***
• Midnight on the Moon by Mary Pope Osborne – ***1/2
• The Knight at Dawn by Mary Pope Osborne – **
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee – **
• Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (A) – ***1/2
• Bambino by Tom Bruno – **1/2
• Lumberjanes Volume 2 by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, and Brooke A. Allen
• Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osbourne – ***1/2
• Afternoon on the Amazon  by Mary Pope Osbourne – ***
• Buffalo Before Breakfast by Mary Pope Osbourne – ***1/2
• The Diviners by Libba Bray (A) – ***
• Pirates Past Noon by Mary Pope Osbourne – **1/2
• Amazin’ Again: How the 2015 New York Mets Brought the Magic Back to Queens by Greg W. Prince – ***1/2
• Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osbourne – ***
• Attack of the Cheetah by Jane B. Mason – ***
• Walk the Blue Fields: Stories by Claire Keegan – **

April

• The Philly Fake by David A. Kelly – ***
• Stage Fright on a Summer Night by Mary Pope Osbourne – ***1/2
• The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin (A) – ****
• Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne – ***
• Star Wars: Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka – ***
• The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman (A) – ***
• Listen, Liberal, or, What ever happened to the party of the people? by Thomas Frank – ****
• Monday With a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osbourne – ***
• The Round House by Louise Erdrich (A) – ***
• The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (A) – ***
• Wild lives : a history of the people & animals of the Bronx Zoo by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld – ***
• What’s It Like in Space?: Stories from Astronauts Who’ve Been There by Ariel Waldman – ***1/2

May

• Black Panther #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Brian Stelfreeze, and Laura Martin – ***
• The Witches by Stacy Schiff (A) – ****
• Night of the New Magicians by Mary Pope Osbourne – ***
• Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve by Mary Pope Osbourne – ***1/2
• Ben and Me by Robert Lawson – ***
• The Fever of 1721 by Stephen Coss (A) – ****
• Good Morning, Gorillas by Mary Pope Osbourne – ***1/2
• The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale – ***
• The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde (A) – ***
• Jackaby by William Ritter (A) – ****
• Earth, Air, Fire and Custard by Tom Holt – ****
• The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A.J. Jacobs (A) – ****
• Suicide Hotline Hold Music: Poems  by Jessy Randall – ****
• There Was an Old Woman: Poems by Jessy Randall – ***1/2
• Stuart Little by E.B. White (A) – ****
• Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary (A) – ****

June

• Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary (A) – ****
• Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary (A) – ****
• We love you, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge – ****
• Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary (A) – ****
• A History of Boston in 50 Artifacts by Joseph M. Bagley – ****1/2
• Who Was Davy Crockett? by Gail Herman – ***
• A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn (A) – ****
• Bitch Planet. Volume 1 Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick – ***

July

• Who is Michelle Obama? by Megan Stine – ***1/2
• Amsterdam : a history of the world’s most liberal city by Russell Shorto (A) – ****
• Feminism is for everybody : passionate politics by bell hooks – ****
• Who Was Neil Armstrong by Roberta Edwards – ***
• Who was Johnny Appleseed? by Joan Holub – ***
• The Great Bridge by David McCullough (A) – ****
• 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann (A) – ****
• In the city of bikes : the story of the Amsterdam cyclist by Pete Jordan – ****
• Who was Annie Oakley by Stephanie Spinner – ***
• Who Was Jesse Owens by James Buckley, Jr. – ****
• Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde (A) – *****
• Who Was Louis Armstrong by Yona Zeldis McDonough – ***1/2
• The Silent Traveller: A Chinese Artist in Lakeland by Chiang Yee – ***

August

• Who is Dolly Parton? byTrue Kelley – ***1/2
• Slade House by David Mitchell (A) – **1/2
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (A) – ***
• Bel Canto by Anne Patchet (A) – ***
• Becoming a Citizen Activist by Nick Licata – ****
• Blizzard of the Blue Moon by Mary Pope Osbourne – ****
• Keeping Score by Linda Sue Park – *****
• The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (A) – ****
• The Cost of Rights: Why Liberty Depends on Taxes by Stephen Holmes – ***

September

• Beatlebone by Kevin Barry – **
• What Was Hurricane Katrina? by Robin Koontz – ***1/2
• What Were the Twin Towers? by Jim O’Connor – ****
• What was the Alamo? by Pam Pollack – ***
• Who was Franklin Roosevelt? by Margaret Frith – ***1/2
• The Games by David Goldblatt (A) – ***1/2
• The Clancys of Queens by Tara Clancy – ****1/2
• Hark! : a Vagrant by Kate Beaton – ****
• The Iowa Baseball Confederacy by W. P. Kinsella (A) – ****

October

• 1493 : Uncovering the New World Columbus Created by Charles C. Mann (A) – ****
• Thirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann (A) – ****
• His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (A) – ***1/2
• What Was the First Thanksgiving by Joan Holub – ***
• Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt (A) – ***
• SPQR : A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard – ****

November

• Who Was John F. Kennedy by Yona Zeldis McDonough – ***
• How music works : the science and psychology of beautiful sounds, from Beethoven to the Beatles and beyond by John Powell – ***1/2
• American Slavery, American Freedom by Edmund S. Morgan (A) – ***1/2
• Find me by Laura van den Berg – ***
• Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery by Deborah Howe and James Howe (A) – ***
• Howliday Inn by James Howe (A) – ***
• The Celery Stalks at Midnight by James Howe (A) – ***
• George by Alex Gino (A) – ****

December

• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (A) – ****
• Beauty is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan – ***
•  I Think of You by Ahdaf Soueif – **1/2
• The Anniversary Present by Larry Thomas – **1/2