Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books Read in 2017

I don’t often participate in memes, but I thought this was one was a great idea!  It’s a mid-year look at the best books I’ve read in 2017.  Some of them are new, some are older, but they’re all fantastic reads!  You can see my full reviews by clicking the links.

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the fabulous The Broke and Bookish.

 

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

If you’re looking at book blogs, chances are you know all about Six of Crows.  I had heard good things about it and took a chance by buying both books in the duology at once.  The risk paid off and they’re among my favorite books to recommend and lend out.

 

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

A classic love story: girl sees pretty book, girl falls in love, girl reads book, girl falls in love again.  I didn’t know what to expect when I picked up Strange the Dreamer – I hadn’t read any of Laini Taylor’s book in the past – but now I’m a dedicated fan.

 

Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan

One of my favorite debuts of 2017, Khan puts a new spin on science fiction.  Based in a utopian society rather than the familiar dystopian setting, Hold Back the Stars is a look back on how two people fell in and out of love.  Oh, and they’re trapped in Earth’s orbit with only 30 minutes of oxygen.

 

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

I read The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet in December/January and really loved it.  It’s sequel, A Closed and Common Orbit, blows it out of the water.  It’s a heartbreaking tale that takes on a new subgenre of science fiction : the cozy sci-fi novel. The third book in the series has just been announced!

 

Blackwing by Ed McDonald

Another of my favorite debut novels of 2017, Blackwing is a fantastic take on the dystopian fantasy that blends an understated magic system, the frontier setting, and intriguing characters.  It has some of the best world-building I’ve seen in a long time.

 

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

I’ve boasted my dislike of contemporary YA here a lot, but When Dimple Met Rishi has changed all of that.  Probably the cutest book of 2017, Sandhya Menon’s story is sweet, funny, and contains the diversity that so many readers have been craving.  The hype surrounding this book is strong, but I felt that it was well-deserved.

 

The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

An award-winning children’s tale featuring a lush tropical setting, a brave heroine, and a horrid antagonist, The Girl of Ink and Stars is the kind of book I wish I had a as a kid.  It won the Waterstones Children’s Prize for 2016 and it is well-deserved indeed.

 

March by John Lewis

March is the memoir of Representative john Lewis’s experience fighting for civil rights in the American South.  It’s told in the form of a three-volume graphic novel, making the book accessible to a huge range of readers.  It surged to top of the bestseller lists after Lewis boycotted Donald Trump’s inauguration, and I’m hoping that it stays in the public consciousness.

 

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

This was a total cover buy – the hardback edition is absolutely stunning.  The Bear and the Nightingale is not a fairy tale retelling, it is a novel-length adult fairy tale set in northernmost Russia.  It’s gorgeous and vivid and should be on everyone’s radar.

 

Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald

I didn’t expect to love Luna as much as I did.  It’s a slow read and you’re thrown straight in to the complicated culture of lunar life.  Once you get to grips with the names and terms, Luna is a fascinating saga that follows the rise and fall of one family.

 

Now that I’m reliving my feelings for all these amazing books, let me know what you think!  Do you see anything here that’s on your TBR?  Have you done this meme?