Of all the books that I’ve ever felt compelled to consume greedily and compulsively–of all the books that I’ve ever sat down with intending to read for only a few minutes, only to re-emerge several hours later–I never thought The Unwomanly Face of War would be one of them–a chunky oral history of the Second World War as seen through the eyes of ordinary Soviet women, containing a fair share of harrowing narratives and general bleakness, and translated into an English that’s still a little bit Russian. I did not expect to devour this book the way I did. Svetlana Alexievich, The Unwomanly Face of War (trans. But I’m already working on a review for both, which you can expect soon. Finally, there are two books (Patty Yumi Cottrell’s Sorry to Disturb the Peace and Sarah Hall’s Madame Zero) which perhaps deserve a spot here, but, because I read them so recently, I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I thought of them, and I might even read again, so it seems premature to include them.

I should also say that there are a bunch of books that were published this year that I wasn’t able to get my hands on they’re on my to-read list for next year and who knows, they might be in my best-of-2018 list in a year’s time.

And this one is mine! I decided to include books that weren’t published in 2017 (mostly because I worry that reviewers, myself included, direct too much attention towards new and up-coming releases), as well as books that I read before I started this blog (and which I therefore did not review), and I ordered them alphabetically (because I don’t want to waste time trying to figure out a ranking system). This year, I found the LitHub, Electric Literature, and NPR lists particularly good, as well as Jeff Vandermeer’s over at The Millions.

For me, they’re a chance to add a bunch of interesting-looking books to my to-read list, and it’s particularly exciting when I come across something I hadn’t heard of before. The best thing about the end of the year are end-of-the-year lists.

Best books to read 2017