Top Ten Fiction of 2017

I read a lot more fiction this year than ever before, and I loved most of it. I've finally found what I like (and can't tolerate) in a novel. It was difficult narrowing it down to just ten, so I gave an honorable mention.


Here are my favorite novels read last year.

 

This was the first book I finished last year, and I loved it. I'm so glad I finally got to it, even it I was the last person to have done so.

 

I absolutely adored this book, which is part memoir and part fiction. I listened to it on audio, but some day I'll go back and read it, too. It's a silly and poignant adventure story about a young couple in the 1930s returning a pet alligator to Florida. It would make a great movie.

This was, hands down, my favorite read of the year, in any category. It's the story of a small hockey town rocked by a crime. The writing is superb. Also, this is the only book on this list that is contemporary fiction.

I read the first four books in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series about a lady detective in Botswana, and I loved every one of them. This is one of my new favorite things, and it started off a whole year of reading books about Africa.

This is the fourth in the Flavia de Luce mystery series, which I adore. This one, though, is one of my favorites so far for its atmospheric coziness. Put this on your list of winter/Christmas books for the end of this year!

Although I didn't love the way the book ended, I loved this novel. It was so well-paced and moody and mysterious, but also very down-to-earth. It's the story of a young Irish Catholic girl who appears to be living without sustenance and the nurse who attempts to suss out the truth. People seem to either love or hate this one, but I'm in the former category.

 

This is another book that suffered from a bad ending. The end was much too long and really seemed to work against what the rest of the book had accomplished. Still, it was so beautifully written, despite its drag of an ending, it was one of the best books I read last year. It's about an American missionary family in the Congo in the 1950s, a tumultuous time in that part of the world.

 

This is the third in the Kopp Sisters series, and it might be my favorite. It was a very cozy novel, and I enjoyed it immensely.

 

This was really quite a story. It's the fictionalized events of the AC vs. DC current war between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse in the late 19th century. An amazing story, and so engaging.

Another quiet, cozy, atmospheric novel. I loved this book. It you have a high tolerance for slim plots, this is the cream of the crop. It's the story of a young widow, her daughter, and the nuns who help them throughout the years.

This is my honorable mention. I found it well-written and engaging, without preaching about race and inequality. It follows two sisters and their descendants, one family in Africa, one family in America. It's worth a read.