2018 Jan 2
2018 has just begun and and what’s better than a roundup of last year’s most memorable and endearing books to put on your to-be-read list? Ranging from Young Adult to Mystery, here are some of 2017’s finest below!
1. The Hate U Give- Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Thrown into the spotlight as the sole witness of Khalil’s shooting, Starr is the only person who can clear her childhood friend’s name and win this fight against the system. This is an eye-opening and moving novel that tells a compassionate tale of a young girl learning to use her voice while balancing out her family and relationships.
2. Exit West- Mohsin Hamid
Initially set against the backdrop of a civil war, this novel is a story of two young lovers, Saeed and Nadia, struggling to find their place- in the world and in each other’s lives- when they’re forced to escape to safer countries. As the two change into very different people, they cling on to their shared past in an effort to stay together. While this novel is essentially of love and loss, it also covers the immigrant process and serves as a compelling and bittersweet read.
3. Turtles All the Way Down – John Green
John Green is back and ready to wreak emotional havoc in his new novel. It follows the lives of 16 year old Aza and the son of a missing billionaire, Davis. As usual, Green captures his readers with his philosophical and brutally honest writing as we follow Aza, suffering from a mental sickness and struggling to be a good daughter and student, all the while contending with her overwhelming thoughts. This novel, in typical John Green style, captures the power of love, loyalty and endurance.
4. One of Us Is Lying- Karen M. McManus
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. One never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose? An engaging and addictive read, this is definitely a mystery that will keep you hooked until the end.
5. Into the Water- Paula Hawkins
In a small town with big secrets, this novel hovers around the eerily mysterious Drowning Pool, where many bodies have been found, for decades, and labeled as suicides. Ned is the latest body to be found, mere months after her daughters friend’s drowning. This forces Jules to face her fears and come back home to look after her sister’s daughter while also forcing the police to take a deeper look into these apparent suicides. In yet another addictive read, you’ll find yourself asking, what really happened at the Drowning Pool? What are all these people hiding?
6. Before We Were Yours- Lisa Wingate
This is a heartbreakingly beautiful read based off the true story of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society that participated in the kidnapping and selling of children to rich families while severely neglecting and abusing them. The novel covers two timelines- past (1939), where five siblings struggle to stay together after being abducted, and present, where Avery Strafford- incredibly successful and well off, find herself confronted, after her father’s health crisis, with unearthing her family’s history taking her down a piercing road of hardship and heartbreak.
7. Caraval- Stephanie Garber
A riveting fantasy that follows Scarlett Dragna and her dreams to participate in a show known as Caraval where the audience finds themselves lost in a game of reality versus performance. Despite being set up by her cruel father for an arranged marriage, Scarlett runs off with her sister, Tella, to participate in the show. In a twist of events, Tella is kidnapped and the goal of the participants in the show is now to find her leaving the readers to wonder- will Scarlett find her sister or will she be lost forever in Caraval?
8. The Good Daughter- Karin Slaughter
Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn’s happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father — Pikeville’s notorious defense attorney — devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night. Twenty-eight years later, and Charlie has followed in her father’s footsteps to become a lawyer herself — the ideal good daughter. But a similar violence hits the town once again leaving Charlie to contend with the destruction it wreaks on the town…and on herself. This is an enthralling read and highly emotional- one that you simply would not be able to put down until the end.
9. A Column of Fire- Ken Follett
Ken Follett is back with his third Kingsbridge novel. Ned Willard wants nothing more than to marry Margery Fitzgerald. But when the lovers find themselves on opposing sides of the religious conflict dividing the country, Ned goes to work for Princess Elizabeth. When she becomes queen, all Europe turns against England. The shrewd, determined young monarch sets up the country’s first secret service to give her early warning of assassination plots, rebellions, and invasion plans. Over a turbulent half-century, the love between Ned and Margery seems doomed as extremism sparks violence from Edinburgh to Geneva. Ken Follett, as usual, shows himself to be a master of incorporating love, religion and politics to give his readers a fascinating read.
10. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
Eleanor Oliphant is socially inept and struggles to fit in with normal routines of life. When Eleanor and the IT guy from her office save an elderly gentleman, the three lonely people group together to help fill the holes in each other’s hearts. And yet, this is a novel that doesn’t get distracted/carried away by romantic aspects but remains wholly focused on Eleanor. Eleanor is a quirky, easy to love character who is also scarred from past experiences and this makes for a touchingly sad novel on how Honeyman’s character learns to move on and live for herself.
