My favorite books published in 2017 include Nina Riggs’ stunning and beautiful memoir written in her last living days, The Bright Hour; Kanishk Tharoor’s imaginative story collection, Swimmer Among the Stars; Hala Alyan’s expansively drawn novel depicting generations of displacement and discovery, Salt Houses; Zeina Hashem Beck’s second full-length poetry collection that sings with power and urgency, Louder than Hearts; and Melissa Febos’ lyric, layered memoir, Abandon Me.

Two more works published before this year but that had great impact for me are: Ta-Nehisi Coates’ powerful letter to his son about what it means to live in a black body in America, Between the World and Me (I’m looking forward to reading his new book, We Were Eight Years in Power, too) and Kenan Trebincevic’s The Bosnia List, a harrowing true story told with such humanity that I simultaneously wept and smiled in the last pages of reading. May 2018 bring more great releases and new discoveries.

Wishing everyone happy reading for the holidays!