Best books of 2016

It’s time for #libfaves16 on Twitter, my friends, and that means making some hard choices.

The idea is to list your top 10 favorite books that were published in 2016.

And then rank them.

This is difficult.

So I basically went with my gut.

A Gentleman in Moscow was this year’s clear winner, but the other rankings could shuffle around if you asked me on a different day. But the top 5 would remain the top 5.

Here goes…

1. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Gracious, engaging, triumphant

2. This Is Where You Belong: The Art and Science of Loving the Place You Love by Melody Warnick

Personal, informative, domestic

3. Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian by Anthony Ervin & Constantine Markides

Introspective, unflinching, surprising

4. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Lyrical, brutal, magical realism

5. Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda & Jeremy McCarter

Exuberant, collaborative, insider info

6. Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance

Unflinching, personal, troubling

7. The Clancys of Queens by Tara Clancy

Sharp, conversational, unexpected

8. Dead Presidents: An American Adventure into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation’s Leaders by Brady Carlson

Rollicking, informative, conversational

9. Lab Girl by Hope Jahren

Lyrical, poignant, personal

10. The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King

Layered, innovative, historical