Recreation of an old 2016 list from my no longer active hacked/dead (RIP) website.
2016 was a year where I read 100 books, more than any other year in my life besides 2015. Looking back with 2023 eyes, I’m not sure how I managed. Although not having a child coupled with a long commute I’m sure helped.
Looking back at my list and it really is an odd assortment. Some titles I still think about (everything in my top 7), others I forgot I even read (some of the Sanderson books blend together in my mind), and a few others I cringe thinking about (can’t remember if it was Homeland or Little Brother, but in one of those a character goes to Burning Man and runs into Wil Wheaton (also the one narrating the audiobook) during a dust storm, and I think impresses him with a strong cold brew recipe and it has nothing to do with the actual plot. But I don’t know, I must have liked it at the time, so maybe it’s actually really good and not a cringy artifact of it’s time).
Anyway, of the 100 books I finished, the below 34 were my favorite in December 2016.
Favorite Books Read In 2016
34
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Pages: 390
Release Date: June 16, 2015
33
I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong
Pages: 368
Release Date: August 9, 2016
32
Planetfall by Emma Newman
Pages: 336
Release Date: November 3, 2015
31
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Pages: 320
Release Date: April 26, 2016
30
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Pages: 390
Release Date: September 15, 2015
28-29
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Pages: 382
Release Date: April 29, 2008
28-29
Homeland by Cory Doctorow
Pages: 396
Release Date: February 5, 2013
27
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman
Pages: 310
Release Date: February 3, 2015
26
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Pages: 688
Release Date: October 2, 2014
24
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
Pages: 468
Release Date: August 4, 2015
24
Among Others by Jo Walton
Pages: 304
Release Date: January 18, 2011
23
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Pages: 438
Release Date: May 19, 2015
22
The Most Beautiful House in the World by Witold Rybczynski
Pages: 224
Release Date: April 4, 1989
21
The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson
Pages: 672
Release Date: June 3, 2002
20
The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson
Pages: 385
Release Date: October 8, 2015
16-18
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Pages: 386
Release Date: September 24, 2013
16-18
Firefight by Brandon Sanderson
Pages: 416
Release Date: January 6, 2015
16-18
Calamity by Brandon Sanderson
Pages: 424
Release Date: February 16, 2016
13-15
The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
Pages: 332
Release Date: November 8, 2011
13-15
Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
Pages: 383
Release Date: October 6, 2015
13-15
The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
Pages: 448
Release Date: January 26, 2016
12
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
Pages: 404
Release Date: June 4, 2013
11
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Pages: 370
Release Date: February 2, 2010
10
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
Pages: 500
Release Date: October 6, 2014
9
Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
Pages: 592
Release Date: June 2, 2011
8
Waiting for the Weekend by Witold Rybczynski
Pages: 272
Release Date: August 19, 1991
7
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Pages: 872
Release Date: May 19, 2015
6
The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway
Pages: 498
Release Date: June 1, 2008
3-5
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Pages: 402
Release Date: August 11, 2009
3-5
The Magician King by Lev Grossman
Pages: 548
Release Date: August 9, 2011
3-5
The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman
Pages: 402
Release Date: August 5, 2014
2
Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
Pages: 432
Release Date: October 20, 2015
1
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
Pages: 464
Release Date: March 8, 2016
