I went looking for a bookish topic for this Friday’s post, and found that Top Ten Tuesday‘s last post (before a summer break) was about the best books you’ve read so far in 2017.  And I thought…I’m reading some really cool books and I haven’t reviewed them all.  So let’s do a brief look-in on some of them.

In backwards chronological order of reading, just because…

1) How to Be a Normal Person by TJ Klune – Hysterical, brilliant writing, exceptional characters, adorable romance.  Some content advisory required though, so read the full review.

2) The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Choksi – A beautiful fantasy with Indian influences.  There’s a powerful heroine, a mysterious hero, and fascinating fantasy landscapes.  Also, gorgeous imagery!

3) Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik – A biography of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, it’s inspiring and enlightening.  Great writing that made even legal briefs interesting, and a powerful commentary on the struggle for gender equality.

4) Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance – Deeply compelling and engaging, this memoir brought me into a part of American culture I don’t know at all.  I read it to try to understand certain…recent events.  Not quite as conclusive as I hoped, but fascinating.

5) We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson – Masterful, creepy, terrifying.  Wonderfully done.

6) The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig – Maps to sail through time.  Need I say more?

7) Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven – Still two of my favorite characters met this year, each with an unusual perspective to bring.

8) I’d Say Yes, God, If I Knew What You Wanted by Nancy Reeves – One of the best, most enlightening, spiritual books I’ve probably ever read.

9) The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon – If a book can be real-time, this one is.  It’s a brief, compelling romance, that also provides a lot of social commentary in a natural, non-heavy-handed way.  Made me think, while having compelling characters and plot.

10) The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt – This book really, really helped me understand some things about how we as a society view right and wrong, and why we keep stumbling into problems communicating.  So, so helpful, and I keep recommending it to friends.

So it appears that when looking for the best books of the year, I have managed to review many of them after all.  Kind of reassuring!  And intriguing, how many of the best have been nonfiction.  That is a new trend in my reading.  I don’t feel sure it will continue (fiction and I go way back, after all) but that seems to be where I am now.

How has your reading been so far this year?  Any trends or favorites emerging?