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Great books from 2016

Books, 2016, New York Times Best Seller
National Observer has assembled a list of top literary picks for 2016. File photo by George Redgrave, Flickr Creative Commons

We'd like you to give you a list of the best books of the year, but since we couldn't read all of the 250,000 books published in 2016, here's a selection of some of the great ones.

You may want to use this as a cheat sheet to buy a book as a gift for friends or loved ones. And of course, you may want to treat yourself over the holidays and cozy up for an exciting read.

We surveyed a few board members of the Vancouver Writers Festival — people who love books and who read a lot of them. Here are some of their favourite books from 2016.

Fiction

  • Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
  • Nutshell by Ian McEwan*
  • Commonwealth by Ann Patchett*
  • Moonglow by Michael Chabon*
  • Teardown by Clea Young
  • Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi*
  • Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin

Non-fiction

  • Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer*
  • The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy by Chris Bayley
  • Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah*
  • When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi*
  • Price Paid by Bev Sellars
  • Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West
  • The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
  • Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva by Rosemarie Sullivan
  • “House of the Lords and Commons” by Ishion Hutchison (poetry)

*Also chosen by the New York Times as Best books of the year

Happy reading and happy holidays to you and yours.

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