The 20 Best Books Of 2016, According To 36 ‘Best Of’ Lists

The 20 Best Books Of 2016, According To 36 ‘Best Of’ Lists

If you’re looking for a good book to read by the pool this New Year, you’re bound to find one on this list. These are the books found on “best of 2016” lists the most.

Why read through a bunch of book lists yourself when you can let someone comb through the data for you? Kira Bindrim at Quartz has done exactly that. After scouring almost 40 different “best books of 2016” lists from sources like The New York Times, NPR, The Telegraph, Publishers Weekly and even a few celebrities, Quartz has crafted a definitive top 20 list. Here’s the 10 most popular picks:

  1. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead (on 24 lists)

  2. Swing Time, by Zadie Smith (on 16 lists)

  3. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond (on 15 lists)

  4. Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi (on 12 lists)

  5. The Vegetarian, by Han Kang (on 11 lists)

  6. The Girls, by Emma Cline (on 10 lists)

  7. When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi (on nine lists)

  8. The Gene, by Siddhartha Mukherjee (on nine lists)

  9. Commonwealth, by Ann Patchett (on nine lists)

  10. News of the World, by Paulette Jiles (on eight lists)

The full list includes 13 fiction and seven nonfiction books, with themes ranging from race to Russia to music to murder. You can learn more about the sources used and see the full list at the link below.

The best books of 2016 list you get when you combine 36 “Best Books of 2016” lists [Quartz]


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