Over the last 13 years, the Year in Reading has collected the book recommendations and musings of some of the most brilliant readers and writers working today. Looking at the series over time it becomes an instrument of measurement, not only for tracking the way the site itself has grown and evolved, but for recording the big books of the moment, or the books of yesteryear that readers never tire of discovering anew. It can also capture–in a glancing, kaleidoscopic way–the general mood of the professional reading public. The 2016 Year in Reading was in some respects pretty grim, as contributors tried to reconcile reading, at its heart an intensely private, personal passion, with the requirements of being human in a world where bad things persist in happening.
This year I’d like to focus on the good things. The Year in Reading is my favorite thing we do at this site, and I’m so grateful for the writers who gave generously of their time to participate. I’m grateful for the dedicated readers who navigate here every morning and give the site a reason to live, and for the supporters who are helping us secure the future. This is our 14th year, and 14 years is an eon in Internet Time. The Millions won’t survive the heat death of the universe, but it has already stuck around longer than at least some bad things will.
A lot of our 2017 Year in Reading contributors were anxious and tired and read less than they would have liked. The good news is that they still did a lot of excellent, engaged reading. The good news is that there are more exquisite and important things to read than you’ll ever read in your lifetime. The good news is that books are still the vehicles for inquiry, revelation, devastation, and joy that they have always been.
The names of our 2017 contributors will be unveiled throughout the month as entries are published (starting with our traditional opener from Languagehat’s Stephen Dodson later this morning). Bookmark this post, load up the main page, subscribe to our RSS feed, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to make sure you don’t miss an entry — we’ll run three or four per day. And if you look forward to the Year in Reading every year, please consider supporting the site and ensuring this December tradition continues for years to come.
–Lydia Kiesling
- Stephen Dodson, co-author of Uglier Than a Monkey’s Armpit, proprietor of Languagehat.
- Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage.
- Eugene Lim, author of Dear Cyborgs.
- Edan Lepucki, contributing editor and author of Woman No. 17.
- Sonya Chung, contributing editor and author of The Loved Ones.
- Emily St. John Mandel, staff writer and author of Station Eleven.
- Nick Ripatrazone, contributing editor and author of Ember Days.
- Garth Risk Hallberg, contributing editor and author of City on Fire.
- Janet Potter, staff writer.
- Louise Erdrich, author of LaRose.
- Ahmed Saadawi, author of Frankenstein in Baghdad.
- Jesmyn Ward, author of Sing, Unburied, Sing.
- Jeff VanderMeer, author of Borne.
- Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Book of Joan.
- Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You.
- Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties.
- Kevin Young, author of Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News.
- Yoko Tawada, author of Memoirs of a Polar Bear.
- Danzy Senna, author of New People.
- Jenny Zhang is a poet and writer.
- Matthew Klam, author of Who Is Rich.
- Paul Yoon, author of The Mountain.
- Julie Buntin, author of Marlena.
- Brandon Taylor, associate editor of Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading and staff writer at Literary Hub.
- Hannah Gersen, staff writer and author of Home Field.
- Matt Seidel, staff writer.
- Zoë Ruiz, staff writer.
- Clare Cameron, staff writer and author of The Last Neanderthal.
- Il’ja Rákoš, staff writer.
- Ismail Muhammad, staff writer.
- Thomas Beckwith, staff writer.
- Michael Pollan, author of Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation.
- Jeff Chang, author of Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.
- Robin Sloan, author of Sourdough.
- Juan Villoro, author of The Reef.
- Chiwan Choi, author of The Yellow House.
- Scaachi Koul, author of One Day We’ll All Be Dead And None Of This Will Matter.
- Gabe Habash, author of Stephen Florida.
- Ayobami Adebayo, author of Stay with Me.
- Kaveh Akbar, author of Calling a Wolf a Wolf.
- Kima Jones, founder of Jack Jones Literary Arts.
- Vanessa Hua, author of A River of Stars.
- Hamilton Leithauser, rock star.
- R.O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries.
- Rakesh Satyal, author of No One Can Pronounce My Name.
- Kristen Radtke, author of Imagine Wanting Only This.
- Nick Moran, staff writer.
- Lydia Kiesling, site editor and author of The Golden State.
- Anne Yoder, staff writer.
- Michael Bourne, staff writer.
- Tess Malone, associate editor.
- Bill Morris, staff writer and author of Motor City Burning.
- Kaulie Lewis, staff writer.
- Myriam Gurba, author of Mean.
- Patrick Nathan, author of Some Hell.
- Morgan Jerkins, author of This Will Be My Undoing.
- Michael David Lukas, author of The Last Watchman of Old Cairo.
- Jamel Brinkley, author of A Lucky Man.
- Shanthi Sekaran, author of Lucky Boy.
- Kara Levy, fiction writer.
- Patrick Cottrell, author of Sorry to Disrupt the Peace.
- Heather Scott Partington, NBCC emerging critic.
- Paul Goldberg, author of The Yid.
- Simeon Marsalis, author of A Lie is To Grin.
- Kevin Barry, author of Beatlebone.
- Laura Turner, writer.
- Sarah Smarsh, journalist.
- Kyle Chayka, writer.
- A Year in Reading: Outro
Don’t miss: A Year in Reading 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005
