Recommend the best book you read in 2017

[Reallytired17]

Spending my amazon Christmas vouchers! A brief synopsis would be great too!

Rivers of london by Ben Aaronovitch.

Its not new but I read the selectors this year and loved it

Wiki:
Peter Grant, a young officer in the Metropolitan Police; who, following an unexpected encounter with a ghost, is recruited into the small branch of the Met that deals with magic and the supernatural.

selectors = series.
Sorry

Non fiction - The Radium Girls, by Kate Moore. The writing style is a bit clunky in places, but it's utterly gripping and very moving in places.

It's the story of the women who painted radium dials in 1920s America, gradually succumbing to the effects of radiation; and, for those who survived, their subsequent legal fight to have their condition acknowledged and to receive compensation to pay medical bills.

The Last Neanderthal.

It's a 2017 novel with a split narrative involving a female archeologist from today and a female neanderthal living in the distant past. It's a flawed book, but extremely readable and fascinating. Breezed through it in a couple of days.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Briefest of brief summary is that it’s a bit like Pride and Prejudice but set in Manchester, with socialism.

Completely blew me away. The writing is fabulous, the characters are all full of depth, flaws and wit. It’s completely immersive and I actually felt a bit teary when I finished it as I wanted so badly to stay with the characters for a bit longer.
Will definitely be re-reading it again this year.

Ooh yes scribblyGum North & South is an absolute belter. Anyone who enjoys Austen or Eliot or a Bronte should read it. A real favourite.

I would recommend Helen Garner, The Spare Room as my read of 2017. Well-written & affecting.

It's still 2017 so my recommendation as mentioned in Xmas books thread, is Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. A lonely and socially disfunctional woman starts to realise there is more to life than her limited existence. Funny & sad in equal measures.

I second Eleanor Oliphant

The Essex Serpent - set in a 19th century village haunted by a legend, it is beautifully written and encompasses themes of religion vs science, friendship, education, illness and socia justice.

Rush Oh - set in an Australian whaling community at the turn of the century, it follows the fortunes of a family through the eyes of the eldest daughter, and the Orca pod that befriends them. By turns witty and touching, it is a reflection on the passing of time and the personal and social changes that take place, and is loosely based on real events.

Fatherland - Gripping imagining of what Germany might have looked like had Hitler been victorious, told in the style of a police procedural.

Oh and late addition - Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer. A factual account of the 1996 Everest disaster by a survivor. A great book.

The Interestings by meg wolitzer ...one of those growing up over the decades In the USA novels - really brilliant

Eleanor Elephant is enjoyable, I also really liked Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. Follows the lives of a group of very different women and how things are not always the way they seem.

Homegoing - YaaGyasi was also a favourite of mine in 2017.

I can't decide between 'I know why the caged bird sings' by Maya Angelou and 'The liar's club' by Mary Karr. Both brilliant.

I know this much is true by Wally Lamb
One of those chunky great American novels to get absorbed in, about Dominic and his mentally ill twin, their troubled upbringing and the different effects it had on their lives. I found the characters often infuriating but very much cared what happened to them.

His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet
A historical crime novel set in the rural Highlands, more a whydunnit than a whodunnit, with a very clever first person narrative that totally draws you in.

Eleanor Oliphant gets my vote, but I didn't read anywhere near as many as I would have liked, so I don't have THAT many to choose from. I'm joining the 2018 50 book challenge (there will be one right?) in the hope that it'll spur me on to read much more.

This year I enjoyed

Eleanor Oliphant as well.
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Nana by Zola
Elena Ferrante Neopolitan series

Oh, if I had to choose one it would be The Power

I'm really enjoying 'The Light Behind the Window' by Lucinda Riley at the moment. Usually turn to her for light holiday reading but this has got a bit more substance.

Aristocratic young woman loses husband in WW2 (missing in action) and signs up for the secret service. Ends up on the run from the gestapo in France - lots of twists. Haven't finished it yet but love it so far.