I’ve been keeping track of my top books of each year since 2001.

This year was notable because I read more fiction than nonfiction. (In recent years it’s been the other way around.) And given the fact The Covenant of Water is 735+ pages, I didn’t read as many books as usual…but there are some really great ones in there!

Key:  A: African, AS: Asian, B: Black, C: Chinese, D: Dominican, I: Indian/Pakistani; J: Jewish, PI: Pacific Islander; Q: LBGTQIA+, S: Sioux; W: Woman

Fiction

• The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese (I/A)
• The Women, by Kristin Hannah
• The Briar Club, by Kate Quinn
• Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt
• Weyward, by Emilia Hart
• A Death-Struck Year, by Makiia Lucier (PI, BW)
• Now You See Us, by Balli Kaur Jaswal (IW)
• A Council of Dolls, by Mona Susan Power (SW)
• Bright Young Women, by Jessica Knoll
• Long After We Are Gone, by Terah Shelton Harris (BW)
• The Enigma Game, by Elizabeth Wein
• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Q Sutanto (ASW)
• The Vaster Wilds, by Lauren Groff
• Saints for All Occasions, by J. Courtney Sullivan
• No Exit, by Taylor Adams
• The Lioness, by Chris Bohjalian
• Tom Lake, by Ann Patchett
• With the Fire on High, by Elizabeth Acevedo (DW)
• His Majesty’s Hope, by Susan Elia MacNeal
• Daisy Jones & The Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?, by Crystal Smith Paul (BW)
• The Whistler, by John Grisham

Nonfiction

• When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi (I)
• Connie: A Memoir, by Connie Chung (ASW)
• Rememberings, by Sinead O’Connor (QW)
• Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere, by Maria Bamford
• My Name Is Barbra Streisand, by Barbra Streisand (JW)
• On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good, by Elise Loehnen
• Wandering in Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots, by Morgan Jerkins (BW)
• I’m Just a Person, by Tig Notaro (QW)