My Top 5 Favorite Books Read In 2017

For this past month, I’ve been joining hosts Girlxoxo, Traveling with T and Estella’s Revenge for their 4th annual #AMonthofFaves blog event. – “a fun way to recap the year that was” – during the month of December. Today’s topic is “The Top 10 Books That Blew Your Mind This Year,” which I’ve adapted to my own top 5 favorite books read in 2017.

On Friday, I gav you My Top 15 Albums of 2017; yesterday, my wife Kim and I gave you Our Top 10 Favorite TV Shows/Movies of 2017; and today, I give you…

My Top 5 Favorite Books Read In 2017

5. The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker (writer), Sean Phillips (artist, letterer), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colourist)
4. The Lost Book of The Grail by Charlie Lovett
3. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown
2. Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans
1. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama XIV, the only book for which I wrote a review this year.

I won’t be writing much today about them, because Friday, my aunt, who has been living with my parents and who has been in ill health for a number of years, passed away so my mind understandably isn’t all here. A memorial service will be held Wednesday for her at my parents’ church and Kim and I are going (it is one of Kim’s regular days off from work and I’m taking a vacation day). However, I will say that Suzi from the blog Whimpulsive recommended The Fade Out, a graphic novel, to me; Tasha from the blog Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Books recommended The Lost Grail; and Andi from the blog Estella’s Revenge recommended Searching for Sunday.  Surprisingly, three of the five were nonfiction, since I don’t read much nonfiction. I think altogether I read five nonfiction books this year.

Books Read In 2017

In reverse order, here is what I read:

1. Lazarus: Vol. 1 by by Greg Rucka, Michael Lark (artist), Santiago Arcas (illustrator)
2. The Fade Out: Act One by Ed Brubaker (writer), Sean Phillips (artist, letterer), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colourist)
3. The Fade Out: Act Two by Ed Brubaker (writer), Sean Phillips (artist, letterer), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colourist)
4. The Fade Out: Act Three by Ed Brubaker (writer), Sean Phillips (artist, letterer), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colourist)
5. Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly
6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
7. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
8. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
9. Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride
10. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
11. Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout
12. Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout
13. The Lost Book of the Grail by Charlie Lovett
14. The Western Star by Craig Johnson
15. Gallows View by Peter Robinson
16. The Red Box by Rex Stout
17. The Rubber Band by Rex Stout
18. The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by Dalai Lama XIV
19. Absolutely Truly by Heather Vogel Frederick
20. Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett
21. Dark Water by Parker Bilal
22. Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane
23. Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbø
24. Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbø
25. Double Whammy by Carl Hiaasen
26. Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction by Eric Foner
27. Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin
28. Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout
29. Leaves of Grass: The Deathbed Edition by Walt Whitman
30. The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett
31. Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane
32. Prayers for Rain by Dennis Lehane
33. Gone, Baby, Gone by Dennis Lehane
34. Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans
35. Robert B. Parker’s Cheap Shot by Ace Atkins
36. The Rain in Portugal: New Poems by Billy Collins
37. Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
38. Sacred by Dennis Lehane
39. Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane
40. Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, edited by Marjorie Maddox
41. The Widow by Fiona Barton
42. Dearest Creature by Amy Gerstler
43. The Dry by Jane Harper
44. Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay
45. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown

How was your year in reading for 2017? What were your favorite books? Let me and my readers know a few of them in the comments, if you like.