Top 11 Best Seller Books 2017 Updated 04 /2024

If you like your books sexy and satirical, political and polarizing, or just plain funny, the best new books of the year are sure to hit the spot. They'll give you some much-needed escapism, while also challenging the status quo and starting important conversations. The best books of 2017 have helped us get through this messy year by giving us a chance to see the world outside our own borders, learn more about the human experience, or just have fun. With so much going on in our lives, why not take a break with a book?

The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia by Masha Gessen

Gessen won the National Book Award for Non-Fiction in 2017 for her book about her home country of Russia, which looks at Vladimir Putin's rogue mafia state. In her previous book about Putin, Man Without a Face, she wrote about the leader of the totalitarian regime. Now, she's taking a different look at the lives of seven people who were affected by the political crackdown of 2012. Gessen had to move to the United States during this time. When Gessen was the editor of Vokrug Sveta, a popular science magazine, she was fired because she didn't send a reporter to cover Putin's hang-glider flight with endangered Siberian cranes, which she didn't want to do. Soon after, she got a phone call from a man who said he was Putin and wanted to meet in person at the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin called, and she took the meeting. A person who can help us understand the many layers of the Russian story, and how it's affecting the world and American democracy, is none other than Vladimir Putin himself.

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Her second National Book Award-winning book is set in the fictional town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi. Her 2011 book Salvage the Bones was set there, before Hurricane Katrina hit, and this book is set there now. A 13-year-old boy and his baby sister live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop. Ward's lyrical story is about Jojo and Kayla, and they live with their grandparents, Mam and Pop. Their mother, Leonie, is a drug addict. When she learns that their white father is being released from Parchman Farm, the Mississippi State Penitentiary, she goes on a road trip with her kids to get him. What starts out as a way to get back together with one family ends up being a way to talk about a lot of other things, like the legacy of slavery and poverty in the rural South, the effects of the opioid crisis, and more.

Artemis by Andy Weir

The author of The Martian, which was made into an Oscar-nominated blockbuster movie, returns to outer space in this near-future heist saga. This time, the Moon is the setting for this near-future heist story. It's called "Artemis," and it's the home of Jazz Bashara, a shady small-time smuggler and the unlikely heroine of the book. Artemis is named after a moon city that was first inhabited by humans. When Jazz decides to take advantage of an irresistible (and illegal) opportunity, she ends up getting caught up in a bigger conspiracy than she could have ever dreamed of.

They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib

There are two kinds of people who are good at what they do: one who is great at what they do and another who is great and bold enough to have fun while they are doing it. Adburraqib talks about Chance the Rapper's optimism in his vivid collection of short stories. If Abdurraqib had fun writing these poignant and important essays, I don't know if he had a lot of fun. They range from Springsteen and The Weeknd to Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and other black lives lost to police brutality. He's very good at what he does. Abdurraqib also lets us into his mind, which gives us a new way of looking at music, art, and memory, as well as the political realities of our time.

Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak

At a dinner party later that night, Peri Nalbantoglu doesn't talk about how she and her daughter were attacked on the streets of Istanbul that morning. In the wake of the attack, Peri thinks back to her time at Oxford University, when she was infatuated with a controversial religious studies professor, and how she and Shirin and Mona, two Muslim women from Egypt, became close friends even though they didn't believe in God. Shafak cleverly touches on feminism, religious extremism, and the politics of her home country, Turkey, while moving between a lavish dinner party and Peri's college days. All the while, the sweeping saga stays interesting and alive.

Heather, The Totality by Matthew Weiner

From the creator of Mad Men comes a chilling book about the many faces of the human mind. Mark and Karen Breakstone live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where their daughter, Heather, is beautiful. Bobby, who was a convicted felon but is now a construction worker in poverty-stricken Harrison, New Jersey, lives in Harrison. When we first see the movie, we know that Heather and Bobby's paths are going to cross. And they do, with sinister and surprising consequences.

The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity by Esther Perel

Belgian-born psychotherapist Perel thinks that the quality of our relationships affects the quality of our lives. What happens when infidelity sends a couple into full-blown crisis mode? Perel's work looks into this main question. It's important to look at the cultural frameworks that shape our romantic expectations, such as her 2006 book Mating in Captivity, her two TED talks that have been seen more than 20 million times, and her new podcast, "Where Should We Begin?" In her opinion, she thinks that confronting and uncovering the why behind an affair with honesty and courage can help a relationship come back from the brink. This could even lead to a place of erotic rediscovery.

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

It's easy to think that the mystique and vibrancy of New York comes from the island of Manhattan itself, with its mix of Wall Street bankers, lanky fashion models, grungy college students, and struggling journalists (to name a few of the characters that walk its streets). All of these characters have been written about by Egan in her previous work. In her first novel since winning the Pulitzer Prize for A Visit from the Goon Squad in 2011, she looks at New York's maritime history from the Depression to WWII, with daring divers, salty sailors, and body-sinking stevedores. She shows that the glistening ocean and murky waterways around Manhattan hold some of the city's most important stories.

The River of Consciousness by Oliver Sacks

Only a very small number of people have an asteroid named after them, but very few people have made a big difference in the way we think about things like science, medicine, philosophy, and psychology. During the book The River of Consciousness, we can see some of what he was working on right up until he passed away. He talks about the fallibility of memory, the nature of creativity, Charles Darwin's still important ideas, and more. All of this is done with his usual sensitivity and optimism.

We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates

He wrote a letter to his son called Between the World and Me. This is his first book since then. A book with all of his articles for The Atlantic that he wrote while Obama was in office is called "The Atlantic." When President Trump was elected, each of his essays got a new introduction. This makes them even more powerful, especially now that we know what he's going to be like. One of the most interesting essays talks about Coates's time in Paris. When Coates tried to get away from American racism in France, he was met with a different and just as bad form of it. No matter what you think of Coates's sometimes controversial ideas, he is still one of the most important thinkers in the United States.

Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years by David Litt

In the past, Presidents used to speak in full sentences instead of tweeting about everything. During the Obama administration, fact-checking was an important part of White House protocol, and Presidents not only attended Correspondents' Dinners but also took part in comedy skits with Keegan-Michael Key. David Litt, a former Obama speechwriter, talks about that time. Litt tells us about the moment he found out about Obama and how he became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history when he arrived at the White House at the age of 24. He later became Obama's go-to comedy writer. In this episode, we learn why Litt thinks the legacy of Barack Obama will live on long after Donald Trump is out of the picture.

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