2016 reading roundup!

I've done it! I met my goal of reading 100 books this year.  It's hard to do a "top 10" so instead, I've listed my favorites by category. 

Favorite autobiographies/memoirs/essays:

Find a Way - Diana Nyad

Walk through Walls - Marina Abramovic

The Hidden Wound - Wendell Berry

The Journey Home - Edward Abbey

Frantumaglia - Elena Ferrante

Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs - Wallace Stegner

Favorite re-reads:
The Fire Next Time - James Baldwin
The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Favorite debut novels:

Behold the Dreamers - Imbolo Mbue

Border of Paradise - Esme Weijun Wang

Best Short Stories:

The Splendid Outcast - Beryl Markham

The Magic Barrel - Bernard Malamud

Favorite books by established authors new to me this year:

Medicine Walk - Richard Wagamese

The Temporary Gentleman - Sebastian Barry

The Sea - John Banville

Creepiest:

Eileen - Ottessa Moshfegh

Best survival story:

After the Wind - Lou Kasischke

Best Southern ambience:

The Risen - Ron Rash

Best non-fiction:

Are Prisons Obsolete? - Angela Davis

The Fire This Time - ed. by Jesmyn Ward

The Hour of Land - Terry Tempest Williams

Best engrossing reads (dare I say "beach reads?"):

House of Thieves - Charles Belfoure

The After Party - Anton DiScalfani

Sweet Caress - William Boyd

Best letters:

The Collected Letters of Wallace Stegner (real letters)

To the Bright Edge of the World - Eowyn Ivey (fictional letters)

Best books from the 1930s:

My Sister Eileen - Ruth McKenney

Remembering Laughter - Wallace Stegner

Up and Coming from Cameroon: Imbolo Mbue

Imbolo Mbue's debut novel, Behold the Dreamers, is both timely and timeless, and compulsively readable.  Mbue confronts head on the challenges of being an immigrant amidst the relentless pace and demands of New York City.  Mbue tells the story of Jende, Neni, and their young son, trying to make a better life for themselves.  Jende works as a driver for Lehman Brothers exec Clark Edwards, and Neni works for Mrs. Edwards.  The more time they spend with the Edwards family, the more they start to see beyond the wealth and privilege that the family exudes, to the more troubling undercurrents.  With the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Jende's job is threatened which puts a significant strain on his family, and even his marriage.   Mbue has written a brilliant first novel - highly recommended!