Favorite books of 2017

2017 was another year of great books. I read 103 books and these twenty-five stuck out to me as my favorites. For further info about a certain book, refer to the Amazon link at the bottom of the post. As a disclaimer, if you decide to purchase a book using the link, I would be compensated 4% of the sale at no additional cost to you. This would help fund my book-buying budget :)

For a literary walk down memory lane, here are my favorite books from 2016 and 2015 if you want more books, books, books.

FICTION

These novels not only held my interest with every passing page, but they stayed with me long after the last sentence. The character development, slow-paced plot, and finely-crafted, rich prose made these novels (most of which would be considered literary fiction for those exact reasons) a pleasure to read.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky (audiobook)
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (audiobook)
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogowa
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry (audiobook)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Middle-Grade Fiction
Don't be fooled by the kiddish genre. These books offer captivating plots, endearing characters, and beautiful sentences that are simple enough for a middle-grade kid to read, but also deep enough for adults to appreciate. They also dealt with a wide variety of hard topics, especially for being geared towards younger readers, such as depression (Legrand), WWII (Muñez  Ryan), identity (Applegate), verbal abuse, anxiety, and disability (Brubaker Bradley), and being a friend to a somewhat annoying, prideful Toad (Grahame) :)

Echo by Pam Muñez Ryan (audiobook)
The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (audiobook)
Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand
The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (audiobook)
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

NONFICTION

Memoirs
I love getting wrapped up in an adventurous tale based on real events. These memoirs are vastly different, but they each left me inspired, whether because of the testimony of God's faithfulness (Andrew), jaw-dropping traveling tales (Macleod, Oxenreider, Steinbeck), resilience against all odds (Noah, Hillenbrand), or a fun backstage look at a making of one of my favorite movies (Elwes). 

God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew
A Paris Year: My Day-to-Day Adventures in the Most Romantic City in the World by Janice Macleod
Born a Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood by Trevor Noah (audiobook)  (disclaimer: a lot of cussing)
At Home in the World: Reflections on Belonging While Wandering the Globe by Tsh Oxenreider
Travels With Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck (audiobook)
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes (audiobook)
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (audiobook)

Theology
Books have been a longtime avenue for me to grow in my Christian faith. These four  pressed me forward towards Jesus, to remember God's faithfulness and love through heartbreaking seasons and circumstances (Davis Majors), the importance of community with other Christian women (DeMoss Wolgemuth), a verse-by-verse exegesis of Psalm 107 with personal stories of God's unfailing, steadfast love (Chandler), and to look at God's view of marriage and the beauty if His design (Keller)

Daring to Hope: Finding God's Goodness in the Broken and the Beautiful by Katie Davis Majors
Adorned: Living out the Beauty of the Gospel Together by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
Steadfast Love: The Response of God to the Cries of our Hearts by Lauren Chandler
The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God by Timothy and Kathy Keller

What were YOUR favorite books you read in 2017? Have you read any of these, and if so, what did you think?