Boswell bestsellers of 2017: Hardcover Fiction

Here is the first of our 2017 bestseller lists!

1. Sleeping Beauties, by Stephen King and Owen King*
2. Anything Is Possible, by Elizabeth Strout*
3. The House of Unexpected Sisters, by Alexander McCall Smith*
4. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles##
5. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders#
6. Saints for All Occasions, by J. Courtney Sullivan*
7. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
8. Kiss Carlo, by Adriana Trigiani*
9. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman

10. Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee*##
11. The Mothers, by Brit Bennett*#
12. Burning Bright, by Nick Petrie*##
13. Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward
14. Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan
15. Hum If You Don't Know the Words, by Bianca Marais*#
16. A Piece of the World, by Christina Baker Klein*
17. Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng##
18. George and Lizzie, by Nancy Pearl*#
19. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, by Arundhati Roy##
20. On Turpentine Lane, by Elinor Lipman*

21. Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid
22. Glass Houses, by Louise Penny
23. Testimony, by Scott Turow*
24. Enchantress of Numbers, by Jennifer Chiaverini*
25. The Hearts of Men, by Nicholas Butler*##
26. Devotions, by Mary Oliver
27. Origin, by Dan Brown
28. A Legacy of Spies, by John Le Carre
29. Difficult Women, by Roxane Gay
30. The Rooster Bar, by John Grisham

31. The Story of Arthur Truluv, by Elizabeth Berg*
32. Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult
33. News of the World, by Paulette Giles
34. Future Home of the Living God, by Louise Erdrich
35. The Leavers, by Lisa Ko*#
36. My Absolute Darling, by Gabriel Tallent#
37. Uncommon Type, by Tom Hanks
38. Fallout, by Sara Paretsky*
39. The Power, by Naomi Alderman
40. The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah*

41. The Ninth Hour, by Alice McDermott
42. Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke
43. Beartown, by Fredrik Backman
44. Less, by Andrew Sean Greer
45. How to Find Love in a Bookshop, by Veronica Henry
46. Camino Island, by John Grisham
47. The Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz
48. August Snow, by Stephen Mack Jones*#
49. Into the Water, by Paula Hawkins##
50. The Women in the Castle, by Jessica Shattuck

I wound up reading 19 of these 50 books, with two more scheduled or our In-Store Lit Group for March (The Women in the Castle) and April (Lincoln in the Bardo). So the question is, were the books helped by me reading or not? And the definitive answer? It depends.

*Coincidentally, 19 of these 50 books were the focus titles of events, with two more scheduled for paperbacks (Colson Whitehead and one more to be announced). And five more books were from authors who came to Boswell for their previous novel.

# We had seven first novels in our top 50, which seems about right for the year, maybe even a little low compared to the past few years. I think it was a tough year to break out new names. On the other hand, it felt like a good year for second novels (##), with seven counted. So much for the sophomore slump! So tricky because you have to remember that Jesmyn Ward's newest is her third novel, and that Naomi Alderman's actually published three previous works. But then, do you start thinking about the manuscripts that were finished but not published? What if you know about them?

Only one author, John Grisham, has two books in our top 50.

 And to end with a little further categorization, we had three story collections (including a novel in stories) and one collection of poetry.