This year was a horrible one by any stretch of the word, of course. In these past few weeks since the sham of an election we had, books have been my saving grace; one of two things that've kept me afloat, kept me sane. (The other is parenthood which, with all its tedium and chores and capacity for awe and joy, keeps me grounded and reminds me what we need to fight for, and why.)

There's nothing groundbreaking about saying books save people but that doesn't make it any less true. So I am grateful, again and eternally, for all the people who work to put books out in the world: the writers, the editors, the marketers, the printers, the designers, the publicists, the many many teams that help produce a single book. Thank you for distracting me, for inspiring me, for pushing me forward.

And 2016 wasn't ALL terrible; just the whole of it. We bought a house and I am in love with it, still. I got pregnant again (our boy is coming any week now...). I watched my daughter turn into the sweetest, funniest, smartest two year old you've ever seen. I re-established an old friendship that I missed. I learned, I grew, I loved. And I read.

Here are the books I read in 2016, in approximately the order I read them:

My Brilliant Friend by Elana Ferrante
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine
Spinster by Kate Bolick
The Clasp by Sloane Crosley
The Witches by Stacy Schiff
Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton
Food Whore by Jessica Tom
The Forgotten Room by Beatriz Williams, Karen White, Lauren Willig
Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Seven Year Switch by Claire Cook
The Mermaid's Sister by Carrie Anne Noble
The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
How to Be Bad by Lauren Myracle, Sarah Mylnowski and Emily Jenkins
The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle
Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
Vivian Apple Needs a Miracle by Katie Coyle
American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Life of Teenagers by Nancy Jo Sales
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 and 2 by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany
Mary: The Summoning by Hillary Monahan
Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler
The Diviners by Libba Bray
Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
The After Party by Anton DiSclafani
A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter
Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam
Invincible Summer by Alice Adams
Tumbling by Caela Carter
Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford
You Will Know Me by Megan Abbot
The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close
Between You and Me by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Shadow House by Dan Poblocki
Act Like It by Lucy Parker
The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee
How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather
Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
The Lottery's Plus One by Emma Donoghue
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple
Songs Without Words by Ann Patchett

I had several stops and starts this year (and every year), with books I just couldn't get into after 50 pages or so. And obviously, this list doesn't include the hundreds of books I've read to my kid, or the Baby-sitters Club titles I still pick up when I need some soothing. Too, it doesn't include readings of my husband's drafts.

Of this list, my favorites include The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, Sweetbitter, Eligible, Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter, The Lottery's Plus One, Commonwealth, and Today Will Be Different.

All told, I read 53 books, with 21 of them classified as YA or Middle Grade and 6 classified as nonfiction (which may be a record for me!).

I used NPR's Book Concierge to get started on my list of books to read in 2017. I'll be on maternity leave for the first half of the year which, if it's anything like my first maternity leave, means I won't get much reading done for a while. But here's to hoping. Now more than ever, we need books.

Happy holidays and Happy New Year.