Best Books of the Year
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Slate Best Books of the Year 2016

Slate Best Books of the Year 2016 names 10 books. 7 of them also won or were shortlisted for an award.

  1. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vancesource (opens in a new tab)
  2. In the Darkroom by Susan Faludisource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Lab Girl by Hope Jahrensource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Nicotine by Nell Zinksource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Swing Time by Zadie Smithsource (opens in a new tab)
  6. The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy by Anthony Gottliebsource (opens in a new tab)
  7. The Nix by Nathan Hillsource (opens in a new tab)
  8. The Trespasser by Tana Frenchsource (opens in a new tab)
  9. The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smithsource (opens in a new tab)
  10. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemisource (opens in a new tab)

About the Slate Best Books of the Year

One list a year: Slate's own top books of the year, stored as category Best Books. 2012-2014 are the Slate Book Review Top 10, picked by the Book Review's editors. 2015-2025 are book critic Laura Miller's 10 best (or favorite) books of the year. 2006-2011 are missing: Slate ran only staff picks pieces then, where writers named books they enjoyed, often older titles, so they are left out. Also left out: the yearly Slate staff picks, Overlooked Books, Dan Kois's and other critics' personal lists (Katy Waldman, Mark O'Connell), and audiobook, comics and book-jacket lists. All lists come from slate.com pages; none is ranked. Two author names misspelled on the page are corrected (Ottessa Moshfegh 2018, Michelle de Kretser 2022).

Organization: Slate. Official site (opens in a new tab)

The most recommended books of 2016