Great books from 2016

We'd like you to give you a list of the best books of the year, but since we couldn't read all of the 250,000 books published in 2016, here's a selection of some of the great ones.

You may want to use this as a cheat sheet to buy a book as a gift for friends or loved ones. And of course, you may want to treat yourself over the holidays and cozy up for an exciting read.

We surveyed a few board members of the Vancouver Writers Festival — people who love books and who read a lot of them. Here are some of their favourite books from 2016.

Fiction

• Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
• Nutshell by Ian McEwan*
• Commonwealth by Ann Patchett*
• Moonglow by Michael Chabon*
• Teardown by Clea Young
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi*
• Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin

Non-fiction

• Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer*
• The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy by Chris Bayley
• Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah*
• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi*
• Price Paid by Bev Sellars
• Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West
• The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
• Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva by Rosemarie Sullivan
• “House of the Lords and Commons” by Ishion Hutchison (poetry)

*Also chosen by the New York Times as Best books of the year

Happy reading and happy holidays to you and yours.